Ruslana
Ruslana |
|---|
Ruslana Stepanivna Lyzhychko (born May 24 1973 in Lviv, Ukraine, Template:Lang-uk) is a singer, dancer, producer, composer, conductor, and piano player. She was also the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004.
Biography
Early life
From the age of 4, Ruslana was studying at an experimental musical school, at the same time performing her numbers in a vocal-instrumental band Horizon, in which her mother, a professional musician, had been singing. That was the time when Ruslana's creative development has started - the microphone became her favorite toy whereas the scene - a place of the best child's impressions and memories. In this very time Ruslana decided to sing and dedicate her life to music. She believes, her debut, that took place when she was 4, was a performance at a L'viv festival The Golden Autumn with the band and an orchestra, where she got her first trophy, The Grand Prix. A life of a professional musician full of concerts, competitions, festivals, that hasn't stopped for a day, has begun at a children's vocal-instrumental band Smile under the direction of Arkady Kouzin. After graduation from a ten-year secondary school with mathematical bias, and a ten year school attached to a conservatory, where she studied playing piano as her major, Ruslana entered a L'viv State Musical Institute, the faculty of choir and orchestra conducting, where she fell in love with symphonic orchestra and decided that her music was going to have both modern and symphonic sounding.
1993-1997: Career beginnings
Ruslana started her career as a winner of Slavyansky Bazar song competition in 1996. In the same year she became a laureate of the All-Ukrainian Contest of modern popular music Chervona Ruta-93 and the All-Ukrainian festival Taras Bul'ba. That's when she got a considerable experience and also felt urge to change her style, way of singing, music... And the first song of new Ruslana was "Ty" ("You"), dedicated to a man who devoted himself to Ruslana - a co-producer, a sound producer, a singer for a Club of Tea's Fans band and her husband Oleksander Ksenophontov.
Ruslana won the Grand Prix of the All-Ukrainian television festival of pop music Melody - 94. Also, in the same year, in the city of L'viv was founded a professional audio-advertising company, The Luxen Studio, the main squad of which consisted of Oleksander Ksenophontov (sound producer, specialist in a broadcasting and professional audio technologies, director) and Ruslana (sound producer, deputy director) whose voice became well-known in the entire Ukraine, Russia and abroad due to prestigious commercials produced by her. The Luxen Studio was repeatedly awarded for the best national commercials at the prestigious Ukrainian advertising expositions and contests. The headbands and commercials made by the Luxen Studio, have been on the air of quite a number of state and private broadcasting companies. Currently, this is one of the largest and the most contemporary advertising studios of European standard in Ukraine, conditioned DDD standard. The Luxen Studio is one of the first that rendered assistance to development of national advertising, and regardless of not being much in demand among customers, insisted on producing high-quality, creative commercials.
Ruslana graduated from L'viv State Musical Institute. On December 28, 1995, a long-term relationship between Ruslana and Oleksander got an official status - they got married. They planned to have children in the first years of the 21st century. A wish to make something considerable and impressive, fulfill her dreams resulted in a plan-air of art, that took place on January 19, 1996. where there appeared the idea of a new All-Ukrainian project Dzvinkyi viter ("Wind Bells"), a producer of which became Ruslana herself.
In 1996, a single concert with a rock-band, symphonic orchestra and choir, dedicated to fivecentenary of Renaissance Epoque, took place in an ancient castle and on a scene of the L'viv Opera Theater. Besides, in this year another considerable event occurred in Ruslana's life - participation in the International festival of art Slavonic fair-96, where she won the main trophy. But that wasn't the only achievement of Ruslana in 1996 - she also became a laureate of the First All-Ukrainian National Show The Person of the Year in nomination of "Singer of the year '96". In the same period, when phonogram dominated on a scene, Ruslana's project popularized live sound in Ukraine. The video for "Dzvinkyi Viter" was named "Best video of the year" at the television festival The Golden Era.
