Okean Elzy: "Не твоя війна - Ne tvoya viyna" - English translation!

Are you looking for an English translation of the song "Не твоя війна - Ne tvoya viyna" by Okean Elzy? Here it is! :)

© Okean of Emotions / AleXa - 2015
background artwork: © Anatolij Klipo

The war that is not yours
Не твоя війна

Battle at the break of dawn… Sun and smoke cloud.


Very few know what will happen to them.


What will be in the young hearts tomorrow?
In some - fear and in some - hope.

Chorus: 


Kalyna's* branches are leaning down.


Mama, to whom did we pray?


How many others of your children will


This war that is not yours take?

Now that they became parents, daughters and sons,
Following their dreams in Technicolor,
Embraced misleading ideas…
For peaceful nights, they gave up every day they go on living.
   
Chorus

Back in time, everything was fine


In this place where everything went smoothly and where we never shed a tear. 


But, we were moving toward nothingness…
I cannot go along this path;


How do you dare to follow it?!


Chorus

Kalyna's branches are leaning down.


Mama, our prayers were in vain! 


How many others of your children will 

This war that is not yours take?

Chorus

How many others of your children will it take?…

* Kalyna (or cranberrybush) is one of the Ukrainian national symbols. This shrub, symbol of love, is very present in the tales and in traditional songs. 

Songwriter: Svyatoslav Vakarchuk 

Translation: AleXa / Okean of Emotions

Proofreading: Inna Carboni 

Не твоя війна (Ne tvoya viyna) - © 2015

For French translation, click here

Some more information about this song/video can be found here. 

Okean Elzy: "Не твоя війна" - "Not your war" - New single, new video!

© Okean Elzy

The main idea of the song, hidden in its title, is that for many centuries external thoughts, acts and even wars were imposed on Ukrainians. However, now is the time to take responsibility and initiative in our own hands.  "The key battle is within each of us, within our society. "Your war" - is the battle with your own prejudice and fears to change anything, to take control over events and not just blame "somebody somewhere". This is extremely difficult, however without this, there is no bright future for a person, the society or the country", - said Vakarchuk.

© Okean Elzy

Songwriting began last October and the first part was created in 5 minutes only. Svyatoslav: "I wrote the chorus in one go. I sat down at the piano and did not change a word: I just sat down and I started playing. I then realized that I was emotionally fatigued and that I could not write anything else. I had to wait... The songwriting was completed in January 2015."

© Okean Elzy

Director of the video is Howard Greenhalgh: he already worked with Okean Elzy for the video clip of the song 'Обійми - Obiymy'.

© Okean Elzy

The main idea of the video is to represent the wait-and-see approach of people that do not take initiatives on their own... acting as flipping again and again a coin with "lucky-not lucky" sides.

At the end of the video, the coin disappears: the conclusion is that the community has always a chance to make things change: everything is in its own hands!

© Okean Elzy

The filming of the video for "Not your war" took place in Kiev at the end of March. Fans were invited to participate in it on social networks. About 400 people attended to this. Some of these fans came from Cherkasy, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Kherson and even from Simferopol-Crimea!




Svyatoslav said that this song could be included in the forthcoming album... but it's too early to decide on that point. Wait & see... :)

English translation of this song can be found here.

Director: Howard Greenhalgh
Song producer: Svyatoslav Vakarchuk
Keyboards arrangements: Milos Jelic
Additional musicians from the National Chamber Ensemble "Kyiv Soloists' Choir and Song and Dance Ensemble of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.  
Sound engineers: Bob Ludwig & Adam Ayan / Gateway Mastering Studios

Source: Okean Elzy Official 

Vakarchuk to study at Yale as third Ukrainian fellow - Kyiv Post

April 23, 2015 — by Yuliana Romanyshyn

Svyatoslav Vakarchuk & Soviet-era political prisoner Yevhen Sverstiuk - © UNIAN

"Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, the front man for the legendary rock band Okean Elzy, has been named a Yale World Fellow in the U. S. along with 15 others from around the world.

Vakarchuk, 39, became the third Yale World Fellow from Ukraine since the program was launched in 2002. The program is designed for mid-career professional with a significant record of achievements.

According to Uma Ramiah, the director of communications for the program, more than 4,000 applications competed for 16 spots in 2015.

