Svyatoslav Vakarchuk about studying in the USA, emigration and the main fan

Photo courtesy of the organizers of the tour.

The leader of Okean Elzy, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, is 41 years old, and the group is 22. It turns out that in his life he is already more with the group than without it. What is “Ocean Elzy” for him – just a job or something more? Who listens to his songs first? Does Vakarchuk have a recipe for writing a hit? Svyatoslav answered these and other ForumDaily questions on the eve of the group’s American tour.

“So it turns out that this is part of my life.” You know, it's like a person who wore a mustache or beard from 19 to 41 years old and never shaved it off. Can you imagine how he got used to them? And what will happen if he changes his image - they simply won’t recognize him (laughing). This is, of course, a very ironic comparison, I hope you understand. But there is something in it. But seriously, I am glad that God gave me such an opportunity to be with Okean Elzy.

— What inspires you?

- Hard to tell. It often happens that there is none at all. And often - I just constantly, from morning to evening, want to create something new. It seems to me that the main thing is some kind of inner harmony of yours, and that you be receptive to other emotions. If it’s bad, so that it can be sublimated into music, just as if it’s very good. The main thing is that there is no indifference.

Photo courtesy of the organizers of the tour.

— Do you have a favorite song of the group, the most expensive, and why?

— “Dear” does this mean for what royalty did we receive the most? (laughing). But seriously, you can hardly single out one song. That's right honest.

I have repeatedly spoken about this that it seems to me that that artist or musician is unhappy who can single out something from his work like this. It turns out that it was only for this one that he lived all his life? It's sad ...

— Is it possible to predict which song will definitely become a hit, or should you just listen to your heart?

— In my opinion, creating a song that will go down in history and creating a hit are completely different things. To create a hit, it seems to me, experienced producers must meet good musicians and charismatic performers. And then it goes according to the scheme worked out by professional producers. Another thing is that it is extremely rare that songs artificially created by what I call “musicology institutes” remain in history.

It seems to me that it enters the story, finds a true response from the listener that causes the author himself to shiver when creating, and he cannot but record this song.

Therefore, a hit and a song that has gone down in history are not always the same thing. For example, as far as I remember, our songs “911” or “Without a Fight” were terribly successful on radio stations and charts, but still people remember the songs “Don’t Feed” or “Friend” more. For me, The Beatles are not necessarily Yesturday, although it is an undeniably great song, and the Rolling Stones are not necessarily Satisfaction, and Adele is not only Hello.

At the stadium Camp Nou in Barcelona. Photo courtesy of the organizers of the tour

- Group brings his own to the USA new album “Without". Who usually first listener of your songs?

— Lately it’s been my cat Seva (Severin). He sits on the piano and listens. Moreover, no matter how loudly I play, he either sleeps or just lies there, occasionally raising his head. It is very funny. The strongest emotion (when he likes it) is that he gets up and starts walking around the piano. And if he doesn’t like it, he proudly retires to another room. There are days when I sit at the piano for 3-4 hours, and it doesn’t move, it’s with me all the time.

Photo twitter.com/s_vakarchuk

— OE concerts always are going to complete halls and stadiums, palaces sport You always sing along. You sometimes leave the stage, and the audience themselves sing вashi songs for an encore. Tell me, the public is charging from you with energy or charging you?

- Hard to tell. It seems to me that this is a mutual process. And be that as it may, for musicians for whom the stage is not just work, but a part of life, this exchange with the public occurs mutually. There are often critics or lay people who have a very one-sided assessment of the concept of musical interaction.

For example, some people think that Beethoven is outstanding music, and AC/DC is primitive, they say, just 2 notes. But both one and the other evoke a huge amount of emotions in millions of different people.

And many, like me, by the way, evoke both the first and second emotions. It seems to me that they managed to convey an important emotion, only completely their own.

Photo courtesy of the organizers of the tour.

— You studied in America, were a Yale World Fellow 2015. Tell us about studying at an American university, what did it give you, how did it change you? Did it meet your expectations?

— It was a tremendous experience. I even think that it was one of the most important trips of my life. I can talk for a long time on this topic, but in short, the most important thing is that I was alone with myself, away from the bustle, and alone with knowledge, which is what I have been striving for for many years. That's it in short.

About expectations - you know, any university, and especially an American one, is not a place where someone should meet your expectations. This is a place where you are given the opportunity to take huge amounts of knowledge, experience, everything that has been accumulated by the best minds, and here it lies in front of you on the shelf. And there is a lot lying there, and the sharper your eye, the more sincere the desire for knowledge, the more benefit you will come out of there.

