Rotaru biography year. Sofia Rotaru - a legend of Soviet music
Sofia Rotaru ( full name- Sofia Mikhailovna Evdokimenko-Rotaru, Moldova. Sofia Rotaru, Ukrainian Sofia Rotaru) is a famous Soviet, Ukrainian, Moldavian and Russian pop singer and actress.
S. M. Rotaru is a citizen of Ukraine, an honorary citizen of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Chernivtsi. Lives in Yalta and Kyiv. Possessing a soprano voice, she was the first famous Soviet pop singer to sing recitative and begin to use a rhythm computer in the musical arrangement of songs.
If there was a fire in your house, what would you take out first?
- I would run away.
(Interview "Cosmopolitan Sofia")
Rotaru Sofia Mikhailovna
Her repertoire includes more than 400 songs in Russian, Ukrainian, Romanian/Moldovan, Bulgarian, Serbian, Polish, German, Italian, Spanish and English languages.
Sofia Rotaru's career is marked by both all-Union and international success on the music scene. In the Soviet media and society, she was recognized as one of the leading singers of the USSR; before the collapse of the USSR, the foreign press called her “Conductor of the USSR” (Dirigentin der UdSSR), comparing her with Nana Mouskouri. Nowadays she is called “legendary”, “queen of the stage”, “diva” and “golden voice of Ukraine”.
The work of S. Rotaru has been repeatedly awarded honorary titles: the title of Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1973), People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1976), People's Artist of the Moldavian SSR (1983), People's Artist of the USSR (1988), laureate of the Lenin Komsomol Prize, Hero of Ukraine, Knight of the Moldavian "Order of the Republic". In 2000, the Supreme Academic Council of Ukraine recognized her as the best Ukrainian pop singer of the 20th century.
Sofia Mikhailovna, how many languages do you know?
- I speak Moldovan, Ukrainian and Russian, but it is important that we understand each other.
(20.02.94, Kyiv, 18:15, response to a boy from the crowd)
Rotaru Sofia Mikhailovna
Sofia Rotaru is one of the highest paid singers in the world and the highest paid singer in Ukraine (in 2008, she declared the highest income in the country, which significantly exceeds 500 million hryvnia (~$100 million)). IN Lately S. Rotaru is also involved in entrepreneurship.
The village of Marshintsi, where the singer was born, was part of Romania until 1940, which was the reason for the different spellings of the singer’s first and last names. In the credits of the film "Chervona Ruta" Sofia also appears with the surname Rotar. In earlier filming, the name was written Sophia.
Edita Piekha advised Sofia to write her surname in the Moldovan style with the letter “u” at the end. As it turned out, the new stage name is just a well-forgotten old one. Translated from Romanian, “Rotaru” means wheelwright.
Once again, Aurika can’t be heard at all!
- She sings along in Moldavian...
- She doesn’t sing along in Moldavian. Get it now, crests! Aurika, sing.
- I don’t sing at the beginning...
- And I say: sing.
(In response to the banter of Anatoly Kirillovich and Ilya Savelyevich towards Aurika Rotaru at one of the rehearsals in Krasnodar (`93))
Rotaru Sofia Mikhailovna
Sofia Rotaru was born on August 7, 1947, the second of six children, in the family of a winegrower foreman, in the village of Marshintsy (Novoselitsky district, Chernivtsi region, Ukrainian SSR).
Due to a mistake by the passport officer who wrote August 9 in the passport, the birthday is celebrated twice. Sofia Rotaru's father, having gone through the entire war as a machine gunner to Berlin, being wounded and returning home only in 1946, was the first in the village to join the party.
The elder sister Zina (born October 11, 1942), suffered a serious illness in childhood and lost her sight. Zina, having perfect pitch, easily memorized new songs and taught Sofia many folk songs, becoming both a second mother and a favorite teacher.
Make sure no one is visible. And me too…
(04/13/95, Kharkov, pyrotechnics - about smoke on stage...)
Rotaru Sofia Mikhailovna
In an interview given many years later, the singer admitted that she now gets up around 10 a.m., going to bed after two in the morning. Sofia Rotaru does not bargain on the market: “This is hellish work,” she told her husband, “don’t you dare.” Later, in the film “Where are you, love?”, an autobiographical episode will appear where Sofia Rotaru milks a cow.
Being lively and active, Sofia did a lot of sports and athletics. She became the school's all-around champion and went to regional competitions. At the regional sports day in Chernivtsi, she became the winner in the 100 and 800 meters.
Later, she performed roles without stunt doubles in the film “Where Are You Love?”, driving along a narrow embankment in the middle of the sea on a motorcycle, as well as in the film “Monologue about Love,” where she windsurfs on the open sea.
They say that you started singing from the cradle?
-I couldn’t do it in diapers: the pacifier was in the way.
(Interview with the newspaper "Nedelya", 1978)
Rotaru Sofia Mikhailovna
Sofia's musical abilities showed up very early. Sofia Rotaru began singing in the first grade in the school choir, and also sang in the church choir (although this was not welcomed at school - she was even threatened with expulsion from the pioneers).
In her youth, she was attracted to the theater, she studied in a drama club and at the same time sang folk songs in amateur performances, took the only button accordion at school and at night, when the kerosene lamp in the house went out, went into the barn and picked out her favorite melodies of Moldavian songs.
Her first teacher was her father, who himself loved to sing in his youth, possessing an absolute ear for music and a beautiful voice.
At school, Sofia learned to play the domra and button accordion, participated in amateur performances, and gave concerts in the surrounding villages. She especially loved home concerts. The six children of Mikhail Fedorovich, the father of Sofia Rotaru, formed a well-coordinated choir. The father, believing in his daughter’s great future, said: “Sonya will be an artist.”
The first success came to Sofia Rotaru in 1962. Victory in the regional amateur art competition opened the way for her to the regional show. For her voice, her fellow countrymen awarded her the title “Bukovinian Nightingale.”
The young singer’s voice was unique in that, being an alto and having sung operatic works such as “Kiss Me Hard” in Spanish (the song was included in the collection “A Night at the Opera”), she became the first pop singer to sing recitative (singing later and rock and rap (“Chervona Ruta”, 2006, Sofia Rotaru and TNMK) and jazz (like the song “Flowers Store”) works).
The following year, 1963, in Chernivtsi, at a regional amateur art show, she also won a first-degree diploma.
As the winner, she was sent to Kyiv to participate in the Republican Festival of Folk Talents (1964). In the capital of the Ukrainian SSR, Rotaru was again the first.
On this occasion, her photo was placed on the cover of the magazine “Ukraine” No. 27 for 1965, after seeing which her future husband, Anatoly Evdokimenko, fell in love with her. After this competition National artist USSR Dmitry Gnatyuk told his fellow countrymen: “This is your future celebrity. Mark my words."
After winning the republican competition and graduating from school in 1964, Sofia firmly decided to become a singer and entered the conducting and choral department (since there was no vocal department) of the Chernivtsi Music College.
In 1964, Sofia sang for the first time on the stage of the Kremlin Palace of Congresses. At the same time, in the Urals, in Nizhny Tagil, a young guy from Chernivtsi was serving - Anatoly Evdokimenko, the son of a builder and a teacher, who also had “one music” (as Sofia’s mother said to her daughter) in his head. Anatoly Evdokimenko graduated from music school, played the trumpet, planning to create an ensemble.
The same issue of the magazine “Ukraine” with a photograph came to his unit beautiful girl on the cover, after which he returned and began looking for Sofia. He, being a student at Chernivtsi University and a trumpeter in the student pop orchestra, opened a pop orchestra for Sofia, since before that violins and cymbals were used to accompany Rotaru’s songs.
Sofia Rotaru still devotes a significant place in her concert programs to folk songs in modern arrangements. The first pop song performed by Sofia Rotaru was “Mama” by Bronevitsky.
In 1968, after graduating from music school, Rotaru was delegated as part of creative group to Bulgaria on IX World Festival youth and students, where she won a gold medal and first prize in a folk song competition.
Bulgarian newspapers were full of headlines: “21-year-old Sofia conquered Sofia.” This is how the performance of the Ukrainian song was assessed folk song“I’m Standing on a Stone” and the Moldavian “I Love Spring”, as well as “Step” by A. Pashkevich and “Valentina” by G. Georgitsa.
The last song was dedicated to the first female cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union, Valentina Tereshkova, who was present in the hall. The chairman of the jury, Lyudmila Zykina, then said about Rotaru: “This is a singer with a great future...”
After graduating from music school, she became a teacher. In the same 1968, Sofia Rotaru married Anatoly Evdokimenko, who, after graduating from Chernivtsi University, did an internship in Novosibirsk and was also a trumpeter in the student pop orchestra. The young family spent their honeymoon in the dormitory of the 105th military plant.
Anatoly Evdokimenko worked at the plant named after. Lenin, and Sofia Rotaru cooked food for everyone, and in the evenings she sang at the Otdykh club. The newlyweds left after 3 months. In an interview, Sofia Rotaru admitted that after a year of marriage she began to dream of a child. At the same time, Anatoly Evdokimenko had other creative plans and continued his studies.
Then they lived with their parents in a two-room apartment; he had not yet graduated from university. Sofia Rotaru lied: “Listen, the doctor said that I will soon become a mother. Although in reality I was not in a position at that moment - I had to use a little feminine trick. Tolik shook his head: “Well, good.” He relaxed, let down his guard and began to wait for the heir to be born.
The child was born eleven months later. “Now I believe that I did everything right, then I simply wouldn’t have time - these endless tours would begin.” Before giving birth, she hurried home to iron the dress she wore to the maternity hospital with her husband, since looking amazing in any situation was her lifestyle. On August 24, 1970, son Ruslan was born.
In 1971, at Ukrtelefilm, director Roman Alekseev made a musical film about the tender and pure love of a mountain girl and a Donetsk boy - “Chervona Ruta” (Chervona Ruta is the name of a flower taken from an ancient Carpathian legend. Ruta blooms only on the night of Ivan Kupala , and the girl who manages to see the blooming rue will be happy in love).
Sofia Rotaru became the main character film. Songs by composer V. Ivasyuk and other authors were also performed by V. Zinkevich, N. Yaremchuk and other singers. The film was a significant success. After the release of the film, Sofia Rotaru received an invitation to work at the Chernivtsi Philharmonic and create her own ensemble, the name of which appeared by itself - “Chervona Ruta”.
As a result of collaboration with composer Vladimir Ivasyuk, a cycle of songs was created based on folklore material and a style of performance using instruments and arrangements typical of pop music of the 60s and 70s.
This led to the enormous popularity of Rotaru in the Ukrainian SSR. Assessing the role of Sofia Rotaru in popularizing Ivasyuk’s songs, his father, the famous Ukrainian writer M. Ivasyuk, said in front of an audience of thousands of fellow countrymen: “We must bow deeply to the Moldavian girl Sonya, who spread my son’s songs all over the world.”
