- Okean Elzy
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Okean Elzy
Океан Ельзи
Океан Ельзи - Okean ElzyBackground information Origin Lviv, Ukraine Genres Rock Years active 1994–present Labels Moon Records
COMP music / EMI
Lavina Music
Nova recordsWebsite http://www.okeanelzy.com Members Svyatoslav Vakarchuk
Petro Cherniavsky
Denys Dudko
Miloš Jelić
Denys HlininPast members Pavlo Gudimov
Yuriy Khustochka
Dmytro ShurovOkean Elzy (Ukrainian: Океан Ельзи, translation: Elza's Ocean) is one of the most successful and popular Ukrainian rock bands. It was formed in 1994 in Lviv, Ukraine. The band's vocalist and frontman is Svyatoslav Vakarchuk. Okean Elzy is the best-loved Ukrainian rock band not only in Ukraine but also in most CIS countries. In April 2007 Okean Elzy received FUZZ Magazine music awards for “Best rock act”.
Contents
History
1994-1999
The band Okean Elzy was founded in 1994 by 4 young guys from Lviv, Ukraine. The original line-up featured a lead vocal, lead guitar, bass guitar and drums. Throughout 1994 the band spent their time preparing themselves for the "big time".
Their first concert took place in front of the majestic Lviv Opera Theatre on 14 January in 1995. Shortly after that breakthrough appearance they released a demo tape called very simply 'DEMO 94-95'. In 1995 they also participated for the first time in the two biggest (at the time) Ukrainian music festivals - Chervona Ruta and Melodiya, also participated in "Is", a personal project of the famous lviv musician Oleg Sook, performed song Long time ago]
In 1996 the band establish themselves on the festival circuit in Ukraine and beyond. Okean Elzy participated at Sribna Pidkova Festival, Alternative 2, Perlyny Sezonu, Tavriyski Ihry, Hernsbach (Germany), Trash 96, and R.F.I. 96 (France).
In 1996 Okean Elzy also held their first concert outside Lviv. Their first appearance in Kiev took place in 1996 where they supported Deep Purple. In November–December of that year they recorded and released the group's first maxi-single "Budynok zi skla" (House of glass). Shortly afterwards the first movie about these rock stars was made by TV Channel TET (Kiev, Ukraine) and was broadcast nationally.
1997 saw tours in the south of France and West Germany. Back to Ukraine they held a monster concert in their hometown of Lviv, drawing massive crowds.
The band's big break came in 1998, when they made the decision to move to the capital city of Ukraine - Kiev. There they started working on their first album "Tam, de nas nema" (There, where we are not). The group's first music video was recorded for the song "Tam, de nas nema". This video will always be remembered as the first Ukrainian music video to make its mark on MTV Russia, as well as France's MCM Channel.
At the very beginning of 1999, Okean Elzy started working on their second album "Ya na nebi buv" (I was in the sky). In May the group decided to try and conquer Russia. Their first concert was at the legendary festival Maxidrom. There were thousands of people there who already knew their songs, even singing along.
On 16 September they played a solo concert at the MCM Cafe (Paris, France).
2000-2004
In 2000 exactly one year after they started working on "Ya na nebi buv" the album was released.
On 5 February Okean Elzy held a solo concert at legendary Astoria Club (London, UK). In March the keyboard player joined the band.
In 2001 Okean Elzy became new face of Pepsi Cola in Ukraine as the new millennium dawned. They have released their third album "Model". They started a big tour around Ukraine called "Ask For More". In August they started working on their fourth album - "Supersymetriya" (Supersymmetry). The album was eventually released in 2003 and immediately the group embarked on their biggest tour ever.
At the end of 2003 Svyatoslav Vakarchuk as the frontman of the band became an official Ambassador of Ukrainian Culture.
In 2004 Denys Dudko (one of the best jazz bass players in Ukraine) and Milosh Jelic (composer from Novi Sad, Serbia) joined the band.
During the "Orange Revolution" Okean Elzy actively supported the democratic changes which the population were demanding, with Slava emerging as a figurehead of the revolution.
2005–present
In 2005 Petro Cherniavsky joined the band.
On September 22, 2005, Okean Elzy released their new album GLORIA. After that the band went on tour (30 cities in Ukraine and 10 in Russia).
In September 2005, Slava became UN’s Ambassador of Good Will. Also, in September Okean Elzy started joint campaign with IOM and MTV Europe Foundation – fighting human trafficking. Svyatoslav Vakarchuk as UN’s Ambassador of Goodwill during 2006 year had different meetings with students at Ukrainian and Poland universities. Now Svyatoslav provides a huge social project running to propagate reading as a natural process. General idea of this project is to draw attention of young people to books and help fight illiteracy.
In November 2006, Okean Elzy visited Kosovo, Serbia, where musicians had a concert for peace makers from Ukraine, Poland, Germany, USA and other countries, which include international contingent of peace makers.
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 and Toronto, where thousands sang along their songs.
On April 25, 2007, Okean Elzy released a new album Mira (Measure). After that the band went on a huge nationwide tour. During the month they held tremendous concerts in 27 Ukrainian cities. The outstanding feature about "Mira" was that all the concerts were held at large sites, mostly stadiums and sports palaces. The concerts were attended by more than 120,000 fans, which has become a record for "Okean Elzy". For the two Kiev concerts the attendance was about 24,000 total. In the history of Ukraine only Okean Elzy "for the second time (after round of "GLORIA") brought so many people in one place in such a short time.
In 2010 Okean Elzy went on their Dolce Vita Tour, in support of their latest album Dolce Vita, which included over one hundred concerts in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Europe and North America.
Current members
- Svyatoslav Vakarchuk — vocal (1994–present)
- Petro Cherniavsky — guitar (2005–present)
- Denys Dudko — bass (2004–present)
- Miloš Jelić — piano, synthesizers (2004–present)
- Denys Hlinin — drums (1994–present)
Former members
- Pavlo Gudimov — guitar (1994–2005)
- Yuriy Khustochka — bass (1994–2004)
- Dmytro Shurov — piano, synthesizers (2000–2004)
Yuriy Khustochka and Dmytro Shurov left the band in 2004 to form Esthetic Education with vocalist Louis Franck. Pavlo Gudimov also left the band in 2005 and fronts his own band Gudimov.
Discography
Albums
- 1998 - "Tam, de nas nema" (There, where we aren't)
- 2000 - "Yananebibuv" (IWasInHeaven)
- 2001 - "Model"
- 2003 - "Supersymetriya" (Supersymmetry)
- 2005 - "GLORIA"
- 2007 - "Mira" (Measure)
- 2010 - "Dolce Vita"
Acoustic album
- 2003 - "Tviy format" (Your format)
Singles
- 1996 - "Budynok zi skla" (House of glass)
- 2002 - "Kholodno" (It is cold)
- 2004 - "Dyakuyu!" (Thank You!)
- 2006 - "Veseli, brate, chasy nastaly..." (Oh, brother, merry times came...)
- 2009 – "Ya tak khochu..." (I so want to...)
Compilations
- 2006 - "1221" ("Best of" collection)
- 2010 - "The Best Of"
Solo projects
- 2008 - "Vnochi" (At night) - album released under the name of ideological mastermind Svyatoslav Vakarchuk
Multimedia
References
External links
Categories:- Ukrainian musical groups
- Ukrainian rock music groups
- Ukrainian-language singers
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