A favorite of the public, a symbol of the young Ukrainian musical culture, a talented artist Igor Bilozir - this is how the inhabitants of Ukraine and the post-Soviet space remember him. 21 years ago, on May 28, 2000, an unfortunate tragic event occurred in the domestic show business.
On this day, the life of Igor Bilozir, the famous composer, singer and artistic director of the legendary VIA Vatra, unexpectedly ended. More than 100 thousand people gathered to see the artist on his last journey. They talked about the fact that it was on that "rainy" day that the Ukrainian song was "killed".
Society with warmth and love recalls the life and creative path of the composer, who considered himself a student of Vladimir Ivasyuk (author of the song "Chervona Ruta").
Since childhood with music
According to the composer, childhood is the most defining in our life. Happy is the person who manages to combine the work of adult and mature life with the naive dreams of childhood. Talented and purposeful individuals do not look for reasons, motivation to do something, because they are used to creating from their youth. The life story of Igor Bilozir was no exception.
Igor was born on March 24, 1955 in the city of Radekhov (Lviv region). He was the fourth child in the family. In high school, he already tried to write music, created his own school ensemble, played at weddings. Igor was a conscientious and obedient guy.
In the spring of 1969, all seventh graders were sent to the circus during spring break. Only Igor did not go, instead he visited the regional radio, went to Marta Kinsevich. Then she was the most popular announcer on the radio and hosted the author's program about pop music "The Wandering Meridian".
Thanks to experience and intuition, Marta Lvovna realized that not only a “fanatical” boy who “dreams about the radio” or wants to be an announcer came to visit her, but she also saw him as a future big star. She believed the guy, making him the first professional recording of songs.
Igor, a seventh-grader, did not know musical notation. And from what he then recorded on the radio, the song “Loves - does not love” and some parts that he used in “Wheat outweighed” VIA “Vatra” remained.
The emergence of VIA "Vatra" and the influence of Vladimir Ivasyuk
It was after a visit to the radio to Martha Kinsevich that the guy decided to link his future with music. He entered the choirmaster department of the Lviv Musical College. Then Bilozir also graduated from the conducting department of the Lviv Conservatory. To receive a diploma, it remained only to defend it. But the work of the poet Bogdan Stelmakh, on whose words Igor wrote his thesis - the rock opera "The Wall", was banned. The defense of the diploma was postponed for several years and offered options - to rewrite the work or take another author. In his work, Bilozir was not ready to compromise and showed character. Actually, he never received a diploma of higher education as a composer.
An interesting fact about the intricacies of various destinies is that Bilozir studied with the same teacher as Vladimir Ivasyuk - Leshek Mazepa. Although Igor was not friends with Vladimir, he often recalled how they sat side by side at lectures. On June 4, 1977, Igor Bilozir married Oksana Rozumkevich. And he headed the first team - the ensemble "Rhythms of the Carpathians" of the Lviv Bus Plant.
On June 25, 1979, a vocal and instrumental ensemble "Vatra" was created at the regional philharmonic society under the direction of Igor Bilozir. The ensemble members dreamed of beautiful stage costumes, lights and microphones. They "crafted" loudspeakers. The first trips to far and near areas and villages were by bus. Participants more than once pulled him out of snowdrifts or swamps.
The repertoire included songs, words and music for which Igor Bilozir wrote. It was then that he first showed himself as a professional independent composer. Pleasant gifts were made to Igor by actor Yuri Brilinsky. He gave the artist his historical grand piano for a new apartment, which did not fit in the room of the theater hostel. In 1980, Yuri introduced Igor to Bogdan Stelmakh (his favorite poet). Bilozir received texts that were intended for the tragically deceased Vladimir Ivasyuk.
Igor Bilozir: Creative career development
Stelmakh and Bilozir found mutual understanding right away. Both loved to stay up until the morning and create. This is how their first joint compositions appeared, with which Bilozir later glorified "Bonfire". The team gained its first recognition in Ternopil. In April 1981, VIA "Vatra" became not only a laureate of the IV republican contest of the Komsomol song "Young Voices", but also its bright discovery.
