The UKRAINIANS

The Ukrainianscreated their intoxicating cocktail of traditional Ukrainian music and British Indie pop even before the term ‘world music’ had been coined. The NME said of the band’s live shows that they “blow your trousers off”! In factThe Ukrainians’ energy and cross-category appeal has meant that over the last 30 years they have wowed audiences at hundreds of World/Folk/Roots as well as Rock festivals throughout Europe and North America, including bothGlastonburyandWomadin the UK.

As well as exploring the traditional Ukrainian folk repertoireThe Ukrainianswrite their own songs in various regional Ukrainian folk styles. They also play Ukrainian language versions of Western pop songs, including idiosyncratic interpretations of songs by Kraftwerk, Motorhead, The Smiths, The Mamas and the Papas, Joy Division, The Sex Pistols and The Velvet Underground.The Ukrainians’ career began with their eponymously-titled debut album in 1991, the same year that Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union. Since then the band has released a series of critically-acclaimed albums including 2009’s excellentDiaspora, an album about migration: the heartbreak of leaving family and homeland coupled with the excitement of starting a new life. This album was extremely topical at a time when tens of thousands of young Ukrainians, Poles, Bulgarians and Romanians were making new homes in the West.Some members of the band have Ukrainian parents or eastern European ancestry and feel a strong connection to the lands of their ancestors. The themes of their songs have travelled down the generations, as if they had hitched a DNA ride to the present day.