Multiple participants of the music festival "Tavria Games", the Ukrainian rock band "Druha Rika" are known and loved not only in their native country, but also far beyond its borders. Driving songs with a deep philosophical meaning won the hearts of not only rock lovers, but also modern youth, the older generation.
The band's music is real, it is able to touch the most delicate strings of the soul and stay there forever. According to the participants, creativity is based on unconditional love for music, philosophy and life experience. Therefore, in the texts of compositions, each listener finds his own story and experiences.
History of the creation of the collective
In 1995, Valery Kharchishin, Viktor Skuratovsky and Alexander Baranovsky created the musical group The Second River in the city of Zhytomyr. They performed songs in English and focused on the music of Depeshe Mode.
The first rehearsals of the musicians took place in the premises of the Zhytomyr Pedagogical Institute, where they presented their first performances. Most of their listeners were students of the same educational institution. And already in 1996, the band members decided that they would not go far with English-language songs in Ukraine and became Ukrainianized, changing the name of the band to "Druha Rika".
To make themselves known, young musicians took part in the Rock Existence festival. In 1998, the group took part in the Lviv-Tauride festival "The Future of Ukraine", but took only 4th place.
Universal recognition and popularity
A significant event for the group was the victory at the festival "The Future of Ukraine" in 1999. There the team took 1st place among more than 100 applicants. At the beginning of 2000, the group moved to Kyiv in order to be able to develop their creativity in the very center of show business. Subsequently, the first album "I" and video clips for the work "Let Me In" and "Where You Are" were released.
In 2000, the band took part in the Just Rock festival. In the same year, the group was recognized as the "Discovery of the Year" and was awarded the "Ukrainian Wave" award. Subsequently, the musicians were invited to Moscow, and the band's clips were played on MTV. In April 2001, the group released the single "Oksana". And in June, the group got into the "Discovery of the Year" nomination of the "Golden Firebird" award.
In 2002, the group was nominated in the category "Best pop group in the country." And in January 2003, the hit "Mathematics" was released. In May, Lavina Music released the album "Two" with a circulation of 20 copies. It was the second album that the musicians worked on for 2 years, the release was scheduled for May 2. At the same time, another member joined the group - keyboardist Sergey Gera (Shura).
The group "Druha Rika" shot a video for one more song "Not Alone". She also released one of the best Ukrainian videos for the song "Chanson". In July 2003, the band was chosen by Depeche Mode's management to perform together in Kyiv. At the Sports Palace, the Druha Rika team “warmed up” Dave Gahan during the Paper Monsters world tour. It was a real sensation for the audience and a successful statement about his work for the group.
In 2003, the musicians performed at the Russian-Ukrainian festival "Rupor". Critics called this performance one of the best in the history of the festival. As a result, the group's songs are heard on Russian airwaves, on Maximum radio. The track “Already not alone” has been played for more than three months. The band has been actively and successfully performing with concerts for a year and a half and at the same time working on new material.
Years of active creativity Druga Rika
In November 2004, the team "Druha Rika" represented Ukraine at the international festival in Gdansk. On April 26, 2005, the album "Records" was released, which became "gold". The single of the album “So little for you here” lasted 32 weeks in the Ukrainian hit parades, including in the “Territory A” program. And it was played on Gala Radio.
In August 2005, the team presented Ukraine at the international festival "Slavianski Bazaar" in Vitebsk. On November 8, 2006, the premiere of the composition "Day-Night" took place. For a small amount of time, it became the best Ukrainian song. On May 12, the album "Day-Night" was released, timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the group.
On September 23, 2007, the all-Ukrainian radio premiere of the new song "End of the World" took place. The video for this song immediately (for the first time in the history of the group) took the 1st position in the national radio chart.
In the spring of 2008, a new album "Fashion" was released. And the comic song "Fury" at concerts led to the frenzy of both the audience and the band members. In the fall of 2008, the groups Druha Rika and Tokyo stirred up a slightly indifferent and inert state of society, drawing attention to an important common achievement - the work Catch Up! Let's catch up!". Recently, the team wrote a song that became the main composition in the first Ukrainian 100-episode series "Only Love".
In 2009, the musicians worked on the release of the single "Dotik". The video for the job was filmed in Ukraine and America (New York). Filming was long and costly, but the result exceeded all expectations - the number of rotations broke all records.
In 2010, the group managed to record a track in three languages Hello My Friend, thanks to the support of the Moscow music brand STAR Records. In 2011, the Druga Rika group performed several joint concerts with the Turkish group Mor Ve Ötesi. She also presented the work "The World on Different Shores".
Druga Rika group today
In 2016, the group celebrated the 20th anniversary of their work with a big concert in Kyiv. Then she went on a large-scale all-Ukrainian tour, which lasted almost 2 months. In 2017, the band pleased its fans with the release of the new album "Monster". It was presented in London.
2017 has been a rolling year. Musicians with tours visited the USA and Canada.
To date, the band has released 9 studio albums. Musicians are active participants in charity events. The soloist of the group tried himself as a film actor. With his participation, two domestic films were released - "Meeting of Classmates" and "Carpathian Stories".
Last year, the musicians invited the audience to an unusual concert, where all the songs were performed to the accompaniment of the NAONI symphony orchestra.
