Music

**Okean Elzy** - is a Ukrainian rock band. It was formed in 1994 in Lviv, Ukraine. The band's vocalist and frontman is Svyatoslav Vakarchuk. In April 2007 Okean Elzy received *FUZZ Magazine* music awards for "Best rock act". The band Okean Elzy was founded in 1994 by four young men from Lviv; who were former members of the band Klan Tyshi (Ukrainian: Клан тиші, translation: *Clan of Silence*) which was founded in 1991. The original line-up featured a lead vocal, lead guitar, bass guitar and drums. Throughout 1994 the band spent their time rehearsing. Their first concert took place in front of the Lviv Opera Theatre on 14 January 1995. During the Football World Cup 2006 in Germany Okean Elzy actively supported the Ukrainian national team and cheered the fans with their songs. The last song of the band called *Veseli, brate, chasy nastaly...* ("Oh, brother, merry times came...") as always made a huge splash in Ukraine. The song and the video were released as a single and all money profited would be donated to the child care center treating AIDS. Charity activities play a major role in OE's life.

In April 2006 OE went on tour, which includes Chicago, New York City and Toronto, where thousands sang along their songs

**KAZKA -** is a Ukrainian band that performs pop with elements of electro-folk. Since its creation in 2017, vocalist Oleksandra Zaritska, sopilka player Dmytro Mazuriak and multi-instrumentalist Mykyta Budash have become a "breakthrough of the year". Kazka emerged on March 1, 2017 with their debut release "Sviata" (*Свята*, transl. *Holy*), which immediately became a hit in Ukraine. Initially, the band consisted of vocalist Oleksandra Zaritska and multi-instrumentalist Nikita Budash (guitar, keyboard), who also works on arrangement and sound engineering. "Sviata" was also the band's debut video. Serhii Tkachenko directed the video, which is a minimalist work in red shades, featuring the band members and a number of ancient Slavic symbols (Dazhbog, the Star of the Virgin Lada, Zervan, Koliada, the Star of Herest, Bilobog and others).

**''Valentin Strykalo''** - Ukrainian Rock group, that has been found in 2010 by Yuriy Kaplan who became famous for filming sarcastic videos about celebrities. He signed himself as a ''countryside-guy" named Valentin Strykalo. In a single month his videos became extremely famous and well-known. After gaining 5 million views on YouTube, the band “Valentin Strykalo” released their first album named “Smiris` i Rasslabsya” ”(Humble yourself and Relax)” in 2012. After this, the band started giving concerts in Ukraine. After the tour, band released second album called “Chast’ chego-to bol’shego” “(The part of something greater)”, that’s what Yuriy Kaplan said about it:

* *Как и на первой пластинке, юмора будет предостаточно,*

*разница лишь в том, что он будет более завуалированным. Ведь каждый любит вуаль. (**Just like the first record, there will be plenty of humour***

***the only difference is that it will be more veiled. After all, everyone loves a veil.**)*

Dedicated to the album, “Strykalo” started a new tour called the same as the album. When the tour ended, they settled down. 2 years after that, the band released a single called “Reshitsya samo soboy” (“Will decide by itself”). 1 year after it, “Strykalo” released their final album called “Razvlecheniya” (“Entertainment”). That was the end of the band. “Valentin Strykalo” is gone.

**MARUV -** Anna Borysivna Korsun (Ukrainian: Анна Борисівна Корсун, Russian: Анна Борисовна Корсун; née Popeliukh; born 15 February 1992), known professionally as Maruv (stylized in all caps), is a Ukrainian singer, composer, poet and producer. She lives and works in Kyiv. Korsun used to be part of the band Maruv from February 2017 to March 2018. It was the successor of the band The Pringlez. Later, Korsun gave an interview in which she explained that from then on she works on her own under the pseudonym.On 23 February 2019, Maruv won the final of *Vidbir* for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 . Her win was marred by controversy about her concerts in Russia.The rights to her Eurovision song, "Siren Song", belong to the Russian record label Warner Music Russia and the label had organised her first ever solo concert to be held in Moscow at Izvestia Hall on 6 April 2019. After it became clear that she would be performing in two concerts in Russia the following months, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Culture Vyacheslav Kyrylenko stated that artists who toured Russia or "did not recognise the territorial integrity of Ukraine" should not take part in Eurovision.

**Monatik -** Dmytro Monatyk (Ukrainian: Дмитро "Діма" Монатик; born 1 April 1986 in Lutsk), professionally known as MONATIK, is a Ukrainian singer, songwriter, dancer, composer. In the summer of 2011, his first solo song ТайУлетаю came out, whose music video was filmed on a mobile device. During this year many popular stars invited Dmytro to join them in their music videos: Потап і Настя Каменських «Выкрутасы»; гурт «Інфініті» «Ну и пусть»; *INKA* «*Pump it*». He was also the choreographer for Йолки's music video «На большом воздушном шаре». August 2012 - His first steps in the role of a composer; he presented Svetlana Loboda's song 40 degrees («40 градусов») during Crimea Music Fest.

Summer 2012 - He tried himself again in the role of a composer in a few episodes of the project «Альо, Директор!» (English: Hello, director!) with Svetlana Loboda on the channel TET.

In November 2012, Monatik performed on X-Factor (Ukrainian TV series), not as a contender, but as a guest performer.

After he released 3 tracks in 2012 - («Воздух», «ТерроризирУ. Е.т», «Важно») (English: Air, Terrorising, Difficult) - in March 2013 he initiated an audition for his ballet and chose 4 best dancers. Together they toured with his concert around Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

**Verka Serduchka -** Andriy Mykhailovych Danylko (Ukrainian: Андрі́й Миха́йлович Дани́лко; Russian: Андрей Миха́йлович Дани́лко, romanized: *Andrey Mikhaylovich Danilko*; born 2 October 1973), better known for his drag stage persona Verka Serduchka (Ukrainian: Вєрка Сердючка; Russian: Верка Сердючка), is a Ukrainian comedian and pop and dance singer. Danylko represented Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 as Verka Serduchka and finished in second place. Serduchka has sold over 600,000 records during his career in Ukraine.

As a character actor, Danylko has also appeared in over a dozen television films and is also known for appearing as Serduchka in the 2015 American comedy film *Spy*. In 2013, Danylko bought a Rolls-Royce that once belonged to Freddie Mercury, with plans to donate it to a museum devoted to the group Queen.

Danylko has said in interviews that he does not engage in transvestitism outside of his public performances, with a distinction between his stage persona and his personal life. He is reluctant to discuss his private affairs beyond this, though he has stated in interviews that he had a difficult relationship with a woman with whom he lived for eight years. In January 2015, photos of Danylko intimately kissing Inna Bilokon were posted online by a friend.