Sofia Rotaru

Sofia Rotaru

Sofia Mikhaylivna Yevdokymenko-Rotaru (In Ukrainian Софiя Михайлiвна Євдокименко-Ротару), professionally known as Sofia Rotaru is a Ukrainian pop singer. She is known for combining a lyrical deep rich voice, sex appeal, and social or religious themes. In Eastern Europe and in the former USSR her career was marked by her stage success and numerous controversies. The Russian edition of Postimees named her the "Queen of Pop". In 2008, she declared the highest revenue in the Ukraine ($100 million).

In 1986, she was the second female pop singer to receive the prestigious title of "People's Artist of USSR" and in 2000 she was named The Singer of the XXth Century. Today Sofia Rotaru is a Citizen of Ukraine and a Meritorious Citizen of Crimea and Yalta. Her repertoire consists of more than 400 songs performed in the Russian, Ukrainian, Moldavian, Polish, Romanian, Bulgarian, Serbian, German, French, English and Italian languages. The city of Yalta is her main residence, although she also lives in Moscow, Kiev, and Baden-Baden. She has received numerous awards, including: Meritorious Artist of the Ukrainian SSR, People's Artist of Ukraine, People's Artist of Moldavian SSR, People's Artist of USSR, Laureate of the YCL Prize, Hero of Moldova, and Cavalier of the Republican Order of Moldova. in August 2002 Former President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma and President of Russia Vladimir Putin gave awards to Sofia Rotaru (for her 55th birthday), bestowing upon her the high rank of the Hero of Ukraine for her "outstanding personal merits in the sphere of art", and the Russian order "For merits before the Nation", respectively. While the singer commonly goes by her maiden name, her official name includes Yevdokymenko as the surname of her late husband.

Early life and career

On August 7, 1947 Sofia Rotaru was born in a family of brigadiers and wine-growers. She was the second child in a family of six children, in Marshintsy Chernivtsi Oblast. Because a passport office employee accidentally wrote her passport birthdate as August 9, Sofia Rotaru celebrates her birthday twice. At different times, the village where Sofia was born belonged to Kievan Rus', Austro-Hungary, Turkey and Romania, which is the reason why her first and last names have been spelled differently. In the titles of the first musical movie where she starred, Chervona Ruta, Sofia's last name appears as Rotar'. Her first name was spelled as Sofiya in the earlier films. Edita Piekha advised Sofia to spell her last name in the Moldavia way with a "u" at the end. In fact, the newly found stage name was an old forgotten one. In translation from Moldavian, Rotaru means "wheel maker". Aurica Rotaru, Meritorious Artist of Ukraine has said:

No, no one has imagined this, this is related to the fact that the village where we were born belonged at a certain time to Romania, this was territory of Romania. Right after the war, this territory was joined to Ukraine and my father was summoned to the military registration and enlistment office and was told that the Moldavian family name should be changed into a Russian one. The letter "u" was taken away and instead Rotaru we got Rotar' with the soft sign. This is how all of us got the family name Rotar'. But indeed, the right last name is - Rotaru...

Sofia's father spent the entire war as a machine gunner with the army and traveled all the way to Berlin. Injured, he returned home only in 1946, and was the first one to enter the party in the village. Sofia's older sister, Zina, was born on October 11, 1942. As a child Zina endured severe illness and went blind. Zina possessed perfect pitch and easily memorized new songs so she taught Sofia many folk songs and became a second mother for her sister, as well as a dear teacher. Sofia Rotaru said: "We all learned from her - what a musical memory, what soul!". Zina spent hours listening to the radio and learned numerous songs, as well as the Russian language, which she later taught to her brothers and sisters. At home, the Rotaru family spoke only Moldavian. Sofia helped her mother and oldest sister Zina with housekeeping, the education of her younger brothers and sisters, and in the mornings by going to the local market to sell home-grown products. "Mother would wake me up early in the morning, but I really wanted to sleep. Then she said: `Who will be the one to help me?'. I was sleeping while on the road. We were at the destination at six in the morning. We had to take our place in advance on the market, display all the products. Only when the sales started, I was getting awake. I was interested. We always had a queue in front of our stand, as our mother was a clean, known and waited seller. She had her permanent customers." Sofia Rotaru does not negotiate at the market: "It's a hell of a work, don't even dare" - she said to her husband. Later, the film Where Has Love Gone? has an autobiographical plot, where Sofia Rotaru is shown milking a cow.