Igor offered his first successful songs to Sofia Rotaru. But she did not take them, since the texts were of a male nature. At the beginning of the history of the Vatra group, there was nothing feminine, except for vocals, only men soloed. The backing vocalists were Oksana Bilozir, Marta Lozinskaya and Svetlana Solyanik. Subsequently, for more than 10 years, Igor wrote songs mainly for Oksana, who later became the soloist of VIA Vatra.
On January 1, 1982, the musical television film of the Lviv television “Vatra” calls for a holiday” was released for the first time. For 7-10 years of concerts and the first television versions of the Chervona Ruta music festival, this was the most modern product. This is a new combination of the possibilities of television and music, the creation of a musical film portrait of celebrities. The result is an insane, unsurpassed, but fair success.
Relationship of power to creativity
The Soviet Union has not yet weakened its influence. Therefore, the participants later had a lot of trouble - reprimands, dismissals, persecution by cultural officials. The official authorities expressed many claims to VIA "Vatra" for nationalism, religious allusions, conservatism, etc.
At the highest levels of processing folk songs, the bold and modern rhythms of Igor's talent were perceived not musically, but politically. That is, on the one hand, there was a serious popular passion for VIA Vatra. On the other hand, the authorities constantly put obstacles in the development of musicians.
It was because of this pressure that the ensemble was much better perceived during the world tour in Central Asia, the East, Hungary and Germany than in their native lands. This was the situation during the 1980s, until in 1990 Igor accepted an invitation for an internship in the USA and Canada. There he had a goal - to master the professional music business, learn how to work with new musical equipment. But he realized that he would not last so long away from his homeland.
When he returned home, he divorced his first wife and buried his father. All this greatly influenced the cheerful and optimistic artist. In the late 1990s, he remarried and continued to write songs and instrumental music. But there was no popular glory and recognition yet. Only in 1997 Bilozir was awarded the title of "People's Artist of Ukraine".
On the night of May 8-9, 2000, Igor Bilozir was severely beaten for singing Ukrainian songs in the Imperial Coffee cafe. This happened in front of dozens of people in the center of Lviv, 500 steps from Igor's parental home. On May 28, the musician's heart stopped forever in the hospital. On May 30, more than 100 thousand people saw off the famous composer on his last journey.
Igor Bilozir: unknown side of life
Gifted people rarely focus on just one area of their lives. They require a lot of energy to realize their plans, so they boldly try on other incarnations. Not all fans of the artist knew that he was "one of his own" in the world of Ukrainian cinema. The artist even made his debut in it in 1985 as part of Grigory Kokhan's television mini-series Karmelyuk.
Actor Ivan Gavrilyuk, who spoke about this period of Igor's life, met the composer in 1977 on the set of the film Atonement for Other People's Sins. They were introduced by the legendary actor, superstar and sex symbol of Russian cinema Ivan Mykolaichuk. He played a major role in Sergei Parajanov's film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors.
Gavrilyuk recalled that he was impressed by the ease with which Igor Bilozir found a common language with people. Even the role in the TV series "Karmelyuk" he got by chance. He just came during the filming to the hotel room of Gavrilyuk's friend. And director Grigory Kokhan joined the conversation. And after a few minutes he said: “Igor, you are filming a movie tomorrow!”.
Artist hobby
In addition to this "cinematic episode", Igor Bilozir was also a passionate football fan. He was charged from the emotions of the fans and the game on the field. Of course, he supported the Lviv football club "Karpaty" and was friends with the team members. In turn, the legend of Ukrainian football Stepan Yurchyshyn attended concerts of VIA Vatra. Igor was not only a football connoisseur, but also a practitioner. He loved to put on a uniform and run, always "trained" and attracted his fellow musicians to play.
Was "his" Bilozir in the theater. The director and actor Fyodor Strigun recalled that Igor often went to the National Drama Theater. Maria Zankovetskaya. He liked the special atmosphere and possibilities of the theater. Therefore, he had another goal to be realized as a theatrical composer. Bilozir's first serious "pen test" in the theater took place in 1985 during the premiere of the play Oleksa Dovbush. Fedor Strigun was appointed chief director of the Drama Theater. Zankovetskaya. After that, Igor had more opportunities to carry out projects on the theater stage.
