Talented, educated, charismatic - this can be described as Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, the leader of the Ukrainian group "Ocean Elzy". By his work, the famous musician showed that good music is beyond language barriers and political passions.
Childhood and youth
The future Ukrainian rock musician was born in the city of Mukachevo in Transcarpathia. His childhood and youth passed in Lviv. The boy’s father was a teacher at the university, later headed this university, and a few years later - the entire education system in Ukraine. The Vakarchuk family had several generations of teachers: mother taught physics at the university, grandmother - Honored Teacher of Ukraine. Svyatoslav graduated from high school with a silver medal and entered the Physics Department of Leningrad State University. At the same time, he was educated as an international economist and studied foreign languages. The result of postgraduate studies was the defense of the dissertation. After that, Slava could continue his studies abroad or engage in scientific work, but unexpectedly for all he chose a career as a musician.
Creation
Even in school years, Vakarchuk's creative abilities showed up: he played the violin, mastered the button accordion, was the permanent captain of the KVN team and a member of the amateur theater. During the study, the freshman got acquainted with the musicians of the "Clan of Silence" group, with some of them there was a long-term cooperation.
In 1994, Svyatoslav created a musical group and became its permanent vocalist. Impressed by the underwater adventures of the Cousteau team, the leader called the team "Ocean Elsie." Having successfully shown himself at several festivals, the team went to conquer the capital. Their debut album, "There, de nes mute" was recorded in one of the studios in Kiev in 1998. The unusual lyrical manner of performing a rock musician captivated the audience, the performances of Vakarchuk and his team gathered full halls. The musician made his first visit to Russia in 2000 at the Invasion festival. His compositions became especially popular after being sounded in the picture of Alexey Balabanov "Brother-2". Now the artist’s songs are often heard in many beloved tapes.
Soon the new album "Supersimetria" (2003), which fans consider one of the best, saw the light of day, became platinum. The same fate was prepared for the album Model (2005), twice platinum. One hundred thousand copies of the disc dispersed instantly. The collections of Vnochi (2008) and Dolce Vita (2010), together with the musicians of Ocean Elsi, recorded more than three dozen popular artists. A year later, a musical project and the self-titled album "Brussels" appeared. With this collection, the guys went on a tour of the country. In 2013, the songwriter pleased fans with the new disc "Earth" and new tours in the cities of Ukraine and Russia. Ukraine musician applauded Poland, France, Germany. A wonderful gift was received by fans of the group in 2014. At the concert of your favorite band "Ocean Elsie - 20 years together!" 75 thousand spectators came.
An interesting page in Vakarchuk’s creative biography was the role of a mentor of the Ukrainian show “Voice of the Land”. Members of his team twice became winners of the country's main vocal competition.
Political activity
During the Orange Revolution, Vakarchuk, along with many Ukrainian musicians, spoke out in support of the opposition. In the 2007 parliamentary elections, Svyatoslav received a deputy mandate from the Our Ukraine Party. He several times from the rostrum made proposals for amendments to draft laws, participated in the work of the Verkhovna Rada Committee for Relations with the Russian Federation and other countries. A year later, the people's deputy decided to resign and fully devote himself to creativity.
Vakarchuk took an active part in Euromaidan. On the main square of the capital, “Ocean Elsie” gave a concert in support of the protesters. The leader of the group explained his speech not by political orientation, but by disagreement with the use of force against protesters.