The debut performance of “Chervona Ruta” was in Star City with Soviet cosmonauts. It was there that Sofia Rotaru and the Chervona Ruta ensemble first announced themselves as outstanding representatives of an entire direction of Soviet pop art, characteristic feature which is a combination in the repertoire and style of performance of elements of folk music with modern rhythms.
Cosmonaut V. Shatalov, on behalf of his colleagues, wished her great success in songwriting. This stage was followed by the stage of the Central Concert Hall "Russia", the Kremlin Palace and the stage of the Variety Theater.
The singer's outward restraint left no room for fussiness and unjustified gesticulation. This was the beginning of widespread recognition of Sofia Rotaru. Since 1971, Sofia Rotaru has been counting her professional creative activity.
Its authors were V. Ivasyuk, a music school student Valery Gromtsev, the head of the Smerichka VIA Levko Dutkovsky, and the mentors were the deputy director of the Chernivtsi Philharmonic Pincus Abramovich Falik and his wife, Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR Sidi Lvovna Tal.
Falik was at that time one of the largest administrators with international recognition. Before the outbreak of World War II, he was the producer of the famous English singer Geri Scott.
The first professional program of “Chervona Ruta” was not approved by the artistic council, because instead of the theme “love, Komsomol and spring” she sang “Enemies burned their home.” The commission of the Ministry of Culture did not like this, and the program was banned.
After Falik’s call to Moscow, “Chervona Ruta”, bypassing all prohibitions, was included in the “Soviet and Foreign Pop Stars” program and the ensemble found itself in the company of the Germans, Bulgarians, Czechs, and Yugoslavs.
In Tashkent, people took her for a foreigner and after the concert they asked whether she liked the Soviet Union, where she learned to sing in Russian so well. In Grozny, at the stadium, while performing, the singer’s zipper on her back burst, which was noticed by the audience. The singer held the dress until one of the spectators pinned it.
Thanks to the popularization of her work by the official Soviet authorities as an example of international Soviet culture (the ethnic Moldavian sang songs in Moldavian, Ukrainian and Russian), as well as the sincere sympathy of a multimillion-dollar audience, Rotaru had a constant audience on radio and television, and conducted active concert activities.
In 1972, with the program “Songs and Dances of the Land of the Soviets,” Sofia Rotaru and “Chervona Ruta” took part in a tour of Poland.
In 1973, the Golden Orpheus competition took place in Burgas (Bulgaria). Rotaru received first prize there, performing “My City” by Evgeniy Doga and the song in Bulgarian “Bird” by T. Rusev and D. Demyanov. 1973 brought her the title of Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR. The songs “Codri” and “My City” performed by her in the Moldovan language were recorded in the film “Spring Consonances - 73”.
In 1973, for the first time, he became a laureate in the finals of the “Song of the Year” festival with the song “My City” (translated from Moldavian to the Russian version, which immediately became business card Chisinau).
In 1974 she won first prize at the festival in Sopot (Poland).
Since the 1970s, songs performed by Sofia Rotaru have constantly become winners of the “Song of the Year”. They were created in collaboration with the best composers and poets of the country.
Arno Babajanyan wrote “Give Back the Music to Me”, Alexey Mazhukov - “And the Music Sounds” and “Red Arrow”, Pavel Aedonitsky - “For Those Who Wait”, Oscar Feltsman - “Only for You”, David Tukhmanov - “Stork on the Roof” , “In My House” and “Waltz”, Yuri Saulsky - “ The usual story" and "Autumn Melody", Alexandra Pakhmutova - "Temp", Raymond Pauls - "Dance on the Drum", Alexander Zatsepin - "Just like on Earth", etc.
Sofia Rotaru was the first performer of songs by composer Evgeny Martynov, such as “Swan Fidelity”, “Apple Trees in Blossom” and “Ballad of Mother”. The “patriotic line” in Rotaru’s work is widely known; songs such as “My Motherland”, “Happiness to you, My Land” are rightfully considered masterpieces of patriotic Soviet song.
In 1974, Sofia Rotaru graduated from the Chisinau Institute of Arts. G. Muzichesku and became a laureate of the Amber Nightingale festival in Sopot (Poland), where she performed “Memories” by B. Rychkov and “Vodograi” by Vladimir Ivasyuk. For her performance of the Polish song “Someone” from Halina Frontskowiak’s repertoire (Russian text by A. Dementiev), the singer received second prize.
In creativity, contact with the public is most important for Rotaru - a well-known technique is entering the hall and performing songs directly with the audience. In one of her interviews, she said that “the most important thing for a singer is public recognition, and no one needs awards.”
Sofia Rotaru said: “I was the first performer of many songs by one of my favorite composers, Evgeniy Martynov. I love his “Swan Fidelity”, “Ballad of Mother”.
My repertoire includes songs of different genres, but almost always - a dramatic plot, a dramatic melody. A song for me is a small short story with its own world of feelings, dramatic structure, and characters.”
The album “Sofia Rotaru” of 1974, as well as the musical television film “The Song is Always with Us”, outlined the priorities of the singer’s creativity in the 1970s - the lyrics of the Lviv composer Vladimir Ivasyuk and the dramatic songs of the Moscow composer Evgeny Martynov.
The joint work of Evgeny Martynov and the poet Andrei Dementyev - “The Ballad of a Mother” - performed by Sofia Rotaru became a laureate of the television competition “Song-74”.
This is a dramatic story about the unhealed wounds of a long-faded war, the cry of a woman who saw her forever lost son brought to life for a moment on the silver screen.
This performance showed the ability to dramatize and play the song theatrically, which revealed new qualities of the songs and new expressive capabilities of the singer and future actress.
In 1975, at the “Song-75” festival, songs performed by Sofia Rotaru “Swan Fidelity” and “Apple Trees in Blossom” reached the finals. The song “Smuglyanka” was performed with the Yugoslav singer Miki Efremovich. A year later, the songs “Give Me Back the Music” and “Dark Night” made it to the finals of the festival. The second of them was performed with Anatoly Mokrenko.
In 1975, Sofia Rotaru, together with the Chervona Ruta ensemble, moved to Yalta, because the singer had problems with the Chernivtsi Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Ukrainian SSR. Sofia Rotaru's father, Mikhail Fedorovich, was expelled from the CPSU and fired from his job, and the singer's brother was expelled from the Komsomol and the university due to the fact that the family continued to celebrate an unofficial holiday - the Old New Year.
At the same time, during a tour in Crimea, the singer received an invitation from Alexei Chernyshev, director of the Crimean Philharmonic and Nikolai Kirichenko, first secretary of the Crimean Regional Committee, to move to Crimea, where Sofia Rotaru became a soloist in the same year.
People said that Sofia Rotaru moved to Yalta due to the onset of asthma, the reason for these rumors was the singer’s excessive thinness, and she actually often performed, having a cold, in the cold, giving 3-4 concerts a day.
In 1976, Sofia Rotaru became People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR and laureate of the LKSMU Prize. Ostrovsky.
In 1976, the Munich company Ariola-Eurodisc GmbH (Sony BMG Music Entertainment) invited Sofia Rotaru, the only singer from the USSR, to record an EP of two German songs, it was released in 1978, with the name Deine Zartlichkeit, consisting of two songs on in German - Deine Zartlichkeit (Your tenderness) and Nachts, wenn die Nebel ziehen (At night when the mists rise), written in collaboration with Michael Kunze and Anthony Monn, who at that time also began working with Amanda Lear, Karel Gott.
At the end of the 70s, there were deafening tours in Europe: Yugoslavia, Romania, East Germany, Germany, West Berlin. In the fall of 1979 alone, Sofia Rotaru gave more than 20 concerts in Munich and other cities.
A West German company offered to release a disc with Italian and French songs. The Italian language of Sofia is very close, just like French - languages belonging to the same language group - Romance, like Moldavian. At the same time, a directive came from the State Concert to sing only Soviet songs.
Official information about the content of cooperation with a Western record company appeared only in the mid-80s, almost ten years after the release of the single, after perestroika began.
From an interview with Moskovskaya Pravda, March 13, 1979: - The Munich company Ariola, which gave worldwide fame to Mireille Mathieu, Karel Gott and many other foreign pop singers, invited you, by the way, so far the only singer from the USSR, to record on a large disk. Tell us about this work. - The first test album of two songs in German has already been released.
Now I am going again to Germany, to Munich, where the same company will release a large disc, which will include folk songs and songs of Soviet composers.
But the recording of a large disc did not take place, since Western producers offered Sofia Mikhailovna to record a large studio disc, which, in addition to songs in German, should have included French, Italian, English, such as “Say that you love” by Nino Rota from “The Godfather” on original language (Speak Softly Love).
In 1977, the next long-playing album “Songs of Volodymyr Ivasyuk sings Sofia Rotaru” (“Sofia Rotaru sings the songs of Vladimir Ivasyuk”) was released - the record became a symbol in the discography of the Ukrainian stage, for which the singer received the Komsomol Central Committee Prize.
At “Song-77” Sofia performed the song “Seagulls over the Water” by E. Martynov and A. Dementiev, at “Song-78” - “Only for You” by O. Feltsman and R. Rozhdestvensky, as well as “Father’s House” by E. Martynov and A. Dementyev in a duet with Czech singer Karel Gott.
In 1979, the Melodiya company released several albums performed by Sofia Rotaru: LP “Only for You”, LP “Sofia Rotaru”. Studio "Ariola" has released the long-awaited giant disc "Sofia Rotaru - Mu tenderness". According to Sofia Rotaru, working on a recording certainly helps improve performing skills, being an excellent opportunity to listen to yourself from the outside and draw critical conclusions.
Among the compositions of 1979, the songs by composer David Tukhmanov “Let's give the globe to the children”, performed with children's choirs, and the legendary song based on the poems of Robert Rozhdestvensky “My Motherland” stand out. Having performed the last song, Sofia Rotaru became the first rap performer in the USSR. The song received mixed reactions.
Remembering her at the anniversary party in 2000, Tukhmanov said, “The texts were opportunistic, but the emotions were real.” Sofia Rotaru emphasized in one of her interviews that the song speaks exclusively about love for the homeland. Also in 1979, the singer released compositions by Ion Aldea-Teodorovich - “Crede ma” and Yuri Saulsky - “Autumn Melody”, A. Ekimyan - “What can you compare love with?”
The last two songs won “Song of the Year” in 1979. The song “Autumn Melody” based on the verses of L. Zavalnyuk was an example of lyrical revelation. Sofia Rotaru successfully played on the contrast of the song with a static stage performance, but instead of a quiet performance, she sang the line “High melancholy, not explained in words,” loudly and shrilly, thus uninhibiting the manner of performance.