While leading the most successful music band in Ukraine, Vakarchuk has been openly political and patriotic since the 2004 Orange Revolution. He founded a non-profit organization Lyudy Maybutnyogo (People of the Future) and worked as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Program.

Besides music and politics, Vakarchuk has a degree in theoretical physics. His father, the former Education Minister Ivan Vakarchuk, is a reputed professor of physics.

Vakarchuk visited the Yale campus in March and held a discussion “Physics, Revolution, and Rock & Roll: Reflections on Today’s Ukraine.”

With Okean Elzy taking a break from music for the fall of 2015, Vakarchuk will spend four months, August to November, at the Ivy League university. “I decided to rest usefully” Vakarchuk told the Kyiv Post by phone. When asked how he will use the knowledge he receives in Yale, Vakarchuk said he didn’t know enough about the essence of the program to decide that yet. “We shall see” he said.

Yale, in New Haven, Connecticut, is one of the top-rated universities for American and other politicians, including alumni ex-U.S. President George H. W. Bush, ex-Vice President Richard Cheney, ex-President Bill Clinton and ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Not a lot of Ukrainians have graduated from Yale.
Yale World Fellows takes applications from citizens of other countries who are fluent in English and are in the middle stage of their careers.

Ihor Shevchenko, the first Ukrainian to become a Yale World Fellow in 2006, is the current minister of ecology and natural resources. Shevchenko, 44, recalled the program as a big help. “Yale trains global thinking people” he says. Living expenses are covered by the organizers. Moreover, Shevchenko was receiving a $6,000 monthly scholarship. Shevchenko said Western education improves a person’s outlook and qualifications. “It’s important for a person to spend at least a half of year in a developed country and feel a part of that society” he says.

Andriy Shevchenko, 38, an ex-member of parliament and former TV journalist, said the Yale World Fellow program influenced him greatly as well. He received a blue book with a list of 3,000 courses Yale offers to study. Besides intense schedule, it also gave a top-professional network of American elite. Shevchenko visited the discussion led by Tony Blair and Bill Clinton. Shevchenko found it so valuable that he nominated his friend Vakarchuk, while Vakarchuk has also applied for the program himself. He called Vakarchuk strong in public speech and vital to Ukraine’s social and political life.
“Our country will largely benefit from him being there” Shevchenko said."

Original post: Kyiv Post - © Yuliana Romanyshyn

See also:

• Svyatoslav Vakarchuk is joining the "Yale World Fellows 2015"!
• Svyatoslav Vakarchuk at Yale University - Audio files
• The Politics of Pop Music: Slava Vakarchuk by Caroline Wray Yale Daily - News Online

Okean Elzy: "Не твоя війна - Ne tvoya viyna" - "Not your war" a song / video clip will be posted on the 26th of April

© Okean Elzy

Okean Elzy Official announced yesterday that a new song/video clip will be posted this Sunday!

Very little information are available on the web about this new project: All I know is that the tittle of this song is "Не твоя війна - Ne tvoya viyna" - "Not your war"... and that our favourite "Boys band / Mens band", as Vakarchuk said on Twitter, will be dressed in white! :)

An amusing detail is that during filming, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk couldn't resist making a joke...


This video was posted for April fool's!
Everybody knows that Slava prefers to play piano... :) But thanks to Denis Glinin's talent for drums, the illusion is quite perfect!

Some information about this new song/video can be found here.

Okean Elzy - Madrid concert - 4 April 2015

After the concert in Paris, I'm still working hard on Okean Elzy's communication in France. :) But I  have many information to share with you regarding the O.E. European Tour. Here are finally some videos of the concert that took place in Madrid on the 4th of April. Enjoy!

Okean Elzy - Madrid - 4 April 2015
Photo : D.R.

Svyatoslav Vakarchuk producer of Kristina Solovii's 1st album

In an older post, I already said here a few words about Kristina Solovii. This young Ukrainian singer participated in the TV Show "Holos Krayiny - The Voice of the Country" in 2013 and her coach was Svyatoslav Vakarchuk... :)

Kristina is known for her incredible way to sing Ukrainian traditional folk songs. I'm fond of her voice and this Lemko song brings tears to my eyes when I listen to it: it's so beautiful!
 

