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Friday, December 1, 2006

The vote that changed Ukraine

Fifteeen years ago today, Ukrainians voted to approved their country's independence, and voted for its first President, Leonid Kravchuk. During those years there was a renaissance on the Ukrainian music scene, groups like Mertviy Piven [Dead Rooster], Plach Yeremii [Jermiah's Cry], Braty Hadiukyny, and others were breaking on to the scene, just to mention a few.

But one of my favourites was a group out of L'viv called Opalenyj Prince [The Disgraced Prince] they put together some very interesting material, blending traditional Ukrainian music with what could only call their own sound. After that historic vote fifteen years ago today, their song Nash Prapor [Our Flag] was heard throughout the country. It was a song of hope and the return of pride to a nation that had been under the yoke of both Tsarist and Soviet regimes.

A number of wiki's I've read have noted that it is not certain what the fate of Rostyslav and Yuri Shtyn two of the members of that group. I know they ended up in Germany for a while, and then Rostyslav ended up in Vancouver where he spent a number of years.

The lead man of that group went on to start up an music agency called Rostyslav Show which assisted many groups to get their talent on stage, artists such as Skriabyn, Vika Vradiy, Mertvyj Piven, Iryna Bilyk and Oksana Bilozir.


1 comment:

  1. OK, if Rostyslav is still in Vancouver, you absolutely have to help us connect!

    ReplyDelete