Okean Elzy

Okean Elzy Океан Ельзи
Океан Ельзи - Okean Elzy
Background information
Origin	Lviv, Ukraine
Genres	Rock
Years active	1994–present
Labels	Moon Records COMP music / EMI Lavina Music Nova records
Website	http://www.okeanelzy.com
Members	Svyatoslav Vakarchuk Vladimir Opsenica Denys Dudko Miloš Jelić Denys Hlinin
Past members	Pavlo Gudimov Yuriy Khustochka Dmytro Shurov Petro Cherniavsky

Okean Elzy (Ukrainian: Океан Ельзи, translation: Elza's Ocean) is one of the most successful and popular Ukrainian rock bands. It was formed in 1994 in Lviv, Ukraine. The band's vocalist and frontman is Svyatoslav Vakarchuk. Okean Elzy is one of the best-loved Ukrainian rock bands not only in Ukraine but also in most CIS countries. In April 2007 Okean Elzy received FUZZ Magazine music awards for "Best rock act".

The band Okean Elzy was founded in 1994 by four young men from Lviv; who were former members of the band Klan Tyshi (Ukrainian: Клан тиші, translation: Clan of Silence) 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 Kiev 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 Budynok zi skla ("House of glass"). Shortly afterwards the first movie about the group was made by TV Channel TET and was broadcast nationally.