Welcome to Madrid

On 8 August, the famous Ukrainian band Okean Elzy will be playing all their biggest hits at the Teatro CaixaBank Príncipe Pío. A percentage of the revenue from the concert will be donated to help those still living in war-torn Ukraine.

Okean Elzy (meaning Elza’s Ocean) first got together in Leopolis (Ukraine) in 1994, fronted by singer Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, with Miloš Jelić on keys and Denis Glinin on drums, who were later joined by guitarist Vladimir Opsenitsa and bassist Denys Dudko.

They exploded onto the Ukrainian music scene as soon as their first songs were released, taking part soon after in festivals such as Sribna Pikova, Alternative 2, Perlyny Sezonu, Trust Open Air Gernsbach (Germany), Trash 96, and R.F.I. 96 (France). They went on to open for Deep Purple at a gig in Kiev, and the TV network TET even aired a documentary about the band.

They have nine studio albums so far, the last of which was released in 2016, Bez mezh (No Limits), along with an unplugged album Tviy format (Your format) and four compilations. The band is also very politically active, taking part in the Orange Revolution in 2004, supporting the people’s demand for democratic changes in the country, and in the Euromaidan demonstrations of 2013.

In 2005, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk was appointed UN Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the band has also run several charitable campaigns for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the MTV Europe Foundation.