Okean Elzy (, translation: Elza's Ocean) is a Ukrainian rock band. It was formed in 1994 in Lviv, Ukraine. The band's vocalist and frontman is Svyatoslav Vakarchuk. In April 2007 Okean Elzy received FUZZ Magazine music awards for "Best rock act".
History
1994–1999
The band Okean Elzy was founded in 1994 by four young men from Lviv; who were former members of the band Klan Tyshi () which was founded in 1991. The original line-up featured a lead vocal, lead guitar, bass guitar and drums. Throughout 1994 the band spent their time rehearsing.
Their first concert took place in front of the Lviv Opera Theatre on 14 January 1995. Shortly after that appearance they released a demo tape called '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, also participated in Is, a personal project of Lviv musician Oleg Sook, performed the song Long time ago.
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, Trust Open Air Gernsbach (Germany), Trash 96, and R.F.I. 96 (France).
In 1996 Okean Elzy also held their first concert outside Lviv. Their first appearance in the capital Kyiv 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 ("House of glass"). Shortly afterwards the first movie about the group was made by the TV channel TET and was broadcast nationally.
1997 saw tours in the south of France and in the west of Germany. Back to Ukraine they held a 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 Kyiv. There they started working on their first album Tam, de nas nema ("There, where we are not"). The group's first music video was recorded for the song "". This video was the first piece of modern Ukrainian music to make its mark on MTV Russia, as well as France's MCM Channel.
At the very beginning of 1999, Okean Elzy started working on their second album ("I was in the sky"). In May the group decided to try to expand their fan base into Russia. Their first concert was at the festival Maxidrom. There were thousands of people there who already knew their songs, with many singing along.
On 16 September they played a solo concert at the MCM Cafe in Paris.
2000–2004
In 2000, exactly one year after they started working on the album, was released.
On 5 February Okean Elzy held a solo concert at the legendary Astoria Club (London). In March the keyboard player joined the band.
In 2001 Okean Elzy became the new face of Pepsi Cola in Ukraine as the new millennium dawned. They released their third album Model. The band launched a big tour around Ukraine called "Ask For More". In August they started working 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 (Ukrainian jazz bass player) and Miloš Jelić (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.
2005–present
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) with an audio crew consisting of Sergey Kamenev, Alexandr Kostin, Yurii Barybin and Vyacheslav Lavrinenko.
In September 2005, Vakarchuk became the UN's Ambassador of Good Will. Also, in September Okean Elzy started a joint campaign with IOM and MTV Europe Foundation, fighting human trafficking. Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, as UN's Ambassador of Goodwill for 2006, held meetings with students at Ukrainian and Poland universities. Vakarchuk is involved in a campaign to support reading. The project's aim is to draw the attention of young people to books and help fight illiteracy.
In November 2006, Okean Elzy visited Kosovo, where musicians had a concert for peacemakers from Ukraine, Poland, Germany, United States and other countries, which included an international contingent of peacemakers.