As a young child, Sofia Rotaru practiced light athletics, all-round (competitions), and participated in the regional olympiads. She won the oblast spartakiada in Chernivtsi in the cross-country running for 100 and 800 meters. Later in movies she herself performed without stunt doubles in the movie Where Has Love Gone? where she drove a motorcycle on a narrow pier in the middle of the sea, and also in Monologue About Love, where she plays the role of a windsurfer who has fallen in love at sea.

The musical talents of Rotaru became apparent very early. Rotaru started singing from the first grade in the school choir, as well as in the church choir, however the latter was not accepted by the school officials and she was even threatened with exclusion from the pioneers communist youth organization. Young Sofia was attracted by the theatre. She practiced in organised drama classes and also sang popular folkloric songs in vocal classes. In the evenings, when the kerosene lamp went out in the house, she used to take the only bayan at school and hide in the barn trying to find the proper melodies for her most loved Moldavian songs. Sofia Rotaru has said:

"It is difficult to say, when and how did the music appear in my life. It seems that it has always lived in me. I grew up among music, it was playing everywhere: at a wedding table, at klatches, at girls' winter evening gatherings, on the dance floor..."

Her first teacher was her father who enjoyed singing as he was young, possessing a perfect musical pitch and nice voice. Sofia Rotaru learned at school to play bayan and domra, participated in amateur art activities,and performed with concerts in nearby villages. She was especially fond of house concerts. All six children of Myhail Fedorovich, Sofia Rotaru's father, made up a choir. It was from this environment that she drew the most human, the most deep and sincere notes for her future songs. Later, at festivals and competitions, Sofia Rotaru sang as if she were born with this music, charming all with her heartfelt intonations and unique voice. Her father believed in the bright future of his daughter. He always said: "Sofia will become an artist". His belief gave Rotaru strength to overcome all doubts in her vocation.

1962–1964: Career start and Ukrainian pop-folk

Sofia Rotaru first became successful in 1962. Her victory at a vocal competition of amateur performers opened the door to a regional review. Because of her enchanting voice her fellow countrymen called Sofia the "Bukovinian Nightingale". Indeed the voice of the young singer was amazing with striking strength and width and also, unusual richness. Sofia has an alto voice and has performed such opera masterpieces as "Bésame mucho" in Spanish (the song was released in the Compilation "Night in the Opera"). Sofia Rotaru was the first pop singer to sing in recitative, later singing also rock, rap and jazz compositions, such as the song "Flowers Shop".

In 1963 in Chernivtsi she won the first degree diploma at the regional amateur art review.

As a winner, she was sent to Kiev to participate in the Republican festival of popular talents (1964). Again Rotaru won the first prize award but now in Ukrainian capitol. On this occasion her picture made the cover of a magazine "Ukraine" № 27 in 1965. The photo played an important role in her personal life, since when the picture was seen by Anatoliy Evdokimenko, her future husband, he immediately fell in love with her. After this competition, the People's Artist of USSR, Dmytro Hnatyuk, said to his fellow countrymen: "This is your future celebrity. Remember my words."

After the victory at the Republican competition and graduation from school, Rotaru decided to become a singer and entered the vocal-conductor department of the Chernivtsi Musical College, since there was no vocal department.