There is no dramatic sketch in the performance, but there is a fragment of a confession that the singer makes public: “Whoever has not lost friends and loved ones, Let him laugh at me!”
On May 18, 1979, Vladimir Ivasyuk tragically died, at the very peak of his popularity. For Sofia Rotaru, Ivasyuk wrote some of the best songs, which are included by the singer today in the first part of her concert programs. The song “Chervona Ruta” has become the so-called calling card of Rotaru, traditionally opening the singer’s programs, in different arrangements.
Sofia Rotaru said about Ivasyuk: “There will never be another composer like this in Ukraine.” The mystery of the death of Vladimir Ivasyuk has not yet been solved. After the tragic death of Ivasyuk, a number of works by composers from Moldova (in particular, the Teodorovich brothers) appeared in the singer’s repertoire.
After Sofia Rotaru stopped collaborating with Moldovan authors, in particular with Evgeniy Doga, the latter, in retaliation, actively spread rumors that Sofia Rotaru’s voice was being collected from notes on a computer.
The performance of songs in different languages gave rise to disputes about whether Rotaru belongs to Moldavian or Ukrainian culture. She was considered “one of our own” in Russia, and in Armenia the question was even raised about conferring the title of “Honored Artist of the Armenian SSR.” During the collapse of the USSR in 1991, there was even a joke that during the negotiations in Belovezhskaya Pushcha the question was raised about “how we will divide Rotaru.”
The singer herself, who has lived her entire life on the territory of Ukraine (Marshintsy, Chernivtsi, Yalta, Kyiv), has always positioned herself as a citizen of Ukraine, without denying her Moldovan origin.
In 1980, Sofia Rotaru won 1st prize at an international competition in Tokyo for her performance of the Yugoslav song “Promise” and was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor.
The singer continued to experiment with her image and appeared on stage for the first time among domestic female artists in a trouser suit, this time performing the hip-hop song “Temp” by Alexandra Pakhmutova with lyrics by Nikolai Dobronravov.
The songs “Temp” and “Expectation” were written for the 1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow and were included in the cultural program of the Games. “Temp” also became the soundtrack to the feature film “The Ballad of Sports” directed by Yuri Ozerov. In 1980, the singer again qualified for the final of the Song of the Year, performing “My Land” by N. Mozgovoy and “Waiting” by Yu. Saulsky and L. Zavalnyuk.
In 1980, the film “Where Are You, Love?” was released. (original title “Year of Vocation”), filmed at the “Moldova-film” studio, in which, among many songs, the singer performed the song “First Rain”, without an understudy, riding on the back of a motorcycle along a narrow embankment in the middle of the sea.
According to the autobiographical plot, a rural singer is invited to join the ensemble, with which she wins the Grand Prix at an international festival with the song “Where are you, love?” R. Pauls to poems by I. Reznik.
At the box office, the film was watched by about 22 million viewers. In the same year, a double album was released - “Songs from the film “Where are you, love?”” with songs from the film of the same name by composers E. Martynov, O. Feltsman, A. Babajanyan, D. Tukhmanov. A. Mazhukov’s composition “Red Arrow” in 1980 became the debut of the young poet Nikolai Zinoviev in the pop genre.
The song was banned on All-Union Radio by the head of the music editorial office, Gennady Cherkasov, because he did not like the way Sofia Rotaru sang. But since the song premiered on television, it managed to become famous even without radio airplay.
In 1981, the film received the jury prize for popularizing the song creativity of Soviet composers at the XIV All-Union Film Festival in Vilnius in the feature films section.
This film was Sofia Rotaru's first experience in feature cinema. Many critics called this role a failure, nevertheless, the film won the love of the audience, and the songs sounded in the film became legendary: “Red Arrow” (music by Alexei Mazhukov, lyrics by Nikolai Zinoviev), “Where are you, love?” (music by Raymond Pauls, lyrics by Ilya Reznik), “Dance on the Drum” (music by Raymond Pauls, lyrics by Andrei Voznesensky).
The next stage of creativity began with the search for a new style - rock music and the film “Soul” with “Time Machine” in 1981 with songs by A. Zatsepin and A. Makarevich. Having received the first offer in Yalta to star in the leading role in the film, Sofia Rotaru refused, she was so sick and the doctors did not recommend her not only filming, but also further performances.
This prompted Alexander Borodyansky and Alexander Stefanovich to describe an autobiographical story about a dramatic situation in the singer’s life, about the loss of her voice, and the revelation of her soul at that moment (dialogue on the pier with an elderly man) followed by a reassessment of values.
Having seen the new rewritten script, as well as songs written in a completely new style for the singer, Sofia Rotaru agreed, moreover, she agreed to give up concert performances for a while in order to star in the film.
Thus, the film became a musical melodrama, affecting not only privacy artist and human relationships, but also the question of attitude towards talent and the responsibility of talent to those for whom he creates. Rotaru’s partner in the film was actor Rolan Bykov, the lyrical hero was played by Leningrad actor Mikhail Boyarsky, and the rock group “Time Machine” was the new group of singer Victoria Svobodina. The film was watched at the box office by about 54 million viewers.
Sofia Rotaru reached the final of “Song of the Year” in 1982 with the songs “Melancolie” by P. Teodorovich and G. Vieru and “Get Up!” R. Amirkhanyan and H. Zakiyan. “Song 1983” included the songs “Happiness to you, my land” by Y. Saulsky and L. Zavalnyuk and “And the music sounds” by A. Mazhukov and N. Zinoviev.
After concerts in Canada and the release of the Canadian album in Toronto, Canadian Tour 1983, in 1983, Sofia Rotaru and her team became restricted from traveling abroad for five years. There was no official reason, but when the State Concert received calls from abroad, they refused under the pretext that “she doesn’t work here.”
During the recording of the record in Germany, the State Concert gave her a rate of 6 rubles per minute of sound. The German side had to pay 156 marks and called back to Moscow. The next day, the translator told Sofia Rotaru: “Our boss decided to give you a small present, because Moscow does not allow you to increase the rate...” “I regret one thing - that this happened in my younger years, when so much could have been done,” said Sofia Rotaru .
In 1983, Sofia Rotaru gave 137 concerts on collective and state farms in Crimea. The collective farm "Russia" of the Crimean region and the Ministry of Culture of the Moldavian SSR nominated concert programs of Rotaru of 83–84 for the USSR State Prize. However, the famous singer was not awarded the prize, since all her solo concerts since the late 70s have been held exclusively with a plus soundtrack.
In 1983, Sofia Rotaru received the title People's Artist Moldova. In the same year, while listening to a melody specially written for her by the composer Kiriyak with the poet Vieru, Rotaru insisted on words about romance.
She was supported by her husband and artistic director Anatoly Evdokimenko, and the poet wrote, but about the singer. Romantica is an adjective in Moldovan that means “romantic”.
In 1984, she presented “Romantica” at the “Song of the Year” festival. This song is included in most solo programs, including the latest ones. The second song performed was “I Can’t Forget” (composer D. Tukhmanov with lyrics by V. Kharitonov). The singer performed it in the dramatic image of a courageous nurse of World War II. Rotaru was invited to the GDR TV program “The Motley Cauldron”, where she performed the song in German.
In 1984, the LP “Tender Melody” was released. The album was a return to the original image with the song “Melancolie” (“Tender Melody”) by Zinoviev. In 1985, Sofia Rotaru received the “Golden Disc” prize from the All-Union company “Melodiya” for the albums “Sofia Rotaru” and “Tender Melody” - the best-selling records of the year in the USSR, selling more than 1,000,000 copies. In the same year, Sofia Rotaru was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples.
At the finale of “Song-85” the audience together with the singer sang “Stork on the Roof” by D. Tukhmanov and A. Poperechny and “In My House” by D. Tukhmanov and A. Sayed-Shah.
In the mid-1980s, a certain turning point emerged in creativity. The search for a new aesthetics of creativity permeated the musical film “Monologue about Love” (1986), in which, unlike the previous “Sofia Rotaru is inviting you” (1985), only I. Poklad’s composition “Water Flows” carried the same folklore character and the image of a collective farm girl who became a star. In the film “Monologue about Love,” Sofia Rotaru performed the song “Amor” as a windsurfer, on the high seas and without an understudy.
“Monologue about Love” - an album released in 1986 with soundtracks and songs from the musical film of the same name, became Rotaru’s last work with the original Ukrainian composers. The Chervona Ruta ensemble returned to the Ukrainian song and left the singer, which came as a big surprise for Rotaru and Anatoly Evdokimenko, artistic director of Chervona Ruta.
In one of her interviews, Sofia Rotaru answered a journalist’s question “Have you ever been truly scared?” answered: “When I was betrayed.
This was connected with the “Chervona Ruta” collective, which Tolik (A. Evdokimenko) organized at one time. It was the peak of popularity, when we were carried in our arms, when cars were lifted at concerts. It seemed to the guys that they could count on success without me, that I treated them wrong, that the repertoire was wrong, that they received little money... When Tolik and I left for our homeland, they got together and decided that they didn’t need us. They left with a scandal and with the name “Chervona Ruta.”
A sharp change in the direction of Rotaru’s work occurred after the start of collaboration with composer Vladimir Matetsky in 1986. “Lavender” and “Moon, Moon” by Muscovite Vladimir Matetsky have already appeared - two of the most popular songs of the USSR in 1986. The joint album of Rotaru and Matetsky “Golden Heart” was recorded with Moscow studio musicians.
Sofia Rotaru moved on to Europop compositions (“It was, but it’s gone”, “Moon”), up to hard rock elements (“My Time”, “Only This Is Not Enough”). Matetsky and his co-author, poet Mikhail Shabrov, practically monopolized the right to collaborate with Rotaru over the next 15 years, producing talented works that were included in large numbers in concert programs in 1990-2000, and became popular due to Rotaru’s charismatic personality and her extraordinary vocal abilities .
This collaboration began with the song “Lavender”, written by V. Matetsky in 1985 for her duet with Jaak Joala and which has not yet lost its popularity. “Lavender” was followed by “Moon, Moon”, “It Was, But It’s Gone”, “Wild Swans”, “The Farmer”, “It’s September”, “Moonlight Rainbow”, “Stars Like Stars”, “Night Moth”, “Heart of Gold” ", "My life, my love" and many others.
In 1986, composer V. Migulya wrote the song “Life” especially for the singer, which was heard very rarely, but is memorable to listeners to this day.
Active touring activities and constant presence on music broadcasts led to the fact that by the end of the 80s S. Rotaru objectively became the leader of Soviet song art. May 11, 1988 to Sofia Rotaru for great services in the development of the Soviet musical art awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR, the first of the modern pop singers.
At the same time, the transition to the Russian-language repertoire caused a certain rejection in Ukraine. Accusations of betrayal of national culture, in addition to the general growth of nationalism, were actively fueled by Soviet state production structures, philharmonic societies and concert associations, which, during the course of economic reforms, lost control over the financial side of Rotaru’s concert activities.
