Decades
1970s
The 1970s saw the emergence of a number of folk rock groups in Ukraine. One of the most prominent was a group known as Kobza which included 2 electric banduras. Initially it started off as an instrumental group playing folk inspired cool jazz. Other groups gradually appeared on the scene primarily from Western Ukraine such as Medikus and Smerichka. Major contributions to Ukrainain pop music were made by songwriter Volodymyr Ivasiuk and singers Sofia Rotaru and Nazariy Yaremchuk.
In a development the KGB defined as "radio hooliganism", from the end of the sixties thousands of high-school and college students In Dnipropetrovsk became ham radio enthusiasts, recording and rebroadcasting western popular music. Annual KGB reports regularly drew a connection between anti-Soviet behavior and enthusiasm for western pop culture, but in 1980 conceded that all ideological and police efforts had failed to stem its spread.[1]
1980s
After the death of Volodymyr Ivasyuk in 1979, developments in Ukrainian pop music almost ground to a halt. Even established folk -rock groups such as Kobza began to sing in Russian. The songs of Ivasiuk were rarely heard on the radio and many of the established singers such as Sofia Rotaru began to sing in Russian exclusively.
Many Ukrainian musicians moved to Moscow, and various Moscow-based pop groups created songs in the Ukrainian language such as the group Samotvety – Verba.
Following Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika reforms, a small number of pop acts such as Russya and Vechirnya Shkola came on the scene, performing in the genre Soviet italo disco pop that was becoming popular throughout the USSR.
1990s
The 1990s saw an explosion in the Ukrainian Pop music world. This was brought on by the Chervona Ruta Festival which was held in Chernivtsi in 1989 and sponsored by the Kobza corporation and Pisennyi Vernisazh, and New Ukrainian Wave 92 (Kyiv) sponsored and produced by the Rostyslav - Show Agency. At the end of the 80's it was considered that Ukrainian language based rock would not be influential, but the sponsoring of an exclusively Ukrainian-language music festival did much to change this perception. Music groups that came to prominence at this time were:
- Komu Vnyz
- Ne zhurys'
- Taras Petrynenko and Hrono
In the 1990s Ukrainian music was still growing in popularity. Green Grey was by far the most popular trip hop group in the country and the first Ukrainian band that was endorsed by Pepsi. The band did many concerts internationally. At the end of the 90's the most popular Ukrainian pop singer among teenagers was Yurko Yurchenko. Many compared the level of fanaticism among the visitors of his concerts with the band "The Beatles".
2000s
In recent times folkloric elements have made a resurgence in modern Ukrainian pop music. Hutsul folk melodies, rhythms and dance moves were used by Ruslana, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004.
- Sofia Rotaru – released a number of Ukrainian language albums that were in top chart positions (Yedinomu)
- Okean Elzy – popular rock band
- Ruslana – singer, composer, pianist, conductor - Won the Eurovision Song contest for Ukraine in 2004
- Verka Serduchka – singer
- Svetlana Loboda – singer
- VIA GRA
- nikitA
- neAngely
- Potap & Kamenskikh
- Vremya I Steklo Highly popular duo with the biggest name recognition in the West of all Ukrainian and Russian Language artists
- Ani Lorak
- Anyuta Slavskaya
- Natalka Karpa
- Natalia Mohilevska (Nataliya Mogilёvskaya)
- Zlata Ognevich – singer – represented Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 and participated in the Ukrainian national selections in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
- Anastasia Prikhodko – singer – represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 and participated in the Ukrainian national selection in 2009, 2011 and 2016.
Ukrainian pop and folk music rose in popularity around the world with groups like Vopli Vidoplyasova, Viy and Okean Elzy.
The group Kazaky became one of Ukraine's first outfits to achieve a degree of international recognition only weeks after its constitution in 2010 by relying on the impact of its video through the internet.
2010s
Despite the deteriorated relations between Ukraine and Russia in 2016, new Ukrainian bands achieved Russian charts success. The wave of Ukrainian artists making Russian chart success has been labeled "UkrPop".[2] Since the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, Okean Elzy and BoomBox stopped performing in Russia,[2] but they were one of the few Ukrainian artists to do so.[2] Most tried to avoid making political statements and continued to perform in Russia.[2] Ukrainian artists and bands with rising success in the 2010s include Maruv, Kazka and The Hardkiss.
In 2016, Ukraine won the Eurovision Song Contest for the second time, this time with Jamala's song 1944, which was partly sung in Crimean Tatar.
On 8 November 2018, a law came into force that mandated Ukrainian radio stations to broadcast no less than 35% of songs in Ukrainian. If 60% of songs are played in the official languages of the European Union, then 25% is the minimum.[3][4][5]