In 1997, Ruslana began workin on Christmas with Ruslana - the first L'viv Christmas television project of All-Ukrainian scale, that went off within the bounds of already well-known project Dzvinkyi Viter. This Christmas project consisted of an animated video clip The Ballad of Princess (the first animated music video in Ukraine), premiere of which took place on a channel Studio 2+2, in a TV show Christmas with Ruslana - a big acoustic solo-concert of Ruslana accompanied by a Chamber orchestra Virtuosos of L'viv, Chamber choir and the art band Club of Tea's fans. It aired on January 6th and 19th, 1998 on a TV channel Inter and an expanded press conference of Mass media from different regions of Ukraine. Aside from that, Ruslana became a laureate of a Festival Tavriyskie Igry in a nomination "Best singer of the year 1997", and winner in a nomination "Star of the Variety 97" of a regional show ryshtalevyi Lev, and a prize-winner at a National show of popular music "Song of the Year - 97".
1998-1999
Ruslana released her first EP Myt' Vesny - Dzvinkyj Viter ("In an instant of spring - Sonorous wind.") in 1998. "For me the winged words of this season became 'A moment of Spring'.", Ruslana said about the EP, "This is the mood that I'm trying to express in my music and lyrics, in a video Svitanok ("Sunrise") which is associated with spring, the power of the sun; in a collection of concert apparel..." The project consisted of the promo actions such as:
- Release of two albums - Myt' Vesny and The best live shows of 'Dzvikyi Viter' 96-98.
- The music video to "Svitanok", the basis of which was an optimistic idea of all-triumphant power of the celebration of love, the main character of which was Ruslana herself. "Svitanok", the song and the video became a 'calling card' of the singer. That was the unveiling of fairy world of the Ukrainian Carpathians, scenery of Ukrainian sunrises. In this year Ruslana presented her first album Myt' Vesny. The song "Svitanok" won a trophy, "The Golden Firebird - 98" in nomination of "Song of the Year", and the music video "Svitanok" got a trophy in nomination for "Best Music Video of the Year".
- A new collection of apparel by Rousha Polyakova was created especially for the project Myt' Vesny, exclusively for Ruslana.
- On August 1st, the new charitable project The Tour of Castles of Ukraine was organized, on a purpose to draw attention to old architectural relicts and monuments. Profit gotten from gigs of this project were spent on restoration of Pidhoretsky Castle - the very first castle in Ukraine (1675), the "Pearl of the Golden Horseshoe", which also includes well-known castles such as Oles'ky, Svirzhksy and Zolochivsky. The tour was operated in the western and eastern of Ukraine and the other parts of Eastern Europe.
There were Christmas concerts with theatrical and ballet performances, a music video to "The Last Christmas of 90s" (which was recognized as the best music video of the year) was made, and a cartoon video "A Ballad about a Princess", European Unplugged (The Christmas with Ruslana) were made. Ruslana's participation in the project of BBC's 2000 Today with a national TV channel Inter was a culmination of the outgoing millennium. The ancient traditions of Christmas was represented in a video Christmas Legends. Ruslana's celebration of Christmas together with her friends and fellow-artists in L'viv - was filmed and demonstrated in the video Christmas Legends - II.
Ruslana was out of view for 2 years since then. A lot of public thought that all that noise with "The Tour of Castles of Ukraine" and "The Last Christmas of 90s" was for nothing, that she couldn't bear wide popularity she gained. But none realized that the pause she made, was used for work on a new Hutsul project. The new songs of Ruslana appeared from the very heart of the Carpathian Mountains.
2000-2003: Rise of fame
The song Znaju Ja ("I know"), a work about the Ukrainian Carpathians, the first video clip filmed and arranged for demonstration in modern movie theaters, was recorded. In 2002, Ruslana signed a contract with the Ukrainian EMI.
Mixing of the album Diki Tantsi was done at Peter Gabriel's "Real world" studio in London. At the Ceremony "Ukrainian Music Premium", organized by the Association of recording companies of Ukraine, Ruslana obtained a Platinum disc, the first official prize in Ukraine for selling out of 100,000 copies of album (for Diki Tantsi). The trophy was presented by Stephan Krafchek, the President of International Federation of Recording Industry in Eastern Europe. She also won many other trophies, among which was a trophy of "Territory A" for the music video to "Znayu Ya". Ruslana went on all-Ukrainian tour visiting twenty-five cities of Ukraine.
