Rock band "Okean Elzy"became famous thanks to a talented performer, songwriter and successful musician, whose name is Svyatoslav Vakarchuk. The presented team, together with Svyatoslav, gathers full halls and stadiums of fans of his work.
The songs written by Vakarchuk are designed for a diverse genre audience. Both young people and music lovers of the older generation come to his concerts.
The popularity of Vakarchuk increased several times after the release of the movie "Brother-2". In the film, two songs of the Okean Elzy group were performed - “If you are dumb” and “Kavachai”. The songs were included in the soundtrack album for the film "Brother-2". Svyatoslav Vakarchuk took an active part in the life of the country. The singer was the chairman of the political party "Voice" 2019-2020. In addition, he is a People's Deputy of Ukraine of the sixth and ninth convocations.
Svyatoslav Vakarchuk - childhood and youth
The future rock musician and singer-songwriter Svyatoslav Ivanovich Vakarchuk was born on May 14, 1975 in the city of Mukachevo. The singer's father, Ivan Aleksandrovich Vakarchuk, is from the Moldavian USSR. In Lviv, he worked as the rector of the Lviv National University, and was also the Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine.
Svyatoslav's mother, Svetlana Alexandrovna Vakarchuk, is a native of the city of Mukachevo. After moving to Lviv, she was an assistant professor at the Lviv National Academy of Veterinary Medicine named after I. S. Gzhitsky. In her spare time she was fond of painting. Vyacheslav has a younger brother Oleg. He found his calling in banking.
For the first two months after the birth of Svyatoslav, the family lived with the grandmother of the future singer. Later they moved to Lviv in order to give an excellent education to their children.
In Lviv, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk went to the 1st grade, to school No. 4 with in-depth study of the English language. Svyatoslav developed his abilities in music by attending a music school in the class of violin and button accordion. During his school years, he actively participated in theatrical productions, KVN.
School subjects were easy for Svyatoslav Vakarchuk. The guy graduated from high school with a silver medal. After receiving secondary education, Svyatoslav followed in the footsteps of his parents. He applied to the I. Frank Lviv National University with a degree in Theoretical Physics. In addition, he has another diploma of higher education behind him. Vakarchuk's second profession is an International Economist.
After receiving two diplomas, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk decided to enter the graduate school of the Department of Theoretical Physics. Writing a dissertation was delayed for years due to musical activities. The dissertation on the topic "Supersymmetry of electrons in a magnetic field" was defended only in 2009. Later, Vakarchuk recorded his album Supersymmetry.
No matter how easy the exact sciences were given to Svyatoslav, he wanted to realize himself in musical creativity. While still a student, he met the art group "Clan of Silence", speaking with them in city cafes and Palaces of Culture. This was the beginning of his musical career.
Svyatoslav Vakarchuk and the founding of the Okean Elzy group
Andrey Golyak created the group "Clan of Silence" in 1993. The group included: vocalist Andrei Golyak, Denis Glinin (percussion instruments), Pavel Gudimov (guitar), Yuri Khustochka (bass guitar). All the guys were young students. In their free time, they rehearsed songs in the style of pop and pop rock. At that time, the group was little known. They performed at the Palaces of Culture in Lviv, at student festivals, apartment houses.
Svyatoslav Vakarchuk was friends with the guys in the group. Once he accidentally got to the band's rehearsal and immediately began to make his own amendments to the creative process. The children liked the musical plans of the beginning singer.
Then the team members already had disagreements with Andrei Golyak regarding the musical direction of the group. The musicians decided to create a new group led by Svyatoslav Vakarchuk. Andrey Golyak was forced to leave the project.
When the question arose about the name of the group, Svyatoslav suggested the word "ocean". On television at that time there was a popular program "Odyssey" with Jean Cousteau, a French explorer of the oceans. Combining the word "ocean" and the female name "Elsa", the name of the group "Okean Elzy" was obtained.
The first members of the team were:
- Svyatoslav Vakarchuk (vocals);
- Pavel Gudimov (guitar);
- Yuri Khustochka (bass guitar);
- Denis Glinin (percussion instruments).