In 1964 Sofia Rotaru performed for the first time on the stage of the State Kremlin Palace. At the same time, Anatoliy Evdokimenko was a young soldier from Chernivtsi serving his military duty in Urals, Nizhny Tagil. He was the son of a conductor and a teacher "with only music in his head" (as noted by Sofia's mother to her daughter). Anatoliy Evdokimenko had graduated from a musical high school, was playing trumpet, and planning to create his own band. His military division received a copy of "Ukraine" magazine with a picture of a beautiful young lady, Sofia, on the cover. He saw the picture, returned and started searching for her. As a student at the University of Chernivtsi and a trumpeter in the student pop orchestra he helped Sofia discover the pop orchestra. In fact, before this, Sofia Rotaru used for her musical background violins and cimbalom. Today, in her concert programmes and tours Sofia Rotaru leaves an important place for folk songs in modern remakes, including the rap song ("Chervona Ruta" released in 2006 with TNMK. The first pop song performed by Sofia Rotaru was "Mama" by Alexander Bronevitskiy.

1968–1973: International recognition

In 1968, after graduation form the college, Sofia Rotaru was a delegate to the IX World Festival of Youth and Students in Bulgaria, as a member of the artistic group. At the festival she won the Golden Medal and the First Prize in the competition of singers of folk popular songs. Bulgarian newspapers were full of headlines: "21-year old Sofia has conquered Sofia" (Sofia is also a city name). Her performances of the Ukrainian folk pop song "Standing on the Stone", Moldavian "I Love Spring", "Steppe" of A. Pashkevich, and "Valentina" of G. Gheorghite were so popular that she dominated the headlines. The latter song was dedicated to the first woman cosmonaut, Hero of the USSR Valentina Tereshkova, who was present in the concert hall. The jury president Lyudmila Zykina, said of Rotaru: "This is a singer with great future..."

In 1968 Sofia Rotaru married Anatoliy Evdokimenko, who at that time was a student of Chernivtsi University and a trumpet player in a student pop band.

In 1971, producer Roman Alekseev shot for "Ukrtelefilm" a musical film Chervona Ruta about the tender and pure love of a girl from the mountains and her relationship with a man from Donetsk. The name of the film — Chervona Ruta — comes from the name of a flower, derived from an ancient Carpathian legend. Ruta (rue) blossoms only on the Ivan Kupala night, and the girl who succeeds in finding a blooming ruta will be happy in love. Sofia Rotaru was the star in that musical film. Songs of the composer V. Ivasyuk and other writers were also performed by Z. Zinkevich, N. Yaremchuk and other singers. The film enjoyed a significant success. After the film was released in the cinemas, Sofia Rotaru received an invitation to work in the Chernivtsi Philharmonic Society and to create her own band (ensemble), whose name appeared by itself - "Chervona Ruta".

As a result of collaboration with the composer Volodymyr Ivasyuk, an entire cycle of songs was created, based on the folkloric material with characteristic, for the 60's - 70's, usage of instruments and arrangements. This brought Rotaru enormous popularity in Ukraine. She also became the most popular artist in the Soviet Union since the authorities eagerly promoted and popularised her art as an example of international Soviet culture since she was an ethnic Moldavian who was singing songs in the Moldavian, Romanian, Ukrainian and Russian languages. Also, she shared sincere emotions with many millions of diverse fans. Consequently Rotaru had a permanent place on the radio, television, and in concerts.

In 1972, Sofia Rotaru and the band "Chervona Ruta" participated in a tour in Poland with the programme "Songs and Dances of the Country of Soviets".

In 1973, in Burgas (Bulgaria) she entered the competition for "Golden Orpheus". Rotaru received the First Prize, performing the song "My City" of E. Doga and a song in the Bulgarian language "Bird" by T. Rusev and D. Demiyanov. Also, in 1973 she received the title of the Meritorious Artist of the Ukrainian SSR. Later, the songs which she performed in the Moldavian language, "Codru" and "My City", became soundtracks for the film "Spring Accords". The song "My City" was chosen as the laureate of the festival "Song-73".

In 1973 for the first time she entered the final competition for the festival Song of the Year.

1974–1979: New authors and Moldavian lyricism

In 1974 Sofia Rotaru graduated from the Chisianu Art Institute "G. Muzicescu" and became the winner of the Festival "Amber Nightingale" in Sopot, Poland, where she performed "Remembrance" by B. Rychkov, and "Vodogray" by V. Ivasyuk. She received the Second Prize for her performance of a Polish song from the repertoire of Halina Forntskovyak, "Someone" (Russian text by A. Demenitieva).