Kristina's fell in love with Lemko songs when she was 12... and, when she talked about that to her mother, she was told that her family came from this region. Everything happens for a reason! :)

Svyatoslav Vakarchuk decided to become the producer of Kristina's first album. For him, "there is a chance now to promote such an alternative music in Ukraine. But artists have to find their audience: to do so, they must stay themselves, thus acting authentically."

Slava is very proud to be involved in this project. This is something we can understand: how not to fall in love with this magical song?! 

Okean Elzy – rocking to reunite Ukraine - Euronews

Ukraine’s most successful rock band Okean Elzy (Elza’s Ocean) is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a world tour. 

Okean Elzy - Paris, Olympia Hall, 5 Apr. 2015
Photo courtesy of © Youry Bilak

Euronews’ Iryna Tymchyshyn caught up with the group in the French capital’s Olympia Hall as they prepared to open the month long Ukrainian art festival, Ukraine Free Stage

OE’s leader and songwriter is Svyatoslav Vakarchuk. He is arguably Ukraine’s most famous and widely respected star and his influence stretches from pop to politics. A key figure in both the 2004 Orange Revolution and the Maidan Square Movement, he’s been compared by some critics to Bono, the frontman of legendary Irish rockers U2.

OE’s songs become anthems during the protests and can still be heard on the frontline. Vakarchuk says he never tries to put politics into his alyrics, but somehow his songs start having their own lives, something he thinks makes his music so powerful. “Writing songs, I have never thought that soldiers would live with them on the frontline. Basically, when you compose songs, you don’t think about some situations. You just compose” said Vakarchuk. “You just have an open channel, it’s like having a conversation with God, I always say. And he puts something into your head, into your soul, and then you pass this onto people. Maybe, he has put in this lyric, these songs or this music in order to pass it to those who need it. If people, who fight for their freedom on Maidans on the frontline need my songs, that means it’s God’s will” he adds.

OE have made eight studio albums with his band. The last one “Zemlya” (The earth) was released around six months before Maidan started. “The Wall” is one of the album’s most symbolic songs where Vakarchuk sort of foresaw the current divisions between people.
Being popular among fans who have different views on politics Vakarchuk tries to unite people with his music. He was among the first to visit Donetsk last year before the separatists’ referendum. Now Vakarchuk thinks that the only way to make the “wall” fall and to win back people’s hearts in the east and in Crimea is to build a successful Ukraine. “There’s only one way to improve Ukraine and the life of Ukrainians. We need reforms, to change the rules of the game, improve the wealth of people and create specific success stories. By becoming more succesful, it would be easier for the win any war in the moral, material, military or diplomatic sense. The strong ones always win. And to become strong – indeed this success has always been in our hands” said Vakarchuk.

Wherever OE travels, their concerts are always sold-out. A record 70,000 people packed into one stadium gig in Ukraine last year. Olympia was also filled to the brim.

Half-Ukrainian, half-French Anna brought her husband Jean-Christophe to the concert.
“I think, that they have a great energy. And also they always stand by Ukraine and do a lot to promote the country outside as well. This is very important for me,” said Anna. Sentiments shared by her husband: “I understand a little Ukrainian but not enough to understand the meaning really of what they’re singing. It’s most of all the ambiance and feeling; there’s sincerity which I think is indicative of the spirit of Ukrainian people.”

After Paris, Okean Elzy will bring that Ukrainian spirit to several other cities across Europe.
Then the band will take a well-earned break before recording a new album which is due to be released in 2016.

By Tokunbo Salako

Source & video: http://www.euronews.com/2015/04/08/okean-elzy-rocking-to-reunite-ukraine/

Svyatoslav Vakarchuk is joining the "Yale World Fellows 2015"!

When Svyatoslav Vakarchuk is back to University... The frontman of Okean Elzy and Ukrainian activist will study at Yale University from August to December.

 

Congratulations! вітаємо! 

© Yale University

As indicated on the official website, 16 people from around the world such journalists, photographers, artists, public figures and politicians are trained each year at Yale University.
Svyatoslav Vakarchuk was awarded a scholarship at Yale University and, for four months, he will be trained in this prestigious university. I wish him every success in this new project.


By the way, let me remind you that, on the 3rd of March, Slava gave a lecture at Yale University about "Physics, Revolution, and Rock & Roll: Reflections on Today's Ukraine". Here is a link to listen to it.

He also answered to Caroline Wray's questions for the Yale Daily News Online... Please read here this very interesting interview!