Chervona Ruta (song)

'' plant The song and its melody was written by a 19-year-old student of the Chernivtsi Medical Institute, Volodymyr Ivasiuk. Ivasiuk was puzzled by the mention of "chervona ruta" in some of the kolomyikas. "Chervona ruta" literally means "red rue", however, the flowers of the plant rue are yellow. According to the local legend, the rue turns red on the Day of Kupala Night for a few minutes. A girl that finds that flower will be happy in love. Chervona ruta in the meaning of "red plant" or "red flower" is also associated with an attractive alpine plant with medicinal properties, Rhododendron myrtifolium, that grows in the Carpathian Mountains in western Ukraine. == Performances ==

The first public performance of "Chervona Ruta" (and debut of Volodymyr Ivasiuk) was on September 13, 1970, at a television broadcast from a theatre in Chernivtsi sung by the author and Olena Kuznetsova. In 1971 the Ukrainian pop group Smerichka () performed "Chervona Ruta", and this further helped the song's rise in popularity. Performed by Smerichka, the song won the title USSR "Song of the Year" at the 1971 Television Song Festival competition in Moscow. as the Ukrainian folk song "Až mi dáš znamení". The translation was done by Ronald Kraus. In 1972, the song "Chervona Ruta" was recorded by the Polish skiffle group No To Co. The hard rock arrangement was made by Jerzy Krzemiński. "Chervona Ruta" was the debut song of Ruslana (who later became winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004), which she performed at the Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk in 1996. For her performance, she won first place with the maximum points (10) from all the jury, and was congratulated by the president of Belarus. The song was also performed by Rotaru together with the Ukrainian band Tanok na Maidani Kongo and was filmed for the musical film Kingdom of Skewed Mirrors, produced by Russian state TV channel Rossiya in 2008. A Kyivan native, Anna Sedokova when performing the song added some English translation, but to date the only complete English adaptation/translation and recording of this song has been by British-born singer songwriter of Ukrainian and Irish descent Stepan Pasicznyk. "Chervona Ruta" is one of the most popular Ukrainian songs and has been performed by many singers, among them: • Volodymyr Ivasiuk, Vasyl Zinkevych, Nazariy Yaremchuk* Sofia Rotaru[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= • Nazariy Yaremchuk* Vasyl Zinkevych[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4ACIahATvw • Yaroslav Evdokimov* Stepan Pasicznyk (English translation)[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d32hnc5Iois • Ruslana * Gogol Bordello [https://united24media.com/culture/the-yagas-and-gogol-bordello-release-cover-of-iconic-ukrainian-folk-song-chervona-ruta-for-midsummer-tribute-9298 == See also ==