Pop music in Ukraine
Pop music in Ukraine is Western influenced pop music in its various forms that has been growing in popularity in Ukraine since the 1960s.
Decades
1970s
The 1970s saw the emergence of a number of folk rock groups. One of the most prominent was a group known as Kobza which included 2 electric banduras. Initially it started off as an instrumental group playing folk inspired cool jazz. Other groups gradually appeared on the scene primarily from Western Ukraine such as Medikus, Smerichka.Major contributions were made by songwriter Volodymyr Ivasiuk and singer Sofia Rotaru and Nazariy Yaremchuk.
1980s
After the death of V. Ivasiuk in 1978, developments in Ukrainian pop music almost ground to a halt. Even established folk -rock groups such as Kobza began to sing in Russian. The songs of Ivasiuk were rarely heard on the radio and many of the established singers such as Sofia Rotaru began to sing in Russian exclusively.Many Ukrainian musicians moved to Moscow, and various Moscow based Pop groups had a pop songs in the Ukrainian language such as the group Samotvety - Verba.
Following Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika reforms, a small number of pop acts such as Russya and Vechirnya Shkola came on the scene, performing the Soviet italo disco pop that was becoming popular throughout the USSR.
1990s
The 1990s saw an explosion in the Ukrainian Pop music world. This was brought on by the Chervona Ruta Festival which was held in Chernivtsi in 1989 and sponsored by the Kobza corporation and Pisennyi Vernisazh - New Ukrainian Wave 92 sponsored / producing by the Rostyslav - Show Agency. At the end of the 80's it was considered that Ukrainian language based rock would not be effective.The sponsoring of a Ukrainian only festival did much to change this perception.
Music groups that came to prominence were:
- Komu Vnyz
- Ne zhurys'
- Taras Petrynenko and Hrono
At the end of the 90 most popular pop singer among teenagers was Yurko Yurchenko. At his concerts was something unimaginable. Many compared the level of fanaticism with the band "The Beatles".
2000s
In recent times folkloric elements have made a resurgence in modern Ukrainian pop music. Hutsul folk melodies, rhythms and dance moves were used by the Ruslana, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004.- Sofia Rotaru – released a number of Ukrainian language albums that were in top chart positions
- Okean Elzy – popular rock band
- Ruslana - singer, composer, pianist, conductor - Won the Eurovision Song contest for Ukraine in 2004
- Verka Serduchka - singer
- Svetlana Loboda - singer
- VIA GRA
- nikitA
- neAngely
- Potap & Kamenskikh
- Vremya I Steklo Highly popular duo with the biggest name recognition in the West of all Ukrainian and Russian Language artists
- Ani Lorak
- Anyuta Slavskaya
- Natalka Karpa
- Natalia Mohilevska
- Zlata Ognevich - singer - represented Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 and participated in the Ukrainian national selections in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
- Anastasia Prikhodko - singer - represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 and participated in the Ukrainian national selection in 2009, 2011 and 2016.
The group Kazaky became one of Ukraine's first outfits to achieve a degree of international recognition only weeks after its constitution in 2010 by relying on the impact of its video through the internet.
2010s
Despite the deteriorated relations between Ukraine and Russia in 2016, new Ukrainian bands achieved Russian charts success. The wave of Ukrainian artists making Russian chart success has been labeled "UkrPop". Since the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, Okean Elzy and BoomBox stopped performing in Russia, but they were one of the few Ukrainian artists to do so. Most tried to avoid making political statements and continue to perform in Russia. Ukrainian artists and bands with rising success in the 2010s include Maruv, Kazka and The Hardkiss.In 2016, Ukraine won the Eurovision Song Contest for the second time, this time with Jamala with the song 1944, which was partly sung in Crimean Tatar.
On 8 November 2018, a law came into force that mandated Ukrainian radio stations to broadcast no less than 35% of songs in Ukrainian. If it plays 60% of its songs in the official languages of the European Union, then 25% is the minimum.
Styles
Russia pop music in Ukraine
Russian pop is arguably the leading music style in Ukraine, post-Soviet countries and Russian diaspora. Ukraine has the biggest Russian diaspora. In the Soviet Union, Ukraine used to produce up to half of all Russian speaking pop singers in the World. Among the biggest music promoters in Ukraine is Filip Kirkorov and Arkadiy Ukupnik.Many singers in Ukraine sing in both Russian and Ukrainian languages.
