The Ukrainians

The Ukrainians are a British band, which plays traditional Ukrainian music, heavily influenced by western post-punk.

Career

The Ukrainians were formed in 1990 by Wedding Present guitarist Peter Solowka, with singer/violinist Len Liggins and mandolin player Roman Remeynes, after all three had played on the Wedding Present's Ukrainian John Peel Sessions recordings (Ukrayinski Vystupy v Johna Peela, released 1989). Following the success of that release, the trio began composing and recording in Ukrainian as a separate band.

In 1991, their first EP, Oi Divchino, was awarded Single of the Week by British music weekly, NME. Notably, the video for this release was filmed in pre-revolution Kiev making them the first western band to produce a video entirely in Eastern Europe.

In the same year, Solowka left the Wedding Present, later claiming that he had been kicked out, the success of the Ukrainian project making him the scapegoat for the band's lack of mainstream success.

Since 1991, the band have released five studio albums as well as various live albums and EPs, all without chart success in the UK. They continue to tour regularly, especially in Poland and England. They celebrated 20 years of the band in 2011 with a tour of British Ukrainian clubs.

The Ukrainians (album)

The Ukrainians is the eponymous title of the first album released by British folk-fushion group The Ukrainians.

The album was released in 1991, the year Ukraine won its independence from the Soviet Union.

Songs

References

Official site

Ukrainians

Ukrainians (Ukrainian: українці, ukrayintsi, [ukrɑˈjinʲtsʲi]) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is by total population the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens. Also among historical names of the people of Ukraine Rusyns (Ruthenians), Cossacks, etc. can be found. According to some dictionary definitions, a descriptive name for the "inhabitants of Ukraine" is Ukrainian or Ukrainian people.Belarusians and Russians are considered the closest relatives of Ukrainians, while Rusyns are either considered another closely related group, or an ethnic subgroup of Ukrainians.

Ethnonym