In 1975, she became the soloist of the Crimean Philharmonic Society.

In 1976, due to persecutions of the Rotaru family for celebrating religious holidays (Christmas), Sofia moved from Chernivtsi to Yalta, transferring from the Chernivtsi Philharmonic Society to the Crimean Philharmonic Society.

After the tragic death of Volodymyr Ivasyuk in 1979, a number of songs by Moldavian composers appeared in her repertoire (namely, songs by the brothers Teodorovici). By that time Sofia Rotaru had ceased collaboration with Moldavian authors, primarily Eugene Doga. The latter, actively created rumors that the voice of Sofia Rotaru was created note by note on a computer. Singing in different languages became the source of fierce arguments regarding which culture Sofia Rotaru belonged - Moldavian or Ukrainian. She was also considered as a "fellow" in Russia, and in Armenia the question was debated whether to award her with the Meritorious Artist of Armenian SSR. As the USSR collpsed in 1991, a joke became popular: during talks at Belovezhskaya Puscha the question was raised "how will we divide Rotaru". The singer, who always lived in the Ukraine, considered herself to be a Ukrainian citizen, while not denying her Moldavian roots.

Starting from the 70's, the songs performed by Sofia Rotaru always won the "Song of the Year" award. They were created in collaboration with the most talented composers and poets of the country: Arno Babadzhanyan wrote "Bring Me the Music Back"; Aleksey Mazhukov - "And the Music Plays" and "Red Arrow"; Pavel Aedonitskiy - "For Those Who Wait"; Oskar Feltsman - "Only For You"; David Tuhmanov - "Stork on the Roof", "In My House", and "Waltz"; Yuriy Saulskiy - "A Common Story" and "Autumn Melody"; Aleksandra Pahmutova - "Temp"; R. Pauls - "Dance on the Drum"; A Zatsepin - "Almost like on Earth"; V. Migulya - "Life", and others. Sofia Rotaru was the first performer of the songs of Evgueniy Martynov, such as "Swan Fidelity", "Blossoming Apples", and "Ballade About Mother". One of the superhits of the 70's and still popular, the controversial song "Motherland" is officially considered to be the first rap song ever performed. Another widely popular patriotic song, chef-d'oeuvre "Be Happy, My Earth", also caused political controversies; although both songs speak only of love for the land of one's birth, without any political propaganda or context.

1980–1985: Actress' ascension and new art unions

In 1980 in Tokyo Sofia Rotaru won First Prize at the International Song Festival for her performance of the Yugoslavian song "Promise" and she received the "Order of the Badge of Honor".

The singer continued to experiment and appeared for the first time among Soviet pop female singers while wearing trousers, as part of her costume on the stage, and performed a hip-hop style song "Tempo" with music composed by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and lyrics written by Nikolay Dobronravov. The songs "Tempo" and "Waiting" were specially written for the 1980 Summer Olympics, which took place in Moscow and became part of the Cultural programme of 1980 Summer Olympics. "Tempo" also was chosen as the soundtrack theme for the dramatic movie "Ballad About Sport", produced by Yuri Ozerov. In 1980, the singer received her final award for "Song of the Year", performing the songs "My Land" by N. Mozgovoy and "Waiting" by Yury Saulsky and Leonid Zavalnyuk.