In order to avoid large-scale provocations, Rotaru refused to participate in the Chervona Ruta festival, held in her homeland in 1989. In the late 80s, strained interethnic relations led to the fact that in 1989, at a national concert in Lviv at the Druzhba stadium, part of the audience, opposed to Sofia Rotaru, greeted the singer with posters “Sofia, punishment awaits you!” and whistling, which led to clashes with her fans.
Nevertheless, Sofia Rotaru continued to sing Ukrainian songs and constantly included them in the first sections of concert programs. New songs of this period in the Ukrainian language were the works of N. Mozgovoy (“The Edge”, “The Day Is Gone”), A. Bliznyuk (“Echo of Fidelity”), E. Rybchinsky (“Flowing Water”), Y. Rybchinsky (“Ball of the Separated hearts"), and later - R. Quint (“Checkay”, “One viburnum”, “Fog”).
At the same time, she prepared and presented to the audience in 1991 a new program, included in the album Romance, half of which consisted of remakes of songs by Ivasyuk and other famous Ukrainian composers and poets in the Ukrainian language, in particular, “Chervona Ruta”, “Cheremshina”, “ Maple Vogon”, “The Edge”, “Sizocrylic Bird”, “Zhovty Leaf”, which became classics of Ukrainian pop songs, after which such accusations fell apart.
In 1991, the next work of Rotaru and Matetsky was released - the LP “Caravan of Love” (Sintez Records, Riga, Latvia), also with a noticeable influence in the style of hard rock and metal, which was at the peak of its popularity at that time. Simultaneously with the album, a musical television film of the same name and a concert program, Golden Heart, were released, which became the last program of the singer during the USSR - in 1991, the union state did not exist, and Rotaru could not be divided between Russia, Ukraine and Moldova.
The collapse of the Union affected the geography of Sofia Rotaru's travels. The USSR Ministry of Culture obliged artists to tour “hot spots.” Having refused at first, Rotaru prepared the programs “Friends Remain Friends” and “Caravan of Love” presented in Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn, Tbilisi, Baku and Yerevan.
The concerts took place in rooms with inadequate conditions, which ultimately led to pneumonia. Sofia Rotaru said “I was warned: don’t go down to the hall, you never know. They even posted security. And I believe: what you go to a person with is what he will repay you with.”
In the late 80s, while participating in a group concert, Sofia Rotaru drew attention to the performance of the ballet “Todes” and invited her to collaborate. There is a lot of show ballet in dancing the most complex elements, there are various genres: from tango to break.
Dancing "Todes" made her songs more spectacular from a stage point of view. In the concert programs of this period, Sofia Rotaru danced almost all songs with “Todes”. This creative union lasted about five years. Alla Dukhova, artistic director of the ballet, said that it was with Rotaru that the Todes ballet began its successful activities.
In 1991, Sofia Rotaru presented in Moscow an anniversary program dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the singer’s creative activity, decorated with laser graphics, candles and fantastic decorations in the form of a moving red flower from the legend of Chervona Ruta, from which the singer entered the stage.
The anniversary concerts “Flowers of Sofia Rotaru” took place at the State Central Concert Hall “Russia”. Central television broadcast this program, and it was released on video in the TV version of the concert.
Remaining faithful to the composition of the first part of her concert programs, the singer sang songs of her youth, but in bold remix versions of songs by Ivasyuk and other famous Ukrainian composers and poets in the Ukrainian language, in particular, “Chervona Ruta”, “Cheremshina”, “Klenovy Vogon” , “Edge”, “Blue Bird”, “Zhovty Leaf”, which have become classics of Ukrainian pop songs, as well as the new “Tango”, “Wild Swans” and others.
The Smerichka ensemble, which starred with Rotaru in the film Chervona Ruta, also took part in the concert. Closing the second part was the song “Echo”, with the words: “It takes years to become younger... Songs and poems go to people...”
After the collapse of the USSR and the commercialization of the musical space, the singer did not lose her leading position in show business and has a stable audience, including in the Russian-speaking diaspora in Europe and the USA. In 1992, a super hit was released by Rotaru - “Khutoryanka” (music by Vladimir Matetsky, lyrics by Mikhail Shabrov), according to the singer ““This song is for any audience!” The song was rotated in the lists of the “Soundtrack” hit parade of the newspaper “Moskovsky Komsomolets”.
The singer left the Philharmonic and continued recording songs at her own studio in Yalta. In 1993, the first two CDs of the collection of the singer’s best songs were released - “Sofia Rotaru” and “Lavender”, then “Golden Songs 1985/95” and “Khutoryanka”.
In 1995, Sofia Rotaru starred in the musical film “Old Songs about the Main Thing” by the ORT television company (director Dmitry Fiks, producer Konstantin Ernst), performing the song “What You Were” (music by I. Dunaevsky, lyrics by M. Isakovsky).
In August 1996, Sofia Rotaru was awarded the Honorary Distinction of the President of Ukraine. In the same year, at “Song-96”, Sofia Rotaru was recognized as “Best Pop Singer of 1996” and was awarded the Klavdia Shulzhenko Prize.
In 1996, the songs “Night of Love” by Laura Quint with lyrics by M. Denisov and “There is No Place for Me in Your Heart” by Vladimir Matetsky with lyrics by Mikhail Faibushevich made it to the finals of the competition. “Swan Fidelity” was also performed, but was not broadcast on television.
In 1997, Sofia Rotaru starred in the musical film “10 Songs about Moscow” by the NTV television company (project of Leonid Parfenov and Janik Fayziev), with the song “Moscow in May” (music by D. and Dm. Pokrass, lyrics by V. Lebedev-Kumach) with the group "Ivanushki International".
In 1997, Sofia Rotaru became an Honorary Citizen of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea; winner of the honorary prize of the President of Ukraine L. Kuchma for his outstanding contribution to the development of pop art “Song Vernissage” and Knight of the Order of the Republic of Moldova.
On September 16, 1997, at the age of 77, Sofia Rotaru’s mother, Alexandra Ivanovna Rotaru (born April 17, 1920), died. Before these events, Sofia Rotaru repeatedly canceled performances in the concert schedule, anniversary concerts, filming, and other tours.
On the set of the finale of “Songs-97”, the singer performed the songs “Your Sad Eyes” (by Vladimir Matetsky to the verses of Liliana Vorontsova), as well as “There Was a Time” (by Vladimir Matetsky to the verses of Mikhail Faibushevich) and “Sweater” (by Vladimir Matetsky to the verses of Alexander Shaganov ). As the chairman of the jury at the “Song Vernissage”, Sofia Rotaru noticed the performance of the young Lviv modern ballet “Akverias” under the direction of Oksana Lan and invited them to her program.
In 1998, Sofia Rotaru’s first official (numbered) CD was released, the album “Love Me,” released on the Extraphone label. In April of this year, the premiere of Rotaru’s new solo program “Love Me” took place at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow.
Also in 1998, Sofia Rotaru was awarded the “Order of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker” “For increasing goodness on Earth.” Sofia Rotaru becomes an Honorary Citizen of the city of Chernivtsi.
In 1999, the Star Records label released two more CD collections of the singer in the “Star Series”. At the end of 1999, Sofia Rotaru was recognized as the best singer of Ukraine in the “Traditional Variety” category, receiving the “Golden Firebird”, as well as a special award “for her contribution to the development of domestic pop music.”
In the same year, the singer was awarded the “Order of St. Princess Olga, III degree” for special personal merits in the development of song creativity, many years of fruitful concert activity and high performing skills. The Russian Biographical Institute recognized the singer as Person of the Year 1999.
In 2000, in Kyiv, Sofia Rotaru was recognized as “Man of the 20th Century”, “Best Ukrainian Pop Singer of the 20th Century”, “Golden Voice of Ukraine”, Winner of the “Prometheus - Prestige” Award, “Woman of the Year”. In the same year, Sofia Rotaru became the Laureate of the Ovation Prize, “For a special contribution to the development of Russian stage" In August 2000, the singer’s official website was opened.
In December 2001, Sofia Rotaru released a new solo concert program “My Life is My Love!” on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of his creative activity. The expression of the 70s was supplemented by the lyricism of the 80s, the drive of the 90s and the play of halftones, on which Rotaru the director and Rotaru the singer built her program, combining new songs and hits of past years, read in a new way.
Many of her songs, no matter how many years ago they were sung, do not fit into the “retro” format, continuing to sound modern in each new concert program of the singer. The program premiered on December 13-15 at the State Kremlin Palace in Moscow.
Sofia Rotaru also presented her new solo program “My Life is My Love…” in other cities of Russia, Ukraine and Germany. In this program, the singer performed independently for the first time as a production director, where Boris Krasnov worked with her for the first time as a production designer.
Before solo concerts in Moscow, the film and video association “Close-up” presented a video version of the film “Soul” filmed by the Mosfilm studio in 1981 with Sofia Rotaru in the title role. The film took 5th place at the box office in the USSR and is considered this moment(2009) Rotaru’s most successful film work.
In 2002, the song “My Life, My Love” opened “New Year’s Light” on the ORT channel. On January 20, the premiere of the television version of Sofia Rotaru’s anniversary solo program “My Life is My Love” took place, which was also released on video. On March 2, Sofia Rotaru performed for the first time with a club concert at the Metelitsa entertainment complex, which became an event in the cultural life of Moscow.
On March 6, President of Ukraine L. D. Kuchma awarded Sofia Rotaru the Order of “Holy Princess Olga” for “significant labor achievements, high professionalism and on the occasion International Day women's rights and peace."
In April, the first part of the singer’s large All-Russian tour began, covering most regions of Russia from the Far East to the South of Russia. The second part of the tour took place in September 2002, before touring cities in Germany.
In 2002, a new album, “I Still Love You,” was released. The official release of the album took place on April 23 at the Extraphone studio in Moscow. This album became the first production experience of Ruslan Evdokimenko, who attracted talented young authors Ruslan Kvinta and Dmitry Malikov to create songs.
Nevertheless, most of the compositions, as in the previous album “Love Me” from 1998, are the work of composer Vladimir Matetsky. The variety of styles of each song and the youth drive of “Girls with a Guitar” (considered the weakest by music critics, and which Sofia Rotaru dedicated to the birth of her granddaughter) appeared for the first time in more than 30 years of Sofia Rotaru’s work, along with remixes of the songs “You Don’t Ask” (author Rimma Kazakova) and “My life, my love” (in R&B style).
Part of the edition was released in gift format, including a bonus track of the new song “Let Go” and an exclusive gift poster with the autograph of Sofia Rotaru.
