Chervona Ruta (ensemble)

Chervona Ruta
From left to right: Alexander Leonenko, Sofia Rotaru, Anatoliy Evdokimenko
Background information
Origin	Chernivtsi, Ukraine/USSR
Genres	Pop, Europop, Euro disco, folk
Years active	1971—1990
Labels	Melodiya (USSR) Krugozor (USSR) Sony BMG Music Entertainment (Germany)
Associated acts	Don Backy, Tino Rossi
Past members	Sofia Rotaru Anatoliy Evdokimenko Alexander Leonenko Valeriy Lyakhov

Chervona Ruta was a Ukrainian music group that performed between 1971 and 1990. Chervona Ruta group was created in 1971 by Anatoliy Evdokimenko with the Chernivtsi Philharmonic specially for the accompaniment of Sofia Rotaru. The founding members of the group were part of the pop orchestra of the Chernivtsi University.

For a long time, outside performances of the group by itself at occasional tours, Chervona Ruta was overshadowed by the People's Artist of Ukraine, People's Artist of Moldova, People's Artist of USSR - Sofia Rotaru. After Sofia Rotaru, other widely popular artists as Arkadiy Khoralov and Meritorious Artist of Moldova Anastasia Lazariuc started their career with Chervona Ruta. In 1981, the band was awarded Grand-Prix for the high artistic level of performance at the singers' competition in Yalta.

The soloist of the band, Sofia Rotaru, became the laureate of the IXth World Festival of Youth and Students in 1971. In the same year the band was cast with Sofia Rotaru in the movie called "Chervona Ruta" and in 1975 - in Pesnya vsegda s nami.

The band has wide fan communities both in the former USSR and abroad internationally. Successful tours took place with participation of Sofia Rotaru in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, GDR, Finland, West Berlin. Polish theatre critic observer Andrzej Wołczkowski wrote: