You should do what you like and “pull in” the audience!

Rosava does not grab headlines so often, though she need not worry about it. She knows her work and does it without ado. For eight years now she has headed the Committee selecting talented youth for the UWC study program (in 13 countries). She recorded four albums: Outdoor, Lullabies, Lotus feat. Rosava, and Now and then. Two years ago she was one of those who took the lead of the project “The Music Season at the Golden Gates”: Ukrainian musicians playing various genres gave concerts in the architectural monument for nearly half a year. Rosava, Kateryna Hapochka, the vocalist of the band Hapochka, the band Dyvni and the members of the choir Dudaryk have recently participated in Christmas concerts. She’s keen on reading, traveling, communicating with interesting people and studying her family tree… In short, she challenges all the stereotypes TV spreads about beautiful girls.

Rosava, what pushed you to study your family tree?

“I’ve studied it till the sixth generation. My desire to learn more about my family grew from the feeling of responsibility for myself and my closest relatives, and from the search of life goals. There was a moment when I realized that the history of the country can be presented from different points of view, but nobody can rewrite your history. It is family histories that forge the Ukrainian history.

“I’m filming a documentary for my dad’s 60th birthday. For this purpose I visit my relatives. Though I heard some of the stories several times, I suddenly find new, interesting details in them… I find myself in these stories about my mom and dad, grandmas and grandpas and great grandparents. I believe that if more Ukrainians were interested in their origin, our post genocidal society would recover faster.”

For a long time you’ve ran the UWC program in Ukraine, allowing Ukrainian youth to study in Canada, Norway, Italy, etc. New sociological research proves that Ukrainian immigrants are getting younger. Before they were workers around 40-years-old. Now they are around 30.

“It’s been eight years now since I inherited this project from the Ukrainian Legal Foundation and Halyna Friland. I get enormous satisfaction from its realization and I can probably understand the interests of the modern youth. Though our program is voluntary, which means that it is difficult to earn something by participating in it, 80 percent consider it an opportunity to go abroad. Moreover, 95 percent of Ukrainians that apply for similar programs (we have several of them), want to go abroad to learn or improve their language skills, work or immigrate. To be honest, there are very few unique people among the UWC applicants. But they exist — those who believe that their generation is able to change this country. After getting a high-quality education in Europe or North America they come back here and get a job in reputable national or transnational corporations… Such young people provoke the desire to invest into them. Obviously, they are our greatest asset.”

I recently read that you recorded several ethno-jazz tracks. What are they going to be?

“I don’t know yet. We planned an interesting trip, but we didn’t manage to go. So we decided not to waste time and record several tracks. We worked on them in the countryside, in a big private house whose seven meter high ceilings produced a great quality sound. Besides, we had the latest equipment and a well-adjusted prewar Steinway piano (any studio might envy such conditions). I worked with great jazzmen: Oleksii Saranchyn, Mykola Kestieniov, Pavlo Halytsky and Bohdan Humeniuk. Now we’re thinking about what to do. We recorded tracks just to have them. A musicians’ life is unpredictable: some of them go to work abroad; some have to work on cruise ships… Can you see a lot of concert halls where they would regularly give concerts? I’ve recently come back from London where I visited two clubs. It was a weekday. The hall was full. Two great bands were playing. The audience listened. It was clear that they knew a lot about the music. They live in a certain cultural context. In our country we can’t follow the rule that the demand dictates supply. Often, you should do what you like and pull the audience in. I don’t think that the majority can change something. Instead, I believe in bright personalities because the majority is always ready to delegate authority.”

What do you think about the notorious law canceling the quotas for Ukrainian music?

“You know, one of the famous radio stations wanted to broadcast the tracks from the album Lotus feat. Rosava and they did. The same goes for my track “Now and then.” If Boombox is interesting because of their innovations and Andrii Khlyvniuk’s singing then the band will get into the so-called quota. This is the band promoting not only Ukraine in Ukraine, but also in Russia, Kazakhstan, etc. I don’t understand at all why the question concerning quotas for Ukrainian music is raised in Ukraine… It’s nonsense!”

Don’t you think that Ukrainian things are being expelled from Ukraine?

“It might be good. It will make us resist. My good friend Yurko Zeleny once said that only the prohibition of everything Ukrainian would move this country of dreaming angels. (This is how Gustav Vodichka described Ukraine.) How else can we organize different processes if, unfortunately, we are able to unite only against something and not for!?”

When you were asked about being a producer of your own projects, notably Lullabies, the reply was: “How can I be the producer: I weigh 50 kilos and my head is filled with philosophical questions.” What are you thinking about now?

“How a woman has to understand a man’s soul. I’ve just finished a book by John Eldredge: Wild Heart. It’s written to help the man understand himself and to help the woman understand the man. After reading it I came to two conclusions. First, there’s no need to save the world, instead you should realize what brings you back to life. Second, man is created for adventures, and the woman is created for the man that will take her into these adventures. So, I’m waiting for a man to take me into an adventure. All the rest, my projects, are just companions.”