2004-2006: Eurovision
Ruslana became the 2004 winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Turkey. As a result of the world telephone voting in direct, the representative of Ukraine, Ruslana, who performed a song Wild Dances, gained the lead with 280 points, receiving points from 34 of the 35 other countries participating in the contest (the exception being Switzerland). The president of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma conferred Ruslana the rank of the National artist of Ukraine. Also, Ruslana was appointed a Prime Minister's adviser of on youth's affairs on a voluntary basis. Sales of album Wild Dances in Ukraine achieved a mark of 200,000 of licensed copies of Diki Tantsi, that suits the standard of a double platinum disc at the Ukrainian musical market (according to the latest sales results (as of 2005), over 500,000 of "Dyki Tantsi" were sold in Ukraine, making the album 5x platinum). Later Ruslana was nominated on World Music Awards, that boosted her popularity in the world. Also, Ruslana released the English version of album Diki Tantsi, Wild Dances, for the entire world. The album mostly entered some European charts, of which the Ukrainian Album Chart, in which the album peaked at the number one position for several weeks.
Ruslana appeared at the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 held in Kyiv. She performed a new song called Heart on Fire. The performance included her carrying a torch-blower. She also interviewed contestants in the green room area during the voting part of the show.
In 2005, Ruslana declared the competition of remixes in club style on the songs. Participating in a competition took plenty of DJ on there it was select 12 the best remixes with which let out the album of Club'in. After the release of the dance album, Ruslana re-disappeared in her musical career.
A new book, Wild Energy, which was written by one of Europe's best fantasies Sergey and Marina Dyachenko. They won on Eurokitty 2005 Wild Energy. Lana Devoted Ruslana. Within the framework of Eurocon 2006 (that took place in Ukraine) presentation of book took place. And Eurocon 2006 "equated" with Eurovision 2005.
On June 15, Ruslana presented her new single and video "Wild Energy". These are the first single and video from Ruslana’s new project, based on the fiction novel by Maryna and Sergij Diachenko Wild Energy. Lana. The unique video in a fantasy style, which is a screen version of a part of the novel, set a new record in the field of musical video making by its scale and technologies. The singer herself appears in the new video in a rather unexpected image, as she is blonde. The first people to see and listen to Ruslana’s Wild Energy will be the Ukrainian mass media and the singer’s fan club members, who will attend the presentation as the special guests. In the autumn of 2006, Ruslana will be producing her new album, Wild, Crazy, New.
The day after the single presentation, Ruslana went go on a FIFA World Cup 2006 tour in Germany to support the Ukrainian national football team. She performed in Hamburg, Cologne, Berlin, Leipzig, and Nuremberg.
Ruslana designed the cover for Jonathan Safran Foer's "The Unabridged Pocket Book of Lightening" which was produced as part of Penguin Books' 70th birthday celebrations.
Affair of the Heart
Ruslana was appointed Good Will Ambassador of Ukraine by the UNICEF. She worked for the preservation of Ukraine's castles and the national cultural heritage. Within the frames of the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 in Kyiv she gave a charity concert for children suffering from the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. Ruslana's latest charity project with German rock star Peter Maffay Children of Sping also will benefit Chornobyl children.
Ruslana and the Eurovision Song Contest
Since 2004, Ruslana has been closely involved with the annual Eurovision Song Contest.
2004
Because of her huge popularity in Ukraine, her home country, she was approached to represent the country in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004.
Ruslana reached 2nd place in the semifinal, behind the entry from Serbia and Montenegro, with 256 points. Three days after, however, she won the Eurovision Song Contest, delighting fans with an eye-catching mix of frenetic dancing, leather costumes and passionate vocals in a song called "Wild Dances", intended to evoke the Carpathian Mountains.