On May 24, in Kyiv, in front of the building of the International Center for Culture and Arts, the opening ceremony of the Ukrainian Avenue of Stars took place, among which the “Star of Sofia Rotaru” was lit. On August 7, the singer’s birthday, Sofia Rotaru was awarded the highest title in Ukraine, Hero of Ukraine, “for significant personal services to the Ukrainian state in the development of art, dedicated work in the field of preserving national and cultural traditions, and enhancing the heritage of the people of Ukraine.”
On August 9, 2002, Sofia Rotaru was awarded the Order of Honor by Presidential Decree Russian Federation“For his great contribution to the development of pop art and the strengthening of Russian-Ukrainian cultural ties.”
On August 17 in Yalta, on City Day, Sofia Rotaru presented to more than 6 thousand spectators at the Avangard stadium a show with light, laser and pyrotechnic special effects, specially brought from Kyiv. Also in the summer, remastered versions of the albums “Golden Songs 85–95” and “Khutoryanka” were released on the “Extraphone” label (Moscow, Russia). Part of this edition was released as a gift with a bonus track and an autographed poster of the singer.
On October 23, after another stroke, Sofia Rotaru’s husband Anatoly Kirillovich Evdokimenko (producer and artistic director of the Chervona Ruta group, director of most of the singer’s concert programs) died in a Kyiv clinic.
Sofia Rotaru canceled all concert performances and television filming, refused to participate in the filming of the musical “Cinderella”, and for the first time in 30 years did not take part in the final of the “Song of the Year” festival. After a bereavement, Rotaru temporarily stopped active touring.
On December 25, the official release of Sofia Rotaru’s song collection “The Snow Queen” took place, released on the “Extraphone” label (Moscow, Russia). Part of the album's circulation came with an exclusive gift from Sofia Rotaru - a poster of the singer.
In 2002, the official release of the video version of the film “Where Are You, Love?” directed by Valeriu Gagiu, released by the film studio “Moldova-Film” in 1980. The video version of the film was published by ARENA Corporation. Starring Sofia Rotaru, Grigore Grigoreu, Konstantin Konstantinov, Evgeniy Menshov, Ekaterina Kazemirova, Victor Chutak. The singer begins collaboration with guitarist Vasily Bogatyrev.
At the end of 2002, Sofia Rotaru took 2nd place in popularity among all domestic performers and groups in Russia (the study was conducted by the sociological service of the Gallup Institute).
In 2003, Sofia Rotaru appeared in the composition “White Dance”, by Ukrainian authors Oleg Makarevich and Vitaly Kurovsky. New stage Her work began with performances at the Rossiya concert hall in Moscow in honor of the laying of a personalized star on the alley in front of the hall.
The main authors working with Rotaru were composers Ruslan Kvinta (“One Viburnum”), Oleg Makarevich (“White Dance”) and Konstantin Meladze (“I Loved Him,” “Alone in the World”), as well as poet Vitaly Kurovsky. In the same year, an album dedicated to “The Only One” was released, in memory of Sofia Rotaru’s husband, with new songs and arrangements in Ukrainian and Moldavian, as well as the collection “Leaf Fall”.
In 2004, after a four-year break, Sofia Rotaru gave two large solo concerts in Chicago and Atlantic City, where she performed in one of the most prestigious halls - the Taj Mahal theater-casino (in 2001, the tour there was disrupted due to the fact that the sound engineer did not receive a visa).
Twice, swindlers took advantage of Sofia Mikhailovna’s popularity - without the singer’s knowledge, they announced concerts in the most prestigious halls in the United States and successfully sold tickets.
In 2004, the album “The Sky is Me” and “Lavender, Farmer, Then Everywhere…” was released.
In 2005, the album “I loved him” was released.
In 2004, 2005 and 2006, Sofia Rotaru became the most beloved singer in Russia according to surveys by one of the rating sociological agencies.
On August 7, 2007, Sofia Rotaru celebrated her 60th birthday. Hundreds of fans, as well as famous artists and politicians came to Yalta from different parts of the world to congratulate the singer. President of Ukraine V. Yushchenko awarded Sofia Rotaru the Order of Merit, II degree. The reception on the occasion of the anniversary took place at the Livadia Palace.
Honoring the singer continued in September in Sochi, where at the “Five Stars” music competition for young performers, one of the competition days was dedicated to her work. And in October 2007, the State Kremlin Palace hosted anniversary concerts of S. Rotaru, in which popular Russian performers took part (A. Pugacheva, F. Kirkorov, I. Kobzon, L. Leshchenko, N. Babkina, L. Dolina, A. Varum, K. Orbakaite, M. Rasputina, N. Baskov, V. Daineko and others) and Ukraine (T. Povaliy, V. Meladze, Potap and Nastya Kamensky, Tanok on the Maidan of the Congo, and others).
The last unreleased single of 2007, “I Am Your Love,” took first place, spending four weeks on the Golden Gramophone chart of Russian Radio. From March to May 2008, Sofia Rotaru was on an anniversary tour of Russia. The first unreleased single in 2008 was the song “Lilac Flowers,” performed at a concert dedicated to March 8.
Currently (2009) Rotaru is actively touring, participating in national concerts and television programs. He is in excellent physical and vocal shape and has enormous authority in Ukrainian and Russian musical circles. And now, at 62 years old, Sofia Mikhailovna looks 20 years younger, and doctors even forbade Rotaru from having facial plastic surgery.
Sofia Rotaru does not support this or that political ideology - love is still main theme her songs. However, politics also invaded this area - when in the mid-70s the German company Ariola (now Sony BMG Music Entertainment), after recording the song Immensita in Italian and the songs Wer Liebe sucht, Deine Zartlichkeit, Es muss nicht sein, Wenn die Nebel ziehen in German, invited her to record (most of Rotaru’s albums were recorded in Germany) a large studio album with these and other songs in French and English, and also organize a concert tour across countries Western Europe, the USSR concert administration banned Sofia Rotaru from traveling abroad for 7 years. This ban was implemented before the tour in Canada, which was cancelled.
The song “My Motherland,” sung several decades ago, is still popular today, causing controversial interpretations, while the song talks about love.
During the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, Sofia Rotaru and her family distributed food to people who came to the Maidan of Independence in Kyiv, regardless of their political views.
In 2006, he took an active part in the elections to the parliament of Ukraine, running for people's deputies as number two on the list of the "Lytvyn Bloc". Conducts a large campaign charity tour through the cities of Ukraine, but the bloc does not gain the required number of votes and does not enter parliament.
Among the main reasons why Sofia Rotaru supported this particular bloc, she named personal trust in V. Lytvyn’s balance, as well as interest in lobbying for the law on patronage in Ukraine.
After counting all Rotaru’s songs performed in the finals of the “Song of the Year” festival, it turned out that Rotaru holds the absolute record among all participants in history - 72 songs performed at 34 festivals (1973–2008, except 2002).
Family
* brothers - Anatoly and Evgeniy Rotaru (bass guitar, vocals) - worked in the Chisinau VIA "Orizont".
* sisters - Zinaida, Lydia and Aurika.
* husband - Evdokimenko Anatoly Kirillovich, People's Artist of Ukraine (01/20/1942–10/23/2002);
* son - Ruslan;
* daughter-in-law - Svetlana;
* grandchildren - Anatoly and Sofia.
In addition to Sofia, her younger sister Aurika performed at a professional level, combining solo career with performances as a backing vocalist, as well as a duet of brother and sister - Lydia and Evgeniy. Unlike Aurica, the duo, working in the style of Italian pop music of the 80s, did not achieve noticeable success, and in 1992 they stopped performing.
Since the late 1980s, Lydia and Evgeniy Rotaru with the group “Cheremosh” have appeared in Sofia Rotaru’s concert programs. Lydia and Evgeniy are Sofia's sister and brother. After graduating from medical school and working in a clinic, Lydia sang in amateur performances and was invited to become a soloist of the Cheremosh ensemble, which had just been created at the Chernivtsi Philharmonic.
Evgeniy graduated from the Nikolaev Pedagogical Institute, department of music and singing, played the bass guitar, sang in the popular Moldavian “Horizonte”, then became the soloist of “Cheremosh”. The Cheremosh ensemble was created in the late 70s at the Chernivtsi Philharmonic. It was a duet of the Rotaru sisters - Lydia and Aurika, who toured throughout the Union. After working for 10 years, Aurika got married and left for Kyiv, gave birth to a daughter and temporarily left the stage.
Then Lida began performing in a duet with her brother Evgeniy, and after the birth of her daughter, she retired from the stage, like Evgeniy, who became a farmer. Aurika created her own ensemble “Contact”, with which she performed in Ukraine.
Since 1992, Aurika traveled with Sofia, performing several of her songs during the break between the two sections. In the anniversary year of 2007, they performed together several times, including in the Anniversary Concert and in the New Year’s version of the “Two Stars” program.
The oldest official fan club of Sofia Rotaru is “Fortune”. The fan club was founded in 1988 by Elena Nikitenko from Novorossiysk and unites a wide audience of fans both in Russia and abroad. The Fortuna fan club publishes collections of poetry and prose, publishes articles in the media, shoots videos and photographs, and has one of the largest archives of Sofia Rotaru’s work. On September 30, 2000, the fan club opened its website on the Internet.
In 2003, the ROTARUNEWS portal was created. Its creation was preceded by a direct weekly mailing with latest news about the life and work of S. Rotaru.
Among the subscribers: fans of Sofia Rotaru, representatives of the media (online, print, radio and television) from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Israel, USA, Germany, Czech Republic, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia, and other countries. The authors of the project are Ruslan Shulga, Sergey Kotov and Sergey Sergeev (design). The project had practically exhausted itself by 2007 and remains frozen to this day.
Moscow sites of journalist Boris Kogut/ and Victoria Likhotkina “Chervona Ruta”, Riga site, Ural site of fans, as well as Estonian - “Snow Queen”, Lviv All-Ukrainian - “Golden Heart”, Rotaru-TV site from ED-TV, Kazakh and “Melancolie”, “The Island of My Love”, “Love Me” links to these and other fan clubs, as well as extensive videography/, “Caravan of Love”, Czech blog of Richard Kosch.
Among friends in the field of entrepreneurship, notable is Alimzhan Tokhtatunov “Taivanchik” - philanthropist, entrepreneur, order bearer, and businessman, co-owner of two Moscow casinos, who helped Sofia Rotaru (who by that time had become Ukrainian singer) with participation in “Song of the Year”, which became a Russian festival.
In 1972, seeing the singer at a concert, he arranged a magnificent banquet for her and the musicians (later Alimzhan Tokhtatunov said: “Well, nothing like that happened, I just took her, like speculators used to be, I took her to a speculator, she bought a fur coat there for herself and All").
This entrepreneur is also known for the scandal that occurred in 2002 at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, related to accusations brought against him of bribing judges. After spending a year in prison, he was released due to insufficient evidence. Nevertheless, Sofia Rotaru spoke out in his defense, despite the fact that Interpol is interested in him.
