Estrada is a general name for popular song music intended for the concert stage and a broad public. Ukrainian estrada combined a folk-song basis with the language of world pop, becoming a mass and at the same time deeply national phenomenon.
Its golden age was opened by Volodymyr Ivasyuk (“Chervona Ruta,” “Vodohrai”) and developed by Nazariy Yaremchuk, Sofia Rotaru, Ihor Bilozir, and the vocal-instrumental ensembles “Smerichka” and “Chervona Ruta.” Ukrainian estrada united melodiousness, the poetry of its lyrics, and Carpathian colour. Today this tradition lives on in modern Ukrainian pop and pop-rock, which sounds in the native language and wins international recognition.
