Okean Elzy

Okean Elzy (Ukrainian: Океан Ельзи, translation: Elza's Ocean) is one of the most successful and popular Ukrainian rock bands. It was formed in 1994 in Lviv, Ukraine. The band's vocalist and frontman is Svyatoslav Vakarchuk. Okean Elzy is best-loved Ukrainian rock band not only in Ukraine but also in most CIS countries. In April 2007 Okean Elzy received FUZZ Magazine music awards as “Best rock act”.

The band Okean Elzy was founded in 1994 by 4 young guys from Lviv, Ukraine. The original line-up featured lead vocal, lead guitar, bass guitar and drums. Throughout 1994 the band spent their time preparing themselves for the "big time".
Their first concert took place in front of the majestic Lviv Opera Theatre on 14th of January in 1995. Shortly after that breakthrough appearance they released a demo tape called very simply 'DEMO 94-95'. In 1995 they also participated for the first time in the two biggest (at the time) Ukrainian music festivals - Chervona Ruta and Melodiya.
In 1996 the band establish themselves on the festival circuit in Ukraine and beyond. Okean Elzy participated at Sribna Pidkova Festival, Alternative 2, Perlyny Sezonu, Tavriyski Ihry, Hernsbach (Germany), Trash 96, and R.F.I. 96 (France).
In 1996 Okean Elzy also held their first concert outside Lviv. Their first appearance in Kiev took place in 1996 where they supported Deep Purple. In November-December of that year they recorded and released the group's first maxi-single "Budynok zi skla" (House of glass). Shortly afterwards the first movie about these rock stars was made by TV Channel TET (Kiev, Ukraine) and was broadcast nationally.
1997 saw tours in the south of France and West Germany. Back to Ukraine they held a monster concert in their hometown of Lviv, drawing massive crowds.
The band's big break came in 1998, when they made the decision to move to the capital city of Ukraine - Kiev. Here they started work on their first album "Tam, de nas nema" (There, where we are not). The group's first music video was recorded for the song "Tam, de nas nema". This video will stay remembered as the first Ukrainian music video to make its mark on MTV Russia, as well as France's MCM Channel.
At the very beginning of 1999 Okean Elzy started to work on their second album "Ya na nebi buv" (I was in the sky). In May the group decided to try and conquer Russia. Their first concert was at the legendary festival Maxidrom. There were thousands of people there who already knew their songs, even singing along.
On 16th of September they played a solo concert at the MCM Cafe (Paris, France).

In 2000 exactly one year after they started working on "Ya na nebi buv" the album was released.
On 5th of February Okean Elzy held a solo concert at legendary Astoria Club (London, UK). In March the keyboard player joined the band.
In 2001 Okean Elzy became new face of Pepsi Cola in Ukraine as the new millennium dawned. They have released their third album "Model". They started big tour around Ukraine called "Ask For More". In August they started to work on their fourth album - "Supersymetriya" (Supersymmetry). The album was eventually released in 2003 and immediately the group embarked on their biggest tour ever.
At the end of 2003 Svyatoslav Vakarchuk as the frontman of the band became an official Ambassador of Ukrainian Culture.
In 2004 Denys Dudko (one of the best jazz bass players in Ukraine) and Milosh Jelic (composer from Novi Sad, Serbia) joined the band.
During the "Orange Revolution" Okean Elzy actively supported the democratic changes which the population were demanding, with Slava emerging as a figurehead of the revolution.

In 2005 Petro Cherniavsky joined the band.
On September 22, 2005, Okean Elzy released their new album GLORIA. After that the band went on tour (30 cities in Ukraine and 10 in Russia).
In September 2005, Slava became UN’s Ambassador of Good Will. Also, in September Okean Elzy started joint campaign with IOM and MTV Europe Foundation – fighting human trafficking. Svyatoslav Vakarchuk as UN’s Ambassador of Goodwill during 2006 year had different meetings with students at Ukrainian and Poland universities. Now Svyatoslav provides a huge social project running to propagate reading as a natural process. General idea of this project is to draw attention of young people to books and help fight illiteracy.
In November 2006, Okean Elzy visited Kosovo, Serbia, where musicians had a concert for peace makers from Ukraine, Poland, Germany, USA and other countries, which include international contingent of peace makers.
During the Football World Cup 2006 in Germany Okean Elzy actively supported the Ukrainian national team and cheered the fans with their songs. The last song of the band called “Veseli, brate, chasy nastaly...” (Oh, brother, merry times came...) as always made a huge splash in Ukraine. The song and the video were released as a single and all money profited would be donated to the child care center treating AIDS. Charity activities play a major role in OE's life.
In April 2006 OE went on tour, which includes Chicago, New York and Toronto, where thousands sang along their songs.
On April 25, 2007, Okean Elzy released a new album Mira (Measure). After that the band went on a huge nationwide tour. During the month they held tremendous concerts in 27 Ukrainian cities. Outstanding feature round "Mira" is that all the presentations were of a large site, which dominated stadiums and sports palaces. The concerts attended by more than 120,000 fans group, which has become a regular record "Okean Elzy". For the two Kiev concerts the attendance was about 24,000 total. In the history of Ukraine only Okean Elzy "for the second time (after round of "GLORIA") brought so many people in one place in such a short time.
Currently Okean Elzy is on their Dolce Vita-tour which includes concerts in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Europe and North America.