One of her fans, Galina Starodubova, caused a great response in the press. She managed to gain confidence in the singer and her concert administration. When at one of the concerts she demanded more contact and was refused, she began to threaten the singer and the concert administrator.
The only recognized double of Sofia Rotaru is Dionysus Kelm. He is also engaged in concert activities with a repertoire identical to that of S. Rotaru. Sofia Rotaru officially recognized the double, who imitates Sofia Rotaru’s style of performance and Lilia Pustovit’s costumes.
Discography
* 1990 - Sofia Rotaru 1990
* 1991 - Caravan of Love (album 1991)
* 1991 - Romance (album)
* 1993 - Caravan of Love (album)
* 1993 - Lavender (album)
* 1995 - Golden Songs 1985/95
* 1995 - Farmer
* 1996 - Night of Love (album)
* 1996 - Chervona Ruta 1996
* 1998 - Love me as I am (album)
* 2002 - I still love you
* 2002 - The Snow Queen
* 2003 - To the One
* 2004 - Water Flows (album)
* 2004 - The sky is me
* 2004 - Lavender, Farmer, then everywhere...
* 2005 - I loved him
* 2007 - Fog
* 2008 - I am your love!
Filmography
- Musical TV films
* “The Nightingale from the Village of Marshintsy” (1966)
* “Chervona Ruta” (1971)
* “The Song is Always with Us” (1975)
* “Sofia Rotaru Sings” (1978)
* "Musical Detective" (1979)
* “Chervona Ruta, 10 years later” (1981)
* “Sofia Rotaru invites you” (1985)
* “Monologue about Love” (1986)
* "Heart of Gold" (1989)
* "Caravan of Love" (1990)
* “One Day at the Sea” (1991)
* “Old songs about the main thing” (1996)
* “10 songs about Moscow” (1997)
* “Crazy Day, or The Marriage of Figaro” (2003)
* « The Snow Queen"(2005)
* “Sorochinskaya Fair” (2005)
* "Metro" (2006)
* "Star Holiday" (2007)
* “Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors” (2007)
* "Goldfish" (2009)
Art films
* 1980 - Where are you, love? ( the main role)
* 1981 - “Soul” (main role)
Awards and prizes
* Winner of the regional amateur art competition (1962)
* First degree diploma at the regional amateur art show (Chernivtsi-1963)
* Laureate of the Republican Festival of Folk Talents, (1964)
* Gold medal and first prize at the IX World Festival of Youth and Students (Sofia, Bulgaria, 1968)
* First prize at the Golden Orpheus festival (Burgas, Bulgaria, 1973)
* Laureate of the festival “Burshtiny Nightingale” (Diamond Nightingale), (Sopot, Poland, 1974)
* Winner of the Ovation Prize, laying the name star in Yalta (1996)
* Laureate of the award named after. Klavdia Shulzhenko “Best pop singer of 1996” (1996)
* Winner of the All-Ukrainian Prize in the field of music and mass entertainment “Golden Firebird-99” in the nomination “Traditional Variety” (1999)
The future celebrity was born in the small village of Marshinitsy, which in the late 40s was considered the territory of Romania, and then was transferred to Ukraine. Hence the eternal confusion with the surname: the surname Rotar, which is written in the star’s passport, is the Ukrainian version of the Romanian Rotaru. In the singer’s family, the original, Romanian version is still considered correct. However, Rotaru’s roots are generally Moldavian, which the beauty never hid.
Her musical abilities showed at an early age. As soon as Sofia went to school, teachers already began to try her out in vocal clubs and children's creative groups. Sofia Mikhailovna recalls that her first vocal lessons were given to her by her older sister Zina. The girl suffered from typhus and lost her sight. But her heightened hearing became her distinctive feature and gave me the opportunity to sensitively capture all the halftones, as well as teach music to younger children.
“Music has always lived in me”
This is what the singer will say in one of the interviews, when journalists want to trace the whole creative path. Little Sonya was passionate about singing both at school and in the church choir. For the last time, they threatened to expel her from the Octobrists, but the girl from a good, working-class family took too active a position in life. Sofia not only sang, but also studied at a music school. To practice playing the button accordion, she would pick him up from school and go to the barn late in the evening to pick out new songs for the button accordion.
In addition to music, Rotaru was also involved in sports. She was a school champion in athletics and took prizes in sports competitions. She will never give up sports, and as an adult, while acting in films, she will perform stunts on both a motorcycle and a surfboard without stuntmen.
But the first serious success was still musical. At the age of 15, the girl first participated in a regional vocal competition, then in a regional one, and then was sent to Kyiv, where she also won. The beautiful and talented winner of first place was instantly placed on the cover of one of the Ukrainian magazines, where her future husband noticed her.
Modest wedding for 200 people
Anatoly Evdokimenko was a representative of the “golden youth”, the son of a major official. The young man studied at a prestigious university and was planning to build a career as an optical physicist, although he also studied music at the same time - he played the trumpet. And here is a photo of the beautiful Rotaru in a magazine!
The young people met and fell in love. In 1968, they played a beautiful, lively wedding in her native village. The singer would later joke: “It was a modest wedding, about 200 people.” We walked in a huge group, with national Ukrainian and Moldavian traditions, round dances, songs and dances. The wedding of Rotaru and Evdokimenko will be called a holiday of unity of two peoples for a long time.
After the wedding, Anatoly became a real support for the ambitious artist, her producer and first assistant in everything. They had a son, Ruslan, who has now given the singer a grandson and granddaughter. They will go through life hand in hand, and will be together until his death in 2002.
Grief left a deep imprint on Sofia Mikhailovna’s heart. She mourned for a whole year. All this time, her records were not released, and no new sound recordings were made. Sofia did not give concerts, did not take part in public life. A year later, she appeared on stage for the first time since her husband’s death. The performance was dedicated to his memory.
A secret that Rotaru did not admit to
The period of the future husband's courtship with the singer is shrouded in darkness. Lovers usually love to tell details about the sweetest time of their lives, but Rotaru and Evdokimenko kept it a secret. And everything secret arouses great interest and a desire to figure it out.
So many years ago, journalists tried to track the five years of Sofia’s life before marriage, and there was an assumption that Evdokimenko was not the celebrity’s first husband. Her first love is called Vladimir Ivasyuk, a poet and composer, author of the famous “Chervona Ruta”. It is known that in the early 70s the body of a man was found hanged in his apartment. Despite numerous wounds from beatings, the police refused to open a criminal case and ruled the death a suicide.
The singer does not hide the fact that there was a tragedy in her life: her child was kidnapped, but she assures that her son Ruslan was involved in the kidnapping. However, close friends of Rotaru say that they kidnapped the singer’s first and carefully hidden child - a daughter born from Ivasyuk.
There is an assumption that the singer’s first husband was involved in crime. Realizing that the whole family was in danger, he blessed Sonya for a second marriage. And she was forced to hide her daughter due to constant threats.
Sofia Mikhailovna neither confirms nor denies this information. He promises to start giving interviews on personal topics only after he leaves the stage.
Monogamous
After the death of her legal spouse, Rotaru was “married” several times. First, information leaked about her affair with a young musician from her own band. They put words into her mouth that they had been happy together for seven years, despite the fact that the man was married. They don’t hide their feelings, they truly love each other. In another interview, Sofia Mikhailovna claims: they did not have any affair. And the rumors only embarrassed her, because the young man is an exemplary family man!
In 2011, Nikolai Baskov begins to court the spectacular Sofia Mikhailovna. He always pointedly admired the famous singer, and at one of the receptions, in the presence of six thousand guests, he uttered his cherished words. But Rotaru just shrugged it off, declaring once again that she would always love only her husband and would remain faithful to him until the end of her days.
Diplomat
IN last years Sofia Mikhailovna rarely visits Russia. The singer decided to face the conflict between her native Ukraine and our country at home.
It is known that during the Orange Revolution, the singer and her family members distributed food to people who came to Independence Square in Kyiv. Moreover, its mission was truly humanitarian: food was given to everyone, regardless of political preferences.
Ten years ago, Sofia Mikhailovna took part in the elections, running for one of the parties. She gave a charity tour of Ukraine in support of her candidacy, but did not get enough votes.
Rotaru Sofia Mikhailovna (b. 1947) - Soviet, Russian and Ukrainian pop singer. He is of Moldovan origin, Ukrainian citizenship, and permanently resides in Yalta and Kyiv. In addition to Ukrainian, Moldavian and Russian, he also sings in English, Spanish, Bulgarian, French, Italian, Serbian, Polish, German. Her repertoire includes about 400 songs. She has the titles of People's Artist of the USSR and Hero of Ukraine, and is one of the highest paid singers in the territory of the former Soviet Union.
Childhood
Sofia was born on August 7, 1947 in the Ukrainian SSR in the village of Marshintsy, Chernivtsi region.
Dad, Rotar Mikhail Fedorovich, had Moldavian roots. During the war he served as a machine gunner, reached Berlin, was wounded after the war, so he returned home only in 1946. In the village, he was one of the first to join the party and worked as a foreman among winegrowers.
Mom raised children, of whom there were six in the family, ran the household and garden, and sold the products she grew at the market.
Little Sonya was the second child in the family, and she had many responsibilities around the house, caring for her younger brothers and sisters, and had to help her mother. Sofia’s mother woke her up while it was still dark, because by six in the morning she had to arrive at the market, take a seat and lay out the food. The girl was terribly sleepy, and she finally came to her senses only when lively trade began. There was always a queue outside them, my mother was incredibly clean, people knew her products and constantly bought them.
Many years later, in one of her interviews, Sofia will later say that her childhood memories remained very strong, how she wanted to sleep in the morning, and now she doesn’t get out of bed before 10 am, as if trying to make up for the lack of sleep from childhood. And Sofia Rotaru never bargains at the market with people who sell their homemade products: she knows how hard labour, because before you sell, you need to grow everything.
For such hard work, mom and dad earned the title of a drummer of socialist labor and an exemplary mother-housewife.
The girl's father loved to sing in his youth; he had a beautiful voice and exceptional hearing. Dad became her first teacher, teaching Moldovan folk motifs.
Sister Zina also played a special role in the fact that Sonya loved music so much from early childhood. She suffered from typhus and completely lost her sight, the disabled girl could not help her mother with housework, her only joy was the radio, which she listened to for hours and then sang exactly all the melodies she heard. She taught these songs to her younger sister Sofia, and she easily picked up any composition and sang. Her father, looking at her, joked: “Our Sonya will be an artist.”
Studies
Having started school, the girl signed up and sang in the school choir from the first grade.
A few years later, on weekends, she also began singing in the church choir, but the Soviet school at that time did not welcome the church, and Sofia was even threatened with expulsion from the pioneers.
