Rock music in Ukraine
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Ukrainian rock (Ukrainian: Український рок, romanized: Ukrainskyi rok) is rock music from Ukraine.
While it is rock it is important for those who follow Ukrainian contemporary music to understand the
The most popular bands include
The Chervona Ruta was a very important Ukrainian rock music festival.
"Пісенний Вернісаж" - New Ukrainian Wave 92 – Festival of the best Ukrainian folk/pop/rock bands (Producer Rostyslav-show, 1992)
Famous Ukrainian heavy metal bands include Fleshgore, Firelake, Nokturnal Mortum, Astrofaes, Drudkh, and Hate Forest.
Metal Heads Mission is the biggest metal festival in Ukraine and ex-USSR countries.
History
1960s-1970s
Such bands as Eney and Hutsuly were created in the 1960s during Khrushchev Thaw.
During the 1960s students from a special music school in Kyiv formed this group. The group was named after Mykola Lysenko. They initially played unique interpretations of Ukrainian folk songs. Later, after members were exposed to the late works of The Beatles, they started to rearrange works of Bach and Khachaturian. In 1971 the band split as Petrynenko and Blinov left it to form the new group Dzvony. The band started to experiment in new genres: blues and soul. In 1972 the band and their music were banned in the Soviet Union and labeled "bourgeois-national". As a result, all existing records/recordings were destroyed. After that the band went underground until 1974. The members then merged with Dzvony into the new vocal-instrumental ensemble Decorative Trails. After the group was accepted to the Ukr-kontsert it changed its name to Hrono. In 1977 the ensemble became Eney once again. After a period of time, the group broke up and members either joined different bands or went solo. Petrynenko later created his own group Hrono.
1980s
The rise of rock music in the middle of 1980s was inspired by
Several rock bands were formed in the rock club "Kuznia", in Kyiv. Among them are
The most prominent event was Chervona Ruta music festival held for the first time in Chernivtsi in 1989.
Such bands as
were formed in the late 1980s.)
The band was active mainly between 1988 and 1996. In January 2006 they held a big solo concert in Kyiv which was a big event in Ukrainian media space and was visited by lot of famous people (including that time prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko). After band's leader Serhiy Kuzminskyi died in 2009 the big tribute concert was held in 2011, joined by prominent Ukrainian rock musicians such as Komu Vnyz, Vopli Vidoplyasova, Okean Elzy and others. In 2014 rest of band members released a new album (the first one since 1996).
Many songs of the band were written in lyrics of Ukrainian poets like
In 2009 their song "Kiss" ("Potsilunok") was featured in the a soundtrack of Cold Souls, an American film directed by Sophie Barthes.
. Their influences include folk, patriotic songs, punk, hard rock, heavy metal and, most recently, electronic music.
Their song Den Narodzhennia is featured in the Russian crime films Brother and Brother 2 by director Aleksei Balabanov. Band member Oleh Skrypka has also produced several solo albums.
Komu Vnyz (Ukrainian: Кому Вниз) was founded in 1988 in Kyiv. They wound up at their first festival Chervona Ruta completely by chance. It was too late to submit the sample recording to the panel of judges for the tryout, but Taras Petrynenko, after listening to their work, insisted that they participated in the event.
As of 2011, Komu Vnyz is translating their lyrics into English in order to re-release their albums in Europe.
Early 1990s
Haydamaky have recently performed at many club venues across Europe, including as a special guest at a concert of Asian Dub Foundation in Bratislava, Slovakia. Other club appearances this year were held in Germany, Estonia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Moscow.
Plach Yeremiyi (Ukrainian: Плач Єремії) is a rock band from Lviv, Ukraine. The band was actually formed in February 1990, but the two most constant musicians - Taras Chubay and Vsevolod Dyachyshyn have played together since 1984 in the band Tsyklon (Циклон).
Plach Yeremiyi songs are usually serious, philosophical poems many composed by lead man Taras Chubay's father[2] Hryhoriy Chubay and given a contemporary rock sound. The group's name comes from Taras Chubay's father's Magnum opus Plach Yeremiyi posthumously published in 1999. The music in the songs sounds hard, then changes to an easy ballad and again explodes, overfilled by emotions. All this has a specific "Lviv" colouring.
Late 1990s
Dymna Sumish (Ukrainian: Димна Суміш) was founded on 3 December 1998 in Chernihiv. The group plays a mix of hardcore, punk and psychedelic rock. Winners of the festivals «Chervona Ruta» (Ukraine), «Pearls of the Season» (Ukraine), «Boards» (Moscow), «Woodstock» (Poland). Its name means Smoking Mix.
All members of the group are
In April 2012 the participants of the group said that the group temporarily stop their activity because of inability to cope with the situation in Ukraine - when a culture isn't valued, but instead all the power has policy, social experiments and "totalitarianism".
"Tartak" means woodsaw in Ukrainian. Sashko thought that tartak symbolized something energetic, loud, active, and hence appropriate for a band name.
