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Cukor Bila Smert

From Unearthing The Music

Cukor Bila Smert. Photo sourced from Discogs

Cukor Bila Smert (Sugar White Death) [1] was an Ukrainian music band from the city of Kiev, active between the late 1980s and the early 1990s.

Biography

The band was led by Svitlana Okhrimenko (later Svitlana Nyanyo). After graduating from music school with a degree in piano, she began composing music. At first she played with cellist Tamila Mazur, later forming the band after being joined by guitarist Eugene Taran and pianist Alexander Kokhanovsky [2]. They differed significantly from the music of that time by featuring high female vocals, gibberish lyrics, and an instrumental-gothic performance style previously unheard in the Ukraine.

In 1988 they recorded the album "Rhododendrons Coral Asps". In 1989, the compilation "New Nezhenki" was created. That same year they recorded the album "Lyley and amaryllysы" [3].

At that time, alternative bands were not able to make professional recordings in the Ukraine and so, like other well-known Ukrainian bands such as Frog in an Airship, Kazma-Kazma, The Ukrainians, Viy, Foa-Hoka, Ivanov Down, they recorded and released on the Polish label Koka Records [4][5]. This label eventually helped keep still music of these groups [6]. This label available two albums the band "stiff Music" (1991) and "The Village" (1993) [3].

According to Igor Tsymbrovsky, who himself recorded on Koka Records, the band has most of its fans in Poland, where there are more listeners of such music than in Ukraine [7]. In particular, representatives of the Polish experimental scene Księżyc have repeatedly stated that they were inspired by the work of Svetlana Okhrimenko. [8]

After the end of the band, Svitlana Okhrimenko started her solo project [9]. She continued to work with the Polish label Koka Records. Alexander Kokhanovsky began a new project, "Mr. Kifared" with guitarist T. Frost [2]. Tamila Mazur[12] took part in the creation of albums by fellow Ukrainian band Sheik Hi-Fi [2], as did Eugene Taran [2] before moving to Germany.

Notes

  1. Альбом Stamp
  2. Interview with Svetlana Okhrimenko (in Russian)
  3. Roman Pishchalov. Kyiv Independent 1978-1994 // "Outsider" (Kikhv). - №7 (2007). - Page. 40-41.
  4. Koka Records at www.discogs.com
  5. COCA - NOT ALWAYS, New Rock and Roll, 1997 # 1 Archived April 8, 2016 in Wayback Machine . (Ukr.) (Russian)
  6. Svetlana Nanny on likefm.org. Archive of the original on October 15, 2015. Cited May 1, 2016.
  7. Interview with Igor Tsymbrovsky at http://varianty.lviv.ua/
  8. How the Ukrainian underground captured Poland. The history of the label "Koka" . amnesia.in.ua . Cited 2019-01-23 .
  9. Legends of a bizarre land. Kiev
  10. Banita Baida at http://rock.kiev.ua/klub/banita_b.php
  11. Roman Pishchalov. Kyiv Independent 1978-1994 // "Outsider" (Kikhv). - №7 (2007). - Page. 40-41.
  12. Colleague Assessor at cheremshyna.org.ua

Text adapted from the Ukrainian Wikipedia