"All of us are making a positive image of Ukraine. I want my country to open up before you with friendship and hospitality," an ecstatic Ruslana told a news conference after the show. "I would like you to forget about Chernobyl," she said, referring to the 1986 nuclear accident that has long tarnished Ukraine's image.
The Eurovision Song Contest, hosted for the first time by Turkey, winner of 2003's event, attracts an annual worldwide audience of more than 600 million people. With its victory Ukraine earned the right to stage the 50th Eurovision Song Contest in 2005.
Asked what would be the first thing she did after returning to Kiev, Ruslana said: I will do as Russell Crowe in Gladiator. I will kneel in my homeland, take a piece of Ukrainian earth and kiss it.
"Wild Dances" was taken from her best-selling album of the same name, which was the first ever to go platinum in Ukraine. The song, sung partly in Ukrainian and partly in English, is described as a modern take on traditional Ukrainian ethnic music based on ancient rhythms and dances, mixing rock with ethnic dance music. The CD single Wild Dances did well only in Greece and Belgium.
2005
- As the opening performance
Ruslana opened the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with a self-composed song called "Heart on Fire". Ruslana's choreography received positive remarks. The song is said to be included on Ruslana's next album Wild Energy.
- As the interval act
Ruslana performed "The Same Star" during the interval act of the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, with her and her backing dancers dressed in red.
- At her Eurovision charity concert
Ruslana performed "Wild Dances", "Like a Hurricane", "Arcan", "The Tango We Used to Dance", "Wild Passion", "Wild Dances, Part II", "Dance with the Wolves", "Accordion Intro", "The Same Star", "Heart on Fire", "Ja Tebe Ljublu", "Play, Musician!", "Wind Song", "Kolomyjka", "Drum 'n' Dance" and some remixes.
2006
Ruslana's winning song "Wild Dances" was played at the opening of the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. On the same day she and her song were named the Best of Eurovision in Germany by the public with 71,209 votes.
In March, the book Wild Energy. Lana was released in Ukraine. It is a fantasy book, written by Maryna and Serhiy Dyachenko, who were named the best European fantasy writers in 2005. It is inspired by Ruslana, the storyline of the book contains a lot of elements from Ruslana's unique lifestyle. The main character of the story, Lana, is supposed to become the prototype of Ruslana's new music project. The first music video for this project is coming soon in summer 2006. In autumn-winter the English version of the book will be released in Europe. A German version is also planned. The book was released in two different covers.
WorldVision
Ruslana performed at WorldVision Song Contest's first edition in South Africa. Organizers of the Worldvision festival, also known as Africavision, invited Ruslana to the Republic of South Africa after being impressed by the energy of her performance during the ESC 2004 final in Istanbul. She performed with new costumes and music from Wild Energy as well as Wild Dances, which received a standing ovation.
Besides the performances, Ruslana participated in two press-conferences to share information about Ukraine. WorldVision organizers arranged a visit to the local zouluses for her to try her skills on the African drums and tribal dances.
Trivia
- In 2003, Ruslana became the first Ukrainian singer to win a platinum disc.
- In 2004, Ruslana won a World Music Award.
- In 2006, Ruslana was named The Best of Eurovision.
- Ruslana speaks fluent Ukrainian and Russian. She also speaks English.
- Her albums have always gone either gold or platinum in Ukraine.
Awards
| Year | Category | Recording | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Music Awards | ||||
| 2004 | Best selling Ukrainian artist | won | ||
| Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| 2004 | won | |||
| «Territoriya A» Award | ||||
| 2003 | Best videoclip | won | ||
| Zolota Zhar-Ptitsya 98 | ||||
| 1998 | Best song of the year | "Svitanok" | won | |
| 1998 | Best clip of the year | "Svitanok" | won | |
| Zolota Era | ||||
| 1998 | Best film of the year | Dzvinky viter Oleskogo Zamku | won | |
| Chrystal Lion | ||||
| 1997 | Star of the year | won | ||
| Tavria Games | ||||
| 1997 | Best singer of the year | won | ||
| 1996 | Best singer of the year | won | ||
| Person of the year | ||||
| 1996 | Best Star | won | ||
| 2000 | Best Star | won | ||
| National Show Ukrainian pop music | ||||
| 2003 | Song of the year | Oj, zagrajme muzicenku | won | |
| Krishtalivski liv | ||||
| 2000 | Music star of the year | won | ||
Political career
In 2004's disputed Ukrainian presidential elections, she declared her support for Viktor Yushchenko. She was one of the scores of prominent figures that addressed the massive crowds rallying in support of Yushchenko's demand that his original defeat be declared fraudulent. At one stage she was even quoted as saying she was ready to go on a hunger strike for the cause.