Sashko Polozhynskyi founded the group in the Fall of 1996 in Lutsk, Ukraine. The group has released five albums with a total of 74 songs and 9 videos.[3] Tartak's songs "Ni Ya Ne Tu Kokhav" and "Stilnykove Kohannia" stayed on the Top 40 charts for 144 days and 75 days respectively.[4] Tartak was one of the bands that performed during the events of the Orange Revolution as seen in the adjacent picture.
The true founder of Tartak was Vasyl Zinkevytch jr., a friend of Sashko. Bohdan Zinkevych came up with the name. Vasyl came up with the idea and put together the group; he also arranged the rehearsals since his father is a famous singer he has access to studios, so they could make records. At the beginning they were struggling because their lyrics weren't a success and the soloist (Vasyl Zinkevych) had no voice for lyrics they wrote. Sashko soon made changes because for a long time he was trying to make a place for himself in the show business. In the late 1990s Sashko was making his way as a showman on the concerts, parades, and other musical events! when his fame actually came to him he claimed that the idea of Tartak was his idea.
The band has taken part in number of festivals the biggest of which are
2000s–2010s
Their songs are in predominantly in Ukrainian, but songs in Russian and English also appear on their albums and singles.
, Ukraine.
After the band had been formed in 2001 it started to tour the country and performed at several festivals like Perlyny sezonu, Tavriyski ihry and Chervona ruta. They became more known for a broader audience after their appearance on the programme "Fresh Blood" on the Ukrainian TV channel M1. The general director Eduard Klim from Lavina Music saw them and signed them to his label.
In 2006 their first album "Te, shcho treba" was released. They released their second album "Planeta S.K.A.Y." already in 2007.
The frontman Oleh Sobchuk in 2008 was awarded the medal of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) "1020 Years of Baptism of Rus" for his participation in the rock-tour with the same name.[6]
In October–November 2013 the group took part in agitational concerts "We are united", which were organized by pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk in Ukrainian cities.
Notable festivals
- Bandershtat (Volyn Oblast, 2007–present)
- Chervona Ruta (different cities of Ukraine, 1989–present)
- Taras Bulba (Dubno, Rivne Oblast, 1991–present)
- Tavria Games (Kakhovka, Kherson Oblast, 1992–present)
- Rock-Existence (Kyiv, 1996–2005)
- Rock-Sich (Kyiv, 2006–2013)
- Stare Misto (Lviv, 2007–2013)
- Trypilske kolo (Rzhyshchiv, Kyiv Oblast, 2008–present)
- Zakhid (Lviv Oblast, 2009–present)
- Respublica (Kamianets-Podilskyi, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, 2011–present)
List of notable Ukrainian rock bands
Art rock
Black metal
Death metal
- Firelake
- Fleshgore
Indie rock
Folk metal
- Holy Blood
- Kroda
- Motanka
- Tin Sontsia
Folk rock
- KOZAK SYSTEM
- Los Colorados
- Haydamaky
- Mandry
- PanKe Shava
- TIK
- Vopli Vidopliasova(VV)
- Yurcash
Gothic metal
Gothic rock
Heavy Metal
Metalcore
Pop rock
- BoomBox
- Druha Rika
- Krykhitka (ex-Krykhitka Tsakhes)
- Lama
- Okean Elzy
- Opalnyi Prynz
- S.K.A.Y.
- Skriabin
- Trystavisim
Punk rock
- Braty Hadiukiny
- Dymna Sumish
- Flit
- Mad Heads XL (ex-Mad Heads)
- O.Torvald
- Perkalaba
- Qarpa (ex-Faktychno Sami)
- Robots Don't Cry
- Sobaky v Kosmosi
- Teoriia Gvaltu
- The Sixsters
Rap rock
List of rock bands Outside Ukraine
- The Ukes (Leeds, England)
- The Ukrainians (Leeds, England)
- Klooch (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
- Enej (Olsztyn, Poland)
- Berkut (Olsztyn, Poland)
- Svoboda (Saint Petersburg, Russia)
- Sontse-Khmary (Saint Petersburg, Russia)
See also
References
- ^ Євтушенко, Олександр. "Легенди химерного краю". Українська рок-антологія. Київ-2004, "Автограф" - Online version - http://rock-oko.com/knizhki/oblichchya-muziki/tvorch-portreti/opalnij-princz.html
- ^ Many entries at the Pisni.org Website show that the words were written by Taras Chubay's father - http://www.pisni.org.ua/persons/76.html
- ^ List of Tartak albums
- ^ Top40-Charts
- ^ "Бумбокс". Archived from the original on 2013-07-21. Retrieved 2014-07-08.
- ^ "His Beatitude Metropolitan Volodymyr Handed Out Church Awards to Priests and Musicians Who Took Part in All-Ukraine Rock Tour Dedicated to 1020th Years of the Baptism of Rus", Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), 2008.