Sonya grew up very active child, and besides music, there were many other hobbies in her childhood life. She liked sports, especially athletics, the girl was even a school champion in all-around. In high school, she went to Chernivtsi for regional sports competitions, where she achieved victories in running at distances of 100 and 800 meters.
In addition to sports, Sofia was very attracted to the theater; at school she enrolled in a drama club. She took part in all amateur art shows and taught herself to play the button accordion.
The girl really liked it when their amateur art group traveled to neighboring villages with concerts. She liked the feeling of standing on stage, looking at auditorium. Her strong contralto, which almost approached a soprano, was liked by listeners, and soon Sofia Rotaru was nicknamed the “Bukovinian nightingale.”
Start of a musical journey
She experienced her first success in 1962, when, as a very young fifteen-year-old girl, she won an amateur art competition in the region.
Then, having won the regional show, Sofia received a referral to the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, for the republican festival of folk talents. It was 1964, here she again became the first, and her photograph was published on the cover of the magazine “Ukraine”.
After winning the festival, the girl firmly decided to connect her life with music and become a singer. Just after graduating from school, she went to Chernivtsi, where she entered the music school. There was no vocal department there, and she became a student in the conducting and choral department.
Victory at the republican festival opened the way for Sofia Rotaru to the all-Union, and then the world level.
In 1964 she was invited to sing in Kremlin Palace congresses.
After graduating from music school, she received a ticket to the World Festival of Youth and Students in Bulgaria, where she represented the Soviet Union. Among performers of folk compositions, she received first prize and a gold medal.
All the newspapers in Bulgaria the next day came out with the headlines: “21-year-old Sofia conquered Sofia.” Then the legendary Lyudmila Zykina was on the jury. Having seen and heard Sofia Rotaru, she said about her: “This is a singer with a great future”.
In 1971, the film “Chervona Ruta” was released on the screens of the country, where the main character was Sofia Rotaru. The success of the film among the audience was deafening, Sofia was invited to work at the Chernivtsi Philharmonic, where she and her husband Anatoly Evdokimenko created the VIA “Chervona Ruta”.
The group's debut performance took place in Star City in front of Soviet cosmonauts. This was the first statement of outstanding representatives of the Soviet stage, who decided to combine folk motifs with modern rhythms in their repertoire.
Sofia Rotaru and the Chervona Ruta team were gaining popularity in a vast country, they conquered more and more new stages:
- Central Concert Hall "Russia";
- Variety Theater;
- Kremlin Palace.
I came for concert tours, recordings on radio and television real success.
Worldwide recognition and fame
Further music career The “Bukovinian nightingale” developed as rapidly as a mountain river in the homeland of Sofia Rotaru could rage. The whirlpool of life events picked up the young talented singer and carried her to the heights of fame.
Year | Event in the career of Sofia Rotaru |
1972 | Polish tour with the program “Songs and Dances of the Land of Soviets”. |
1973 | Receiving first prize at the Golden Orpheus competition in Bulgaria, participation in the final festival “Song of the Year”, the title of Honored Artist of Ukraine. |
1974 | Laureate of the International Song Festival in Sopot. |
1975 | Sofia Rotaru moved from Chernivtsi to Yalta and began performing under the auspices of the Crimean Philharmonic. |
1976 | Title of People's Artist of Ukraine. |
1979 | Deafening tour in Germany. |
1980 | First Prize for International competition in Tokyo, presentation of the Order of the Badge of Honor. |
1983 | Title of People's Artist of the Moldavian SSR. |
1985 | Receiving the “Golden Disc” prize from the All-Union Recording Company “Melodiya” for the best-selling records in the USSR “Sofia Rotaru” and “Tender Melody”; they were released with a circulation of more than 1 million. Awarding the Order of Friendship of Peoples. |
1988 | Sofia Rotaru is the first modern pop singer to be awarded the title of People's Artist of the Soviet Union. |
In 1986, the Chervona Ruta team broke up, and Sofia Rotaru began a solo career on the stage. Her collaboration with composers Yuri Saulsky, Raymond Pauls, Evgeny Martynov and Alexandra Pakhmutova was very fruitful. But Vladimir Matetsky wrote especially many songs for Sofia, almost all of them were included in the final festivals “Songs of the Year” and “New Year’s Blue Lights”.
The whole country knew by heart and sang such hits performed by Sofia Rotaru as:
- "Swan Fidelity";
- “And the music sounds”;
- "Romance";
- "Stork on the Roof";
- "In my house";
- "Moon, moon";
- "Lavender";
- “It was, but it’s gone”;
- “Only this is not enough”;
- "Caravan of Love";
- "Melancolia";
- "Farmer".
11 times Sofia Rotaru became the owner of the prestigious Golden Gramophone music award.
Sofia Mikhailovna was recognized as “The best Ukrainian pop singer of the twentieth century.”
Personal life
One and only and for life. This is exactly what her husband Anatoly Evdokimenko turned out to be for Sofia Rotaru.
He was her fellow countryman, also from the Chernivtsi region. In 1964 he served in the army in Nizhny Tagil. His father was a builder, and his mother was a teacher. The parents were perplexed as to where their son’s uncontrollable craving for music came from. After graduation music school Anatoly played the trumpet excellently, and after serving in the army he planned to create his own VIA.
In the army library, Anatoly came across the magazine “Ukraine”, where on the cover there was a miracle girl who won the Republican music competition. For him it was love at first sight.
Returning home after service, Anatoly continued his studies at Chernivtsi University, where he played the trumpet in the student pop orchestra, and began to look for his love.
He managed to win Sofia’s heart only after two years of courtship. He invited her to be a soloist in the student orchestra, they saw each other almost every day, and over time the relationship grew from friendship into something more.
In 1968, Sofia and Anatoly got married. And their honeymoon took place in Novosibirsk in the dormitory of a military plant, where Evdokimenko was sent to practice from the university.
For Anatoly, his wife’s career always came first; he was never jealous of her stage and success. For Sonya's sake, he gave up science, although he was an excellent physicist and wrote many articles. For more than 30 years they were close, he became everything for Sofia: program director and producer, director and director, bodyguard and, of course, the only and most beloved man.
In the summer of 1970, their boy Ruslan was born. He bears his father’s last name – Evdokimenko. Also engaged musical activity, he is a producer.
But a serious, long-term illness separated Sofia and Anatoly. He died in 2002, the singer could not come to her senses for a long time from what had happened, and refused to believe in her husband’s death. Having survived this tragedy, she stated that there could be no other men in her life, from now on she is entirely devoted to music.
Son Ruslan is married, he and his wife gave Sofya Mikhailovna two charming grandchildren.
In 1994, grandson Anatoly was born, and in 2001, granddaughter Sofia.
The singer and her son’s family live in Yalta. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, she did not accept Russian citizenship, saying that she had permanent residence in Kyiv, but would not mind dual citizenship.
At almost 70 years old, Sofya Mikhailovna manages to maintain an amazing figure and beauty. Her secret is simple: to love life in all its manifestations and rejoice in every day given, precisely from internal state souls depend and appearance.
Sofia Rotaru is a famous pop singer, conductor, dancer and entrepreneur. In addition to performing on stage, she managed to star in three films and more than 20 musicals. The singer has dozens of honorary awards and prizes.
Her biography had many ups and downs, just like in.
So, here is the biography of Sofia Rotaru.
Brief biography of Rotaru
Sofia Mikhailovna Evdokimenko-Rotaru was born on August 7, 1947 in the Moldavian village of Marshintsy, in the Chernivtsi region.
She had two brothers and three sisters. Sofia's love for singing was instilled in her by her older sister Zina, who was blind from birth.
Childhood and youth
Sofia Rotaru's musical talent manifested itself in childhood. When she was 7 years old, she was already singing in the church choir, which is why they wanted to expel her from the ranks of the pioneers.
In addition to singing, she was also interested in. She even attended a local drama club and at the same time practiced singing. When night fell, Sofia took the button accordion in her hands and went to the barn to learn songs.
Noticing his daughter’s passion for music, her father taught her to sing correctly, since he himself had perfect pitch and an extraordinary voice.
IN early years Sofia was also interested. During her studies, she managed to take 1st place in school in all-around.
In the future, thanks to her good physical shape, Rotaru herself performed some stunts on the set, without the help of stuntmen.
Carier start
At the age of 15, Rotaru performed for the first time at a regional competition, taking 1st place. Then, she won the regional show in Chernivtsi.
After graduating from school, Sofia entered the Chernivtsi Music College. In 1964, a significant event took place in her biography: she sang in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses, where she was very warmly received by the capital's audience.
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Soon she managed to perform at the Republican Festival of Folk Talents, held in. And again victory!
Gradually, Sofia became more and more popular, and already in 1965 her photo was placed on the cover of the magazine “Ukraine”. Soon this photo was seen by her future husband, Anatoly Evdokimenko, who was also a creative person.
Having met the rising pop star, he was able to organize an orchestra for her. From that time on, the two young people never parted.
World recognition
In 1968, Sofia Rotaru became a participant in the 9th World Festival of Youth and Students, held in. And there success awaited her again.
She became best performer folk song, having received positive reviews from the jury members and sympathy from the audience. In the same year, Rotaru married Evdokimenko.
In this marriage they had a boy, Ruslan. Interestingly, the husband was in no hurry to have a child, since he was still continuing to study. However, the birth of a son brought the couple even closer and firmly strengthened their relationship.
At the age of 24, a movie appears in Rotaru’s biography. She starred in the short film “Chervona Ruta,” which the public really liked. The audience was delighted with the singing of the young girl with beautiful face and a slender figure.
At the same time, she began to actively collaborate with a little-known but promising composer Vladimir Ivasyuk. He was able to write many songs for her, which brought her great popularity.
Later, Sofia went on tour to the republics of the Soviet Union, and then to foreign countries. Wherever she appeared, a warm welcome awaited her.
In 1973, Rotaru was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR. This was not the first, but a very important award in her biography.
Moldavian lyrics
Since the early 70s, Rotaru’s songs have often received awards in the TV show “Song of the Year”. Many composers and poets of that time sought to collaborate with her.
In 1974 she graduated from the Chisinau Institute of Arts. G. Muzichesku, and soon released the album “Sofia Rotaru”.
In 1975, the girl starred in the film “The Song is Always with Us.” This film contained many episodes taken from Rotaru’s personal biography.
Also in 1975, due to frequent disagreements with the leadership of the Communist Party, she had to move to Yalta. Thanks to her vocal abilities, she quickly became the leading soloist of the local philharmonic.
Every year its popularity gained momentum. Rotaru was constantly invited to participate in the New Year’s “Blue Lights,” which brought together the most famous cultural figures.
One day, she decided to go on stage in trousers, which no performer had ever allowed herself to do before.
In the same year, the film “Where are you, love?” was released, in which Rotaru sang the song “First Rain”. The film was seen by 22 million Soviet citizens. An album with compositions from this film will soon go on sale.
