Sofia Rotaru and Vasyl Zinkevych sing "Vodohrai": a video from 1971 evoked nostalgia on the internet

An archival video clip of Ukrainian singers Sofia Rotaru and Vasyl Zinkevych performing Volodymyr Ivasiuk's song "Vodohrai" has gone viral. In two days, the video, filmed in 1971, has received over 25 thousand views.

The video was posted on the Golden Collection of Ukrainian Songs Facebook page in late October. The text says that the composer wrote the orchestral score overnight.

"According to the Ukrainian composer Myroslav Skoryk, he and Ivasyuk were at the Sopot Song Festival (1974). And for some reason, Volodymyr did not dare to write the orchestration of 'Vodohrai' himself. He turned to what he considered to be the best orchestrators. But they did everything rather primitively, lost the flavor, and worst of all, orchestrated the violins. And then, on the shores of the Baltic Sea, Volodymyr wrote an orchestral score overnight. The composer had only one request for the conductor Heinrich Debich - to highlight the violins as much as possible," the editors of the page wrote.

Volodymyr Ivasiuk wrote "Vodohrai" at the age of 21 when he was a student at the Chernivtsi Medical Institute. In 1970, the Chernivtsi TV studio presented not only "Vodohrai" but also the iconic "Chervona Ruta" to the whole of Ukraine.

Performed by Nazarii Yaremchuk and Myroslava Yehelenko, "Vodohrai" became the best song of the USSR at the Song-72 competition, but listeners liked the version by Sofia Rotaru and Vasyl Zinkevych just as much.

Decades ago, they recorded a black-and-white clip of the National Legend of Ukraine in a wreath singing joyfully by a stream.

"These songs cannot be forgotten; they will live on forever." "Yes, this is a classic. Thank you for the nostalgic video," "I love watching this fabulous video. Such young and beautiful performers, a great duet," "Goosebumps," Ukrainians wrote.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA wrote that Sofia Rotaru's fans remembered her concert 22 years ago in the small town of Novoselytsia, Chernivtsi region. There, the star spoke Ukrainian and her now-deceased husband.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!