The Maneken is a Ukrainian pop and rock band that creates luxury music. This solo project of Evgeny Filatov, which originated in the capital of Ukraine in 2007.
Carier start
The founder of the group was born in May 1983 in Donetsk in a musical family. At the age of 5, he already knew how to play the drum, and soon mastered other musical instruments.
By his 17th birthday, he was successfully playing the guitar, keyboards and percussion instruments, while not having an academic musical education. He also had a passion for playing records on a DJ mixer.
Since 1999, he has been DJing under the pseudonym Dj Major. The most famous remix then was his work on the composition of the pop duo Smash Belle, thanks to which he was very popular.
By the end of 2000, he performed with many musicians and vocalists, even managed to release his own record, although it was released in a small circulation.
In 2002, Filatov decided to move to Kyiv, where he got a job as a sound producer and arranger in the studio.
He spent a lot of time in the studio, while he successfully worked with many famous Ukrainian performers, creating remixes of their songs, recording soundtracks for films and commercials, and also writing his own compositions.
The first album and successful career of Filatov
Evgeny Filatov began his performances in 2007. The following year, his debut album First Look was released. All the compositions included in it, Eugene created and recorded on his own.
At the same time, he had to consistently perform all the parts. In the same year, he acted as a sound producer in the recording of the reality show Love and Music.
In 2009 Evgeny opened his own production studio. Ukrainian performers and groups successfully collaborated with the Major Music Box studio.
Many of them are well acquainted with Filatov from those times when he was just starting to create remixes for their songs.
Since 2011, he has collaborated with the Ukrainian singer Jamala. The sound producer made significant contributions to her debut album, For Every Heart, and also worked on the songs on her second album.
He was the arranger of Jamala's songs with which she participated in the Ukrainian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2016.
In 2013, Evgeny Filatov started a joint project with his future wife Nata Zhizhchenko, whom he had known since 2008.
The ONUKA project received universal recognition almost immediately. Filatov took up creating music for the group and directed numerous video clips. However, he did not stop individual performances.
In 2018 and 2019 he was a member of the jury that selected songs for the Eurovision Song Contest. Together with him, Jamala was on the jury, as well as Andrei Danilko.
Despite the fact that the selection for Eurovision 2019 was held, the finalists refused to participate in the song contest.
Creation of a full-fledged group
Since the beginning of his solo career in 2009, Evgeny Filatov has traveled to many countries with his tours. He has taken part in many festivals, among which Kazantip and Pure Future in Lithuania can be distinguished.
Foreign record companies drew attention to him, with the help of which The Maneken began to publish their music abroad. An important stage in his career was a meeting with Charlie Stadler.
This acquaintance grew into a long-term cooperation. Charlie wrote many compositions for Filatov, which were included in the second album of Soulmate Sublime.
It was for the performance of the album that Evgeny Filatov gathered live musicians. The group included guitarist Maxim Shevchenko, who previously played in the Infection group, bass guitarist Andrei Gagauz from the Underwood group, and Denis Marinkin, former drummer of the Zemfira group.
The release of the new album took place in April 2011. The Maneken also presented the album in Los Angeles at the main forum of the world music industry Mus Expo-2011.
The record was released for sale, but Filatov himself decided to post it on the band's official website, where anyone could download it for free.
In 2014, the band released the album The Best, and the following year they performed together on the same stage with the British band Everything Everything. At the end of 2015, the band began work on a new album.
During 2016, The Maneken released three mini-albums. They became the basis of the full Sale album.
This album presented both the group's solo projects and their collaborations with Gaitana, ONUKA, Nicole K and other famous performers and bands.
The Maneken is an electronic scene project that can create classy music. Their style follows global trends and inherits various musical interests.
The group knows how to create high-class music that the public likes. This is exactly what she does, and critics predict a great future for an already existing project.
