Ukrainian Music Begins to Find its Voice

By Roman Tashleetsky

Compared with other countries, Ukraine’s contemporary music scene is under-developed.  During the Soviet era world music trends were banned because they expressed “rotten capitalist ideas.” As a result, music of Western performers was unavailable and could only be heard on foreign radio broadcasts, which were jammed by “special services.” For this reason, Ukraine does not boast deep traditions in jazz, blues or even rock-and-roll.

While the rest of the world experienced hippy culture and “Beatlemania” Ukraine, as part of the Soviet Union, was listening to traditional folk music, though even its development was limited. The government did everything possible to keep Ukrainian culture within the Soviet context, trying to feed the stereotype that it is solely “peasant” in nature. If performers or groups started gaining broad popularity among the youth and the general population, they were removed from the stage. (Let’s remember the strange death of Nazariy Yaremchuk or brisk oblivion of the popular Trio Marenychi.)

With independence, Ukraine rushed to discover music that was previously forbidden. The beginning of the 90s were characterized by the appearance of many original groups and performers, like rock-singer Vika, rock-blues-band Braty Hadiukiny and rap-group VUZV. It was fashionable to sing in Ukrainian, and music festivals, like Chervona Ruta, were at the peak of their popularity.

Yet, there was no music or show-business industry in the Western sense. There were just three official TV channels where, due to inertia, only traditional music performers were shown. Singers could not afford to shoot a video, and few knew how. There was no distribution system for selling cassettes (CDs were exotic then) and performers earned little money other than from concerts.

When Kuchma came to power, this “euphoric-patriotic” stage in music faded away. Country-wide, there were only about five major contemporary singers and groups: Iryna Bilyk, VV, Skriabin, El. Kravchuk and Tabula Rasa (who sang in Russian). They had to be exceptionally talented to compete with the Russian performers, the bulk lack-lustre, who seized almost all the airplay on FM and TV channels. It was an unequal playing field because Moscow, as the former capital of the USSR, had the facilities to develop its music, while the Ukrainian government did nothing to create favourable conditions for the industry. As a result, some groups like VV or Okean Elzy were first recognized in Russia before their songs were widely broadcast in Ukraine.

Another period in music development began during the 2004 Orange Revolution. Artists divided into “orange” and “white-blue” camps. The first “orange” musicians courageously supported the people on the Maidan, while the latter often supported Yanukovych for economic considerations, thinking it more profitable to back the party expected to win the elections.  In time, this division has been obliterated and now fewer music fans take into account artists’ political affiliations.

One positive outcome of the Orange Revolution was that it again became fashionable to sing in Ukrainian. In addition, President Yushchenko’s strong stance on the Ukrainian language has encouraged even private TV and radio stations to broadcast more Ukrainian music (no one wants to have problems with licences, etc.).  This has led to a greater demand for Ukrainian singers. Producers and recording companies now invest more in promoting young Ukrainian performers.  If two years ago you could hear one Ukrainian song per hour, on the three music TV channels in Ukraine (Enter-Music, O-TV and M1), now you might hear three in succession. There are television programs dedicated solely to Ukrainian music. In addition, live broadcasts of Ukrainian festivals like Tavriyski Ihry, in Kherson (featuring almost only Ukrainian music) have become financially viable.

The situation in radio is similar.  In Kyiv there are more than 20 FM stations, in smaller cities like Rivne, about 10. Though the percentage of Russian music on these airwaves is still unjustifiably high, now at least you can hear a variety of Ukrainian music regularly.

Currently, popular singers in Ukraine can still be divided into two types: those singing in Ukrainian and those in Russian. Singers like Verka Serduchka (singing in surzhyk, a dialect blending Ukrainian and Russian) or ViaGra (in Russian) are popular both in Ukraine and Russia.  The number-one pop-singer of past years Iryna Bilyk, who used to sing solely in Ukrainian switched first to Polish and then to Russian. Hopefully, taking into account the new reality she will again focus on Ukrainian.

As for performers who currently sing in Ukrainian, there are many successful ones among them. Besides such luminaries as Okean Elzy, VV and Skriabin, the hip-hop group Tartak, the Zhytomyr-based Druha Rika, Kharkiv-native pop-singer Mariyka Burmaka and Chernivtsi-native Ani Lorak are extremely popular. Of course, Ruslana, a Eurovision Contest winner, remains a big name.  In addition, new names like Lama and Krykhitka Tsakhes are appearing more often than ever before.  If this trend continues, Ukraine may finally soon show its voice in the world of music.

Roman Tashleetsky is a Ukrainian graduate student at the Taras Shevchenko National University, Kyiv.