Since 1996, the team under the auspices of Svyatoslav Vakarchuk began to actively tour. After a series of concerts on the territory of their native Ukraine, the guys visited Poland, France and Germany. In 1998, Vakarchuk and his team finally moved to the capital. Then he presented his debut solo album "There, de we are dumb."
The peak of popularity of the Ukrainian rock band was in 2001. It was then that the musicians presented the disc "Model". "Fans" of the Okean Elzy group consider the presented album to be the best in the group's discography.
Svyatoslav Vakarchuk worked not only in the group, but also outside it. Solo projects testify to this. In 2008, the musician presented several solo works. Two lyrical compositions are relevant to this day. These are the songs “So, yak ti” and “Don't lower your eyes”.
Discography of the Okean Elzy group:
- 1998 - "There, de we are dumb."
- 2000 - "I'm in the sky buv."
- 2001 - "Model".
- 2003 - Supersymmetry.
- 2005 Gloria.
- 2007 - "Mira".
- 2010 Dolce Vita.
- 2016 - "Without inter".
Founding of the Brussels project
In 2011, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk introduced the fans of his work to the new solo project "Brussels". To promote the project, the Ukrainian singer went on a concert tour and shot video clips for the compositions Airplane and Adrenaline.
For two years Svyatoslav Vakarchuk worked on the creation of a solo album. Soon, fans were enjoying the tracks from the Earth record. It is known that the collection was released with the support of the famous producer Ken Nelson. Among the songs included in the disc, the fans really liked the tracks “Hug” and “Shoot”.
Personal life of Svyatoslav Vakarchuk
Lyalya Fonaryova is the only woman who has been living in the heart of a Ukrainian musician for more than 30 years. Interestingly, the lovers lived in a civil marriage for 15 years. And in 2015, they decided to officially legalize the relationship.
Svyatoslav Vakarchuk does not like to discuss the topic of his personal life. The only thing he repeats to reporters is: "I have a family and I'm happy." The couple does not have common children, but Lyalya is raising a daughter from a previous marriage, Diana.
In June 2021, it became known that one of the strongest Ukrainian couples was getting divorced. Svyatoslav Vakarchuk wrote that after many years of marriage, he was breaking up with Lyalya Fonareva. He did not name the reasons that led to such a serious decision. Svyatoslav thanked Lyalya for 20 years of family life and his daughter.
Interesting facts about Svyatoslav Vakarchuk
- Vakarchuk studied in graduate school for 13 years.
- Svyatoslav is the author of the popular composition "Win check on her", the performer of which is Alexander Ponomarev.
- The singer is interested in Buddhism and Japanese culture.
- Favorite writers of Vakarchuk: Franco, Murakami, Mishima.
- In 2015, it became known that Vakarchuk became a student at Yale University for four months under the Yale World Fellow training program for world leaders.
Svyatoslav Vakarchuk today
In 2020, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk turned 45 years old. The Ukrainian musician continues to be actively engaged in creativity. In particular, this year there was a presentation of a new track. We are talking about the musical composition "If we become ourselves." A music video was later released for the track.
In addition, the leader of the Okean Elzy group announced that he continues to record a new disc and prepare a “homemade” musical surprise for Ukrainians who are in quarantine.
“The new LP has been recorded in such a calm mode for more than one month. We already have prepared tracks, some of them are already literally recorded. I'm doing exactly this. I'm recording the album remotely, but sometimes you have to break the rules."
Svyatoslav Vakarchuk in 2021
On March 6, 2021, Vakarchuk pleased the fans of his work with the release of a solo album. The record was called "Greenhouse". The LP topped 12 tracks. Recall that this is the third solo album of Svyatoslav.
On the first day of June 2021, the rapper Alyona Alyona and Svyatoslav Vakarchuk presented the musical work "The Land of Children" especially for the International Children's Day. The artists dedicated the composition to Ukrainian children who suffered from the war and terrorist attacks.