In 1983, the singer gave a number of concerts in, and recorded the album “Canadian Tour 1983” there. As a result, the Soviet leadership forbade her and the team members to leave for 5 years.
It is interesting that in the same year, Sofia Mikhailovna was awarded an important title for her biography - People's Artist.
A year later, the album “Tender Melody” went on sale, becoming a sales leader in the Soviet Union. In addition, she was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples.
Sofia Rotaru and Alla Pugacheva
The singer was so famous and in demand that only she could compete with her. It is still believed that there is a long-standing feud between the two pop superstars. And there are reasons for this.
According to one version, the prima donna was jealous of her husband for Rotaru. As a result, she did everything possible to ensure that her rival was invited to music festivals less often.
A serious incident occurred in 2006. Both singers were invited to one of the concerts. Rotar was entrusted with singing the final song, which was supposed to close the event.
But suddenly she found out that Pugacheva was receiving a substantial fee for her performance, while she was offered to perform for free. A scandal broke out on this basis, and Rotaru flatly refused to go on stage.
Europop and hard rock in creativity
In the late 80s, Rotaru began performing some compositions in the style of Europop and hard rock.
In 1988, another important event took place for the biography of any actress: she was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR for her services in the development of Soviet musical art.
From that moment on, she sang more and more often, and therefore began to lose popularity among the Ukrainian public.
In 1991, the album “Caravan of Love” appeared on store shelves. It contained “notes” of hard rock, which was especially liked by young people.
Creativity in the dashing 90s
In 1991, Sofia Mikhailovna gave an anniversary concert dedicated to the 20th anniversary of creative activity. In Rotaru’s biography, it can be called one of the most ambitious and iconic.
During the performance, various special effects and stunning scenery were used, which not all artists could afford.
An interesting fact is that the collapse of the USSR, along with various political unrest, did not in any way affect the popularity of Rotaru.
In 1997, the debut disc “Love Me” was released, followed by “Star Series”.
Rotaru leadership in the 2000s
In 2000, Rotaru was recognized as “Best Ukrainian singer of the 20th century” and “Woman of the Year”.
She continued to actively perform on TV and released a number of remixes of her old compositions. In 2002, the “Star of Sofia Rotaru” was lit in Kyiv and she was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine.
However, here comes a black streak in her biography. Creative success and universal recognition was overshadowed by an unexpected tragedy. In the fall of 2002, her husband, whom she loved all her life and with whom she almost never parted, died of a stroke.
At the time of his death he was only 60 years old.
Rotaru canceled all concert performances and television filming, refused to participate in the filming of the musical “Cinderella”, and for the first time in 30 years did not take part in the final of the “Song of the Year” festival. She stopped active touring for a while.
Personal life of Rotaru
Sofia Rotaru became Evdokimenko’s legal wife in 1968. Their marriage turned out to be happy. Her husband shared with her all the misfortunes and joys, and also helped her in every possible way in the musical field.
He loved his wife so much that he went on all the tours with her. The couple managed to live together for more than 30 years, until Anatoly’s death.
Sofia Mikhailovna had a hard time surviving the loss of her husband, giving up touring activities and not appearing on television for a long time. Only a few years later she was able to go on stage again.
The singer dedicated her first performances, after a long break, to her beloved husband.
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It’s hard to say when and how music appeared in my life, it seems that it has always lived in me. I grew up surrounded by music, it sounded everywhere: at the wedding table, at gatherings, at evening parties, at dances..."
Sofia Rotar, born on August 7, 1947 in the village of Marshintsy, Novoselitsky district, Chernivtsi region (Ukraine), and grew up there. Father - Rotar Mikhail Fedorovich, born 11/22/18 - died 03/12/04, mother - Rotar Alexandra Ivanovna, born 04/17/20, died 09/16/97. Spouse: Evdokimenko Anatoly Kirillovich, born 01/20/42, died 10/23/02. The singer’s sisters: Rotar Zinaida Mikhailovna, Rotar Lidia Mikhailovna and Rotar Aurika Mikhailovna; There are also brothers: Rotar Anatoly Mikhailovich and Rotar Evgeny Mikhailovich. Son: Evdokimenko Ruslan Anatolyevich; grandchildren: Anatoly and Sofia.
Sofia was born into a large family of a winegrowing foreman, the second of six children, and from childhood she helped her mother and older sister raise her younger brothers and sisters.
The girl's creative abilities were discovered early; from the first grade she sang in school and church choirs. The first singing teacher was my father, who always loved to sing, having perfect pitch. At school, little Sofia learned to play the domra, as well as the button accordion. The girl loved to organize concerts at home; a choir of six children could be listened to for hours. The creative atmosphere in the family formed in Sofia, while still a child, the style of her future songs. The singer's father always said: "Sonya will be an artist!" and he was right. The singer's first success was her victory in 1962 at the regional amateur art competition; this competition gave Sofia the opportunity to participate in the regional screening, at which she won a first-degree diploma in 1963. As the winner, she was sent to Kyiv to participate in the republican competition of folk talents; at this competition, Rotaru also took the first award. After this victory, Sofia firmly decided to become a singer and entered the conducting and choral department of the Chernivtsi Music College.
In 1968, after graduating from college, Rotaru was delegated as part of a creative group to Bulgaria to the IX World Festival of Youth and Students with the songs: “I’m Standing on the Rocks,” “I Love Spring” and “Step”, here she won a gold medal and first prize in competition of folk singers. The chairman of the jury, Lyudmila Zykina, immediately said about Rotaru: “This is a singer with a great future!” In the same year, Sofia Rotaru married a student at Chernivtsi University and trumpeter of the student pop orchestra - Anatoly Evdokimenko.
In 1971, at Ukrtelefilm, director Roman Alekseev made a musical film about the tender and pure love of a mountain girl and a Donetsk boy - “Chervona Ruta” (Chervona Ruta is the name of a flower taken from an ancient Carpathian legend. Ruta blooms only on the night of Ivan Kupala , and the girl who manages to see the blooming rue will be happy in love). Sofia Rotaru became the main character of the film. Songs by composer V. Ivasyuk and other authors were also performed by V. Zinkevich, N. Yaremchuk and other singers. The film was a significant success. And when Sofia Rotaru received an invitation to work at the Chernivtsi Philharmonic and create her own ensemble, the name of the ensemble appeared by itself - “Chervona Ruta”.
The debut of "Chervona Ruta" was a performance in Star City in front of Russian cosmonauts. Sofia Rotaru and the ensemble "Chervona Ruta" for the first time declared themselves as outstanding representatives of an entire direction of Russian pop art, a characteristic feature of which is the combination in the repertoire and style of performance of elements of folk music with modern rhythms. Then she sang in Moscow on the stage of the Central Concert Hall "Russia", the Kremlin Palace of Congresses and on the stage of the Variety Theater.
Making her debut in the capital, Sofia Rotaru least of all resembled a timid newcomer. By that time she was already quite mature master. The singer's outward restraint, which left no room for fussiness and unjustified gestures, was in harmony with the flight of her overly expressive voice. Since 1971, Sofia has been counting her professional creative activity. In 1972, Sofia Rotaru and the ensemble "Chervona Ruta" took part in a tour of Poland, and in 1973, the Golden Orpheus competition was held in the city of Burgas (Bulgaria), at which the young singer performed the songs: "My City" and "Bird" , for their performance, Rotaru receives a first degree award. Her songs “Codry” and “My City” in Moldovan were recorded in the film “Spring Consonances - 73”. The song "My City" became a laureate of the "Song-73" festival.
In 1974, Sofia Rotaru graduated from the Chisinau Institute of Arts named after Muzychescu and became a laureate of the Amber Nightingale festival in Sopot (Poland), where she performed “Memories” by B. Rychkov and “Vodograi” by V. Ivasyuk. For her performance of the Polish song “Someone” from Halina Frontskowiak’s repertoire (Russian text by A. Dementiev), the singer received second prize. In 1975 she became a soloist of the Crimean Philharmonic.
Since the 1970s, songs performed by Sofia Rotaru have constantly become winners of the “Song of the Year”.
In 2001, Sofia Rotaru performed in a new solo concert program “My Life is My Love!” To the expression of the 1970s was added the lyricism of the 1980s, the drive of the 1990s... and the current game of halftones, on which Rotaru the director, Rotaru the singer builds his program, combining new songs and hits of past years, read and refracted in a new way from today's point of view. Many of her songs, no matter how many years ago they were sung, do not fit into the “retro” format, continuing to live in each new concert program of the singer.
During her time on the stage, Sofia Rotaru already managed to act in films without being a professional actress: “The Song Will Be Among Us” (1974), “Sofia Rotaru Invites You” (1985), “Monologue about Love” (1986), “Golden heart" (1989), "Caravan of Love" (1990), "New songs about the main thing" (1996), "10 songs about Moscow" (1997), and also played leading roles in feature films"Where are you, love?" (1980, the film won a prize at the VKF in Vilnius in 1981) and “Soul” (1981). She continues to star in many New Year's musicals and does it with great success!
Sofia Rotaru has the titles - People's Artist of the USSR (1988), People's Artist of Ukraine (1976), People's Artist of Moldova (1983), laureate of the Republican Komsomol Prize named after N. Ostrovsky (1977), laureate of the Lenin Komsomol Prize (1978), laureate of the " Ovation" (1996; 2000 - for a special contribution to the development of Russian pop music), laureate of the Claudia Shulzhenko Prize "Best Pop Singer of 1996" (Moscow), laureate of the All-Ukrainian Prize in the field of music and mass entertainment "Golden Firebird-99" ( 1999), "Prometheus-Prestige" award (2000, Kiev), winner of the honorary prize of the President of Ukraine for outstanding contribution to the development of pop art "Song Vernissage" (1997, Kiev). In 2000 in Kiev she was named Person of the Year and the best Ukrainian pop singer singer of the 20th century, awarded the title "Golden Voice of Ukraine".
In 1996, in Yalta, a personalized star was laid for Sofia Rotaru on the square in front of the Yubileiny concert hall. In May 2002, the laying of the singer's personal star ("Star of Ukraine") took place on the Avenue of Stars at the International Center for Culture and Arts in Kyiv, with the presentation of an honorary diploma and a badge "Ukrainian Pop Star" to her. It’s impossible to count all the victories, there are so many of them and there will be more than one!
In the work of Sofia Rotaru, the most important thing is contact with the song, with its creators. When Sofia Rotaru goes on stage and starts singing, you forget about everything in the world. Her transparent, enchanting voice penetrates the soul, excites and captivates everyone who loves the stage and loves song. Here she stands in front of a microphone in the light of a spotlight - slender, festive, like a spring twig. There is so much charm, beauty, so much sincerity and excitement in her, when in the beautiful language of music and poetry she confidentially shares with us everything that makes her happy and sad...
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