Photo twitter.com/s_vakarchuk

— What was it easy for you to get used to in the USA, and what, on the contrary, caused misunderstanding?

— I easily adapt to everything. And, frankly, 4,5 months is not such a long time to understand the life of a country deeply. And we lived in greenhouse conditions, that is, literally everything was prepared for us. I had housing provided by the university, I bought a bicycle and rode it to classes, learned new things, met with friends, ran in the mornings, in general - it was cool. I tried not to surround myself with situations or people that would evoke negative emotions.

— You became one of the sponsors of a new scholarship program for young Ukrainian leaders at Stanford, a legendary American university. How would you like these people to change your country, Ukraine?

— Oh, there are so many legendary universities in the USA. As for Stanford, its greatest importance is that it was the first American university to challenge the strong and successful universities of the east coast and literally in the first 50 years of its history became one of the most powerful universities on the planet. In this sense, he is, of course, legendary.

As for the program itself, there will be smart people there: Francis Fukuyama, Michael McFaul, a huge team of professionals who will work with our guys. And most importantly, again, they will have access to almost the entire line of subjects and seminars at Stanford itself. This is the most competitive university in the United States, and perhaps in the whole world. Their requirements for applicants are extremely high, and very few pass the selection process. For example, in 2016, about 30 thousand applications were submitted, but slightly less than 2,5 thousand people became university students.

— Latest a few years already we can talk about the new wave emigration of Ukraine, including the United States. how вDo you feel about this?

— How do you feel about the ebbs and flows in the ocean? Emigration is an inevitable part of human history in any period, on any continent. Especially in the modern, open world. Especially in a world where your English language and the laptop standing next to you open you not only a window into the specific world, but into the wider world.

To expect that in a poor, all-time developing country with a bunch of political and economic crises, the population, especially the young, will sit and wait for everything to end, it would be primitive.

I would like to remind you that after the great potato famine in Ireland, more than 30% of the country's population left for North America. And today there are 30 million Irish living in the United States, and 5 million in Ireland. But, as a result, today Ireland is one of the most affluent countries, and the GDP per capita is not inferior to the American one, and it took them more than 100 years to achieve this. I am not hinting that everyone who remains in Ukraine will sit and wait for 100 years, but I am saying that emigration, perhaps unpleasant for a state that is losing its progressive and active population, is an inevitable process. Another thing is that, in my opinion, the lot of the strongest (whom the Americans call challenge oriented, like pioneers from the Wild West) is to stay in the country and create new conditions, develop the country, albeit in difficulties, in order to further say: they say, look, we managed to make our country better.

— Do you have friends in the USA with whom necessarily want to see each other in time trips?

— I have a lot of friends in New York, Silicon Valley, and Toronto. In Canada, by the way, I hope to meet with my friend, and now the Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada, Andriy Shevchenko. There are simply too many friends in New York. My close friend Igor works as a programmer in Silicon Valley, I’m looking forward to meeting him.

Photo courtesy of the organizers of the tour.

— By the way, about New York. The band will be performing at Madison Square Garden for the first time. Have you been to concerts in this hall?

— I was only at basketball. It turns out that the first concert I will attend at this venue is “Ocean Elzy”.

- You promise sing an encore listeners at your american concerts?

- Promising to sing an encore in advance will be, at least, strange. Since an encore is, in fact, recognition by the public of the artist, as if gratitude for his performance. She can't go ahead. No one does an encore specifically for the sake of an encore, to divide the program into several parts.

Yes, of course, having 20-year-old experience and God knows how many thousands of concerts are already behind you, you can from experience assume the probability of a bis and be ready for it, having spoken to the group what to play with. But 1 can call you once, but 6 can call you (we did).

So, we’ll soon find out what it will be like at the World Tour concerts in support of our album “Without Between.”

You can buy tickets right now, by clicking the link:

In New York - to buy a ticket

In Seattle - to buy a ticket

In Miami - to buy a ticket

In Chicago - to buy a ticket

In Los Angeles- to buy a ticket

In San Francisco - to buy a ticket

See also:

"Okean Elzy" goes to concerts in the USA

Our people in Hollywood: Dmitry Korniychuk about working with Mickey Rourke

Lady with a dog. How ex-Kharkiv wore dogs of all Hollywood stars

How to make a million: success stories of Ukrainians in the USA

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.