Volodymyr Mykhailovych Ivasyuk or Volodymyr Ivasiuk was a Ukrainiansongwriter, composer and poet. He is the author and composer of the widely popular song "Chervona Ruta" popularized by Sofia Rotaru in 1971, and later covered by other singers.
Biography
Ivasyuk was born in Kitsman, Chernivtsi Oblast. His father Mykhaylo Ivasyuk was a well-known writer from Bukovyna. His mother Sofiya Ivasyuk, from the Zaporizhia Oblast by birth, was a teacher in a local school. He had two sisters, Halyna and Oksana. As early as the age of five, Volodymyr began learning to play the violin at a music school. Later, he learnt to play the piano as well. In 1964 he created an ensemble - "Bukovyna" - in his school and wrote their first songs, the first of which was "Lullaby". After Volodymyr had already graduated from secondary school, his family moved to the city ofChernivtsi where his father was offered a teaching position at the Bukovinian State Medical University. Volodymyr went on to study at the Lviv Medical Institute while he continued his musical career. He joined the "Karpaty Ensemble" at a local community centre and played the violin and offered his songs to be performed. He became an overnight national sensation in the Soviet Union, after a public performance on 13 September 1970 of his compositions "Chervona Ruta" and "Vodohray" with Olena Kuznetsova. In 1971 his "Chervona Ruta", performed live in Moscow with Vasyliy Zinkevych and Nazary Yaremchuk, and won the Best Song of the Year award of the Soviet Union. His composition "Vodohray" won the best song award the next year as well. "Chervona Ruta", sung by Sofia Rotaru, was featured in the musical-film Chervona Ruta. Ivasyuk moved to Lviv to formally study composition at the Lviv Conservatory of Music. Upon graduation from the medical institute, he worked as a doctor, and joined the post-graduate courses at the Department of Pathological Physiology to work for his next degree. In Lviv Volodymyr created the songs: "I am your wing", "Two rings", "Ballad about mallow", "Ballad about two violins". All these songs and other works of Ivasyuk were premiered by Rotaru. On 24 April 1979, after a phone call, he was scheduled to meet someone at the Lvov conservatory. He never got there nor did he report for duty as a doctor. 3 days later, his parents and sister reported him missing to the police. An investigation follows, until the Lvov district attorney put a temporary pause on the search. On 18 May he was found hanged in a forest located on the outskirts of Lviv. The body was discovered by an off-duty soldier who was testing his radio. The official cause of death was listed as suicide but the exact circumstances remain unknown to this day. People are convinced that he was killed by the Soviet KGB. The Soviet authorities did not like him. His celebrity status in the Soviet Union and his cultural contributions to the Country in general, and Ukrainian in specific, drew the attention of authorities. His songs, mostly about love to local geographical features and customs, could be perceived as rousing nationalist sentiments in listeners, but Ivasyuk was never confirmed to be politically active. Ivasyuk’s funeral was attended by over 10,000 people. After his death his compositions were removed for a time from sale and radio play. In June 2019 a new official Forensic examination concluded that Ivasyuk could not have hanged himself without the help of someone else. Ivasyuk is buried at Lychakivskiy Cemetery. Among his legacy was the first Soviet rock-opera, whose scenario and songs were specifically written for performance by Sofia Rotaru. In 2009, President Victor Yushchenko awarded Ivasyuk the Hero of Ukraine medal posthumously.
Remembrance
There is a museum in Chernivtsi dedicated to preserving his memory and he has statues in Lviv and Kitsman. In 2015 former Nohinska street in Dnipropetrovsk was renamed to Volodymyr Ivasiuk street.