List of Russian speaking singers
- Lolita Milyavskaya – Mukacheve, Zakarpattia Oblast
- Natasha Korolyova - Kiev
- Vera Brezhneva – Dniprodzerzhynsk, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast
- Stas Kostyushkin – Odesa
- Anna Sedokova – Kiev
- Anastasia Stotskaya – Kiev
- Iosif Kobzon – Chasiv Yar, Donetsk Oblast
- Svetlana Loboda – Kiev
- :ru:Овсиенко, Татьяна Николаевна|Tatiana Ovseyenko – Kiev
- Lyudmila Senchina – village in Bratske Raion, Mykolaiv Oblast
- Anzhelika Varum – Lviv
- NK - Kiev
- Potap – Kiev
- Verka Serduchka – Poltava
- Olya Polyakova – Vinnytsia
- Yolka – Uzhhorod
List of singers in both languages
- Taisia Povaliy – village in Skvyra Raion, Kiev Oblast
- Ani Lorak – Kitsman, Chernivtsi Oblast
- Natalia Mogilevskaya – Kiev
- Sofia Rotaru – village in Novoselytsia Raion, Chernivtsi Oblast
- Oleg Vinnik – village in Kamyanka Raion, Cherkasy Oblast
- Monatik – Lutsk
- Melovin- Odesa
Rock
The Rock legends of Ukraine is a series of compilations of the best works of known Ukrainian rock groups.
New wave of rock music in Ukraine is represented by such bands as TOL, Skinhate, Flëur, Ya i Drug Moi Gruzovik, Snuff, Pictures Inside Me, Fakultet, S.K.A.Y., Marakesh, Holy Blood, Kara, FACTOR 150, Robots Don't Cry, Opozitsiya, xDeviantx, E42, The Homebodies, etc.
Black Metal
Influenced by their Norwegian counterparts, Black Metal bands include Nokturnal Mortum, Lucifugum, Drudkh, Hate Forest, Astrofaes, Holy Blood, Blood of Kingu, Raventale, Lutomysl and Dub Buk.A Cappella vocal groups
Pikardiyska Tertsiya, MensoundSinger-songwriter
Viktor Morozov, Andriy Panchyshyn, Eduard Drach. Юрко ЮрченкоFusion groups
The band Mandry is known for fusing traditional Ukrainian music with rock, blues, reggae and chansons.Hip-hop
One of the prominent groups is Tanok Na Maydani Kongo which raps in the Ukrainian language and mix hip hop with indigenous Ukrainian elements. Most Hip-hop in Ukraine is however in Russian.Ukraine's 2005 entry in the Eurovision Song Contest, GreenJolly's "Together We Are Many", had recently been the unofficial anthem of the Orange Revolution. Eurovision required the lyrics be changed for the contest version because of rules against political content.
Recently a new artist named Vova zi Lvova, part of a collective known as Chorne ta Bile, has entered onto the Ukrainian hip hop scene, gaining attention not only because of his serious lyrics but also because of his unique usage of the Ukrainian language in his lyrics.
Popular performers in Ukraine
- Vopli Vidoplyasova – Ukrainian folk-rock
- Plach Yeremiji – rock music
- Mandry - Mix of Ukrainian folk-rock and other genres
- Viy – Ukrainian folk-rock
- DakhaBrakha – folk music
- The Hardkiss – progressive-pop
- Yurcash - Ukrainian folk-rock, ska, punk
Music of the Ukrainian Diaspora
In the 1970s Montreal positioned itself as a major centre for Ukrainian Diaspora pop music mainly through the efforts of Bohdan Tymyc and his Yevshan corporation. Yevshan released numerous recordings by Zabava bands such as Rushnychok, Syny stepiv. It is through Yevshan that Luba Kovalchuk recorded here first recordings and started her rise through an album called Zoria.
- Julian Kytasty – singer, composer, kobzar, bandurist
- Mariana Sadovska – singer, composer
- Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello
- Victor Mishalow – composer, kobzar, bandurist
Ukrainian Labels
- Atlantic music
- Audio Ukraina
- Zone records
- Moon records
- Rostok records
- Nova records
- JRC
- Lavina music
- Empire Label
- Mozgi Entertainment