Ruslana Stepanivna Lyzhychko (Ukrainian: Руслана Степанівна Лижичко, Ruslana Lyzhychko; born 24 May 1973), known mononymously as Ruslana, is a World Music Award and Eurovision Song Contest winning recording artist, holding the title of People’s Artist of Ukraine. She is also a former MP serving as deputy in the Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada) for the Our Ukraine Party. Ruslana was the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in Ukraine in 2004-2005. She is recognized as the most successful Ukrainian female solo artist internationally and was included in the top 10 most influential women of 2013 by the Forbes magazine. The U.S. Secretary of State honored her with the International Women of Courage Award in March, 2014. She has been named an honorary citizen of her hometown L’viv and was nominated to receive the title Hero of Ukraine.
She is a singer, songwriter, producer, musical conductor, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, voice actress and social activist. She writes, composes and produces her own songs and music videos. Since 28 December 1995 she has been married to Oleksandr Ksenofontov, a Ukrainian record producer. Together they have run the company Luxen Studio since 1993, producing radio and film trailers.
Ruslana was the first artist from the former Soviet Union to officially receive a platinum disc, her Dyki tantsi album selling more than 170,000 copies in the first 100 days after its release. This album is the best selling Ukrainian album to date, together with its English version, more than 500,000 copies being sold solely in Ukraine.
She won the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest with the song „Wild Dances“ receiving 280 points, which at that time was a record of points. Following her victory, she rose to fame in Europe and became one of the biggest pop stars from the Eastern part of the continent. Her winning song „Wild Dances“ dominated the European charts for 97 weeks peaking at number one in Belgium for 10 consecutive weeks. Her Eurovision winning song was included on the official compilation album called The Very Best of Eurovision celebrating the 60th anniversary of the contest.
Her repertoire includes songs performed mainly in Ukrainian and English, but she also recorded cover versions in Spanish and Latin languages.
Musical career
Early career
Ruslana started her career as the winner of the Slavianski Bazaar song competition in Vitebsk, Belarus in 1996 with the song Oj, letili dyki husi. In the same year, she was among the nominees for the Ukrainian Singer of the Year award and the video for Dzvinkyi Viter (Wind Bells) was awarded Music Video of the Year. Since her early career, Ruslana’s producer was Oleksandr Ksenofontov, whom she married in 1995.
In 1997, Ruslana began working on Christmas with Ruslana – the first L’viv Christmas television project of an All-Ukrainian scale including the video clip Ballad of a Princess which was the first animated music video made by a Ukrainian singer.
Her first album Myt Vesny – Dzvinkyi Viter (A Moment of Spring – Wind Bells), released in 1998, received high praise from the critics.
Still, wider recognition did not come until 1998 with the song Svitanok (Sunrise) and the album Myt‘ Vesny – Dzvinkyj Viter Live. Svitanok was the first Ukrainian big-budget music video. In 1998, Ruslana was awarded Person of the Year, the song Svitanok was awarded Song of the Year and its accompanying music video was awarded Music Video of the Year. In the second half of 1998, she organized a charity tour which had the aim of raising funds for the restoration of the old castles from Western Ukraine. The tour was a success and thanks to Ruslana’s efforts, the Zolochiv Castle was restored.
In 1999, she worked on the Christmas musical Ostanne rizdvo 90th (The Last Christmas of the 90s), which won the Ukrainian Movie of the Year award. With the video clip to the song Znaju ya (I Know), which is about the ancient people of the Hutsuls living in the Ukrainian Carpathians, Ruslana set new standards for modern video clip filming.
Education
Ruslana is one of the very few pop singers who are capable of conducting a symphonic orchestra, thanks to her higher education in music.
In 1995, Ruslana graduated from the Lviv Conservatory as professional conductor and classical pianist. She was the student of one of the most prominent Ukrainian composers and conductors, Mykola Kolessa who is regarded as ‚the father of the Ukrainian conducting school‘. She used to be a part of the student choir of the Lviv Music Academy.
2004: Wild Dances Project and Eurovision victory
Wild Dances Project
Ruslana’s father is from the West-Ukrainian area of the Hutsuls, the dwellers of the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains. They have a unique culture with an ancient and rich history that inspired Ruslana to create her concept album Wild Dances. It combines powerful and permeating ethnic drums, trumpet sounds of the trembita, an ancient Hutsul music instrument, with modern dance beats. The album was composed by Ruslana after an expedition to the Carpathian Mountains in spring 2003.
The album Dyki Tantsi (Wild Dances) was released in June 2003 in Ukraine. The album sold more than 170,000 copies in the first 100 days after its release, even without a supporting tour. Together with its English language counterpart it was the first album ever to be certified five times platinum in Ukraine, selling more than 500,000 copies, making it the most successful album in Ukraine ever.
Eurovision Song Contest 2004
Ruslana was internally selected by the NTU to represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2004. Before the contest, she was a hot favorite for victory by the bookmakers. At the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, she performed her self-composed song, Wild Dances and won the contest receiving 280 points. In the semifinal, the song received points from all other participating countries; in the final, Switzerland was the only country not giving any points to the song.
The single Wild Dances stayed a total of 97 weeks in various European single charts. It was certified gold in Belgium, Sweden, Russia, Greece, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In Belgium, it topped the singles charts at #1 for 10 consecutive weeks. Also in Ukraine and Greece, the song peaked at #1. The English language album Wild Dances was released in many European countries in the autumn of 2004. In Las Vegas she received the World Music Award as best selling Ukrainian artist.
After her victory Ruslana was appointed advisor to the Ukrainian prime minister, and the Ukrainian president bestowed upon her one of the country’s highest honors when she received the title of People’s Artist of Ukraine.