Since 2006, she is a member of Ukraine's parliament. She was listed at fifth position in Bloc Our Ukraine candidate list during the Parliamentary elections of March 2006.[1] Among the priorities of her legislative activity, she named the revision of laws on the patronage of art, job placement for students and the defense of intellectual property rights. In March 2007, as an MP for Our Ukraine, she appeared at a forum sponsored by the Kennan Institute in Washington, D.C. She has been involved in social and humanitarian issues, including the fight against human trafficking. She is a UNESCO ambassador of good will. see http://www.wilsoncenter.org/common/dsp_popup.cfm?media_link=KI/KI_20070330.wmv&title=Video%20of%20Event%20%28Windows%20Media%20Player%29
Discography
Albums
| Ruslana discography |
|---|
| Ruslana discography |
|---|
| Ruslana discography |
|---|
| Ruslana discography |
|---|
| Ruslana discography |
|---|
| Ruslana discography | |
|---|---|
| Singles | "Wild Dances", "Dance with the Wolves", "The Same Star" |
| Ruslana discography |
|---|
| Ruslana discography | |
|---|---|
| Singles | "Wild Energy" |
| Ruslana discography |
|---|
- Other versions
- Diki Tantsi. Eurobonus (2003)
- Wild Dances. Welcome To My Wild World (2005)
- Wild Dances. Christmas Edition (2005)
- Wild Dances. New Year Edition (2005)
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart positions | Album | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | BE | SWE | AUT | UKR | GRE | RUS | ARG | LAT | EST | FIN | SWI | PL | |||
| 2004 | "Wild Dances" | 47 | 1 | 8 | 43 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 20 | 24 | 3 | Wild Dances |
| 2004 | "Dance with the Wolves" | - | 19 | - | - | 1 | - | 1 | - | 1 | 1 | - | - | 8 | Wild Dances |
| 2005 | "The Same Star" | - | 50 | - | - | 1 | - | 1 | - | 8 | 3 | - | - | 20 | Wild Dances |
| 2006 | "Wild Energy" | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | Wild Energy |
Music videos
- 1996 - "Ty"
- 1997 - "Balada pro princessu"
- 1998 - "Svitanok"
- 1998 - "Ostannya Poema"
- 1998 - "Kolyskova"
- 1998 - "Myt' Vesny"
- 2001 - "Prochannya z Disko"
- 2003 - "Znaju Ja"
- 2003 - "Oj, Zagraimy Muzycenku"
- 2004 - "Kolomyjka"
- 2004 - "Play, Musician!"
- 2004 - "Wild Dances"
- 2005 - "Dance with the Wolves"
- 2005 - "Dance with the Wolves" [remix]
- 2005 - "The Same Star"
- 2005 - "Skazhy Meni"
- 2006 - "The Same Star" [Re-pop]
- 2006 - "Wind Song" [Remix]
- 2006 - "Dyka Enerhija
See also
- Ruslana's Charity Concert
- Grand Prix Hitliste : The Best of Eurovision
- Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest
- Eurovision Song Contest 2004
Footnotes
- ^ "Bloc Our Ukraine candidate list in Ukraine parliamentary election 2006" (in Ukrainian). Central Election Commission of Ukraine.
External links
- Ruslana's official website
- Ruslana.eu
- Ruslana.org - Official Ruslana Fanclub
- Ruslana Lyzhicko at IMDb