In Belgium she was among the top 15 ranked performers with her singles „Wild Dances“ and „Dance with the Wolves“. Ruslana was named the most popular person in Belgium, the sexiest girl in Greece, the most influential public person in Ukraine and was the first foreigner to receive the award of the Federation of Journalists in Turkey.
2005
Ruslana had been initially chosen to host the semi-final and the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2005. However, the singer had to decline the offer due to her involvement in the organization of a big charity concert dedicated to the victims of the Chernobyl disaster. Therefore, Ruslana appeared at the event only as a guest star. She performed a medley of Wild Dances and Heart on Fire at the opening ceremony being accompanied by the Zhyttia ballet and the Ukrainian drums ensamble ARS Nova. After interviewing the competitors in the green room she also performed her latest single The Same Star. During this performance, Ruslana wore a red costume inspired by Ukrainian ethnic elements.
Also in 2005, Ruslana designed the cover for Jonathan Safran Foer’s The Unabridged Pocket Book of Lightning which was produced as part of Penguin Books‘ 70th birthday celebrations.
2006
In 2006, Ruslana’s song „Wild Dances“ was named Germany’s all-time favorite Eurovision entry in an internet poll arranged by the German public television broadcaster NDR. During the television program Die Grand Prix Hitliste, „Wild Dances“ was presented as the winner, ahead of well-known classics, such as „Waterloo“ and Germany’s only winner (at the time), „Ein Bißchen Frieden“, which finished in sixth and twelfth place respectively. The programme was viewed by a television audience of approximately six million people in Germany.
For the FIFA World Cup 2006 Ruslana went on tour in Germany to support the Ukrainian national football team. She performed in Hamburg, Cologne, Berlin, Leipzig, and Nuremberg.
2014–2016: Eurovision juror
In January 2014 her international album My Boo! (Together!) was released digitally. For her subsequent album Ruslana intended to study again ethnic motifs as she regarded the Wild Dances project as her most creative work. Due to her active involvement in the Euromaidan in Ukraine, Ruslana had to postpone her musical plans.
Ruslana was invited as music expert for Eurosong, the Belgian selection for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in order to choose the best candidate to represent Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014.
On 9 and 10 October Ruslana held two concerts at the Manchester Ukrainian Cultural Centre ‚Dnipro‘. She originally planned on performing only one show however as the tickets sold out within hours, it was decided that she would perform a second concert the next day. Tickets for that show were also almost sold out.
On 24 October, Ruslana performed a concert along with the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus in Massey Hall in Toronto. The purpose of the concert was to showcase the beauty and the importance of the Bandura in Ukrainian music and culture. For her final song, Ruslana performed along with the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus as well as the Zoloti Struny Youth Bandura Ensemble based in Toronto. She was a judge at Vidbir, Ukraine’s National Selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. Out of the three jury members, she was the only one who supported the singer Jamala who later on became the second Eurovision winner from Ukraine.
In late 2016, after Jamala’s victory at Eurovision in Stockholm, Ruslana played 3 concerts in Western Europe. In October she played in London, in November she played in Paris and in December she played in Hanover (Hannover). In all of these concerts she spoke about the victory that Jamala brought for Ukraine, and how Ukraine would be opening up to the world again in May 2017.
2017: It’s Magical / Ya lyublyu
After her long-lasting creative break, which was caused by the dramatic and stormy events in Ukraine, Ruslana presented her new single „It’s Magical / Я люблю“ at the Eurovision Grand Finale in Kyiv on 13 May 2017. The new music style combines tender cradle songs with brisk exotic melodies and rhythms. The original, exotic manner of singing which forms the basis of the soundtrack Ruslana acquired on sometimes extreme expeditions into the Carpathian Mountains. The song was released in an English („It’s Magical“) and a Ukrainian version („Я люблю“ / „Ya lyublyu“ / „I Love“).
The film production took place in a unique place, the Basalt quarry in the Rivne region. Director Oles Sanin created a thunderstorm in a realistic way for the video clip. The image of Ruslana in the chainmail in which she appears in the clip resembles her internal state. After all the events in her country and her extreme expeditions into the mountains, Ruslana feels like a kind of warrioress who is called to protect the most valuable: Love. In her song, video Ruslana wants to draw attention to the widespread deforestation in the Carpathians. Her aim is the preservation of the Carpathian primeval forests, their unique wildlife, and exceptional culture.
Social commitment
In 2004-2005 Ruslana was appointed Good Will Ambassador of Ukraine by the UNICEF and combats trafficking in human beings. She released two video clips which aim to make potential victims aware of the dangers of human trafficking. In February 2008 Ruslana performed at an anti-human trafficking event in Vienna, Austria, organized by UN.GIFT (The United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking) in front of 117 international delegations. Her song Not for Sale became the anthem of the anti-trafficking campaign.
Within the frames of the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 in Kyiv she gave a charity concert for children suffering from the consequences of the Chernobyl tragedy. For another charity project Ruslana joined forces with German rock star Peter Maffay. In April/May 2007 they went together with artists from 14 countries on a four weeks tour through Germany. The funds gathered benefited children in need.
Ruslana has also staged numerous charity concerts benefiting Children’s hospitals in Kyiv, Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk.
With her project Wild Energy Ruslana supports the use of renewable energy. She regards the energy of the sun, the water and the wind as an energy independence. The project gradually developed into this bigger meaning. Ruslana wants to make people aware of the dangers of global climate change. In September 2018, she was appointed as global ambassador for renewable energy by Global100RE.
After large regions in Western Ukraine were hit by a flood in July 2008 Ruslana set up the co-ordinating and relief centre Carpathians. Flood. SOS! 2008. The aim of the centre is to create a database of the people in need, to provide emergency humanitarian help and to collect and distribute donations both from the public and from other Ukrainian artists and sportsmen to support the victims of the flood.