This period is characterised by one of the most successful film releases in the former USSR. In 1980 Moldova-Film released Where Has Love Gone? starring Sofia Rotaru. The film won the Grand Prix at the Film Festval in Vilnius. The first project name of the film was "The Year of Vocation". Among other songs, Sofia Rotaru performed the song "First Rain". She acts in the film without a stunt double, riding a motorcycle on a narrow sea embankment. According to the autobiographic plot, a village teacher is invited to join an ensemble and through the ensemble she wins the Grand Prix at an international festival with the song "Where Has Love Gone?" with music composed by Raimonds Pauls and lyrics by Ilya Reznik. More than 25 million movie goers viewed the film while in cinema distribution. In 1980 the double album with songs from the film, including "Where Has Love Gone?", was released. The album included most soundtrack themes from the movie and the composers were: Evgueniy Martynov, Oskar Feltsman, Arno Babajanian, and David Tukhmanov. In 1980 the composition of Aleksey Mazhukov "Red Arrow" became the debut of the young poet Nikolay Zinoviev in the pop style. The song was forbidden on the All-Soviet Radio by the conductor of the musical redaction Guennady Cherkassov, because he did not like how Sofia Rotaru sang. However, since the premiere of the movie had already taken place on television, it was already well known, even without radio airing. In 1981, at the XIVth All-Soviet Cinema Festival in Vilnius, the film received the jury's prize for popularisation of the singing art of Soviet composers, in the section of drama films. This movie was the first public exposure for Sofia Rotaru in dramatic cinematography. Many critics called this role "clambaked", nevertheless the film gained film viewers' respect and the soundtrack themes became legendary: "Red Arrow" (music by Aleksey Mazhukov, lyrics Nikolay Zinoviev); "Where Has Love Gone?" (music of Raimonds Pauls, lyrics Ilya Reznik); and "Dance on the Drum" (music Raimonds Pauls, lyrics Andrey Voznesensky).

The next artistic period began with the search for a new style - rock music and the film Soul with Mashina Vremeni released in 1981, including songs by Amlxander Zatsepin and Alexander Makarevich. In Yalta she received the initial proposal to shoot the film with her in the leading role, but Sofia Rotaru at first refused, as she was ill. Her doctors recommended that she not participate in the movie production and furthermore the suggested that she cancel all concert performances. This initial refusal caused Alexander Borodyansky and Alexander Stefanovich to write an additional autobiographical scenario with a dramatic situation in the singer's life, experiencing a loss of voice and an opening of her soul. This was shown in a dialogue on the pier with an older man and included a reevalutaion of her values. After having seen the new rewritten scenario and new songs, written in a completely new style, Sofia Rotaru agreed to star in the movie and moreover, decided to refuse for a while all concert performances. In this way the movie became a musical drama, touching not only the private life of an artist and human relationships, but also raising the question of the artist's attitude towards her talent and the responsibility of being talented relative to her audience. Rolan Bykov was the partner of Sofia Rotaru in the movie and the lyrical hero was played by a Leningrad actor Mikhail Boyarsky. The rock band was "Mashina Vremeni" - new group of Sofia Rotaru. Sofia Rotaru has said: "Producer suggested me to completely change my image, in which people used to see me on the stage. I think the movie may become a turning point in my artstic destiny. Anyway, this is an experiment, for which I am heading with joy. And as during any experiment, it is difficult to suppose how it will all end." The film experienced more than 45 million entries in the Soviet distribution. Thus, in 1981 Sofia Rotaru starred in Soul, where according to the producer Stefanovich, the first Soviet music video was made. In the music video Sofia Rotaru and Mashina Vremeni were dressed in golden stretchy fabrics, jumping on a trampoline but were filmed from below the net. The film was viewed by more than 40 million fans and was considered a breakthrough for Sofia Rotaru where she dropped her traditional image as a restrained and serious singer. This period was characterised by her collaborations with outstanding composers Aleksandr Zatsepin and Andrei Makarevich, as well as the successful composers Evgueniy Martynov, Oskar Feltsman, Arno Babajanian, and David Tuhmanov.

1986–1989: New wave - europop and hard rock

The Mid-80's evolved into a turning point in the creation of the singer's image. The new film "Monologue About Love" (1986) explored the aesthetics of the new art. Only one song "The Water Flows" by Ihor Poklad carried on her folkloric theme and included an image of a farm girl who became a star, contrary to the previous "Sofia Rotaru Invites You" (1985).

In 1986 she reversed her artistic direction after she collaborated with composer Valdimir Matetskiy. The relatively unknown Moscow song writer possessed a brilliant erudition and commercial feeling. He managed the transition of Rotaru to compositions in the Europop style ("It Was, But It Has Gone", "Moon"), all the way to elements of hard rock ("My Time", "Only This Is Not Enough"). This collaboration began in 1985 with the song "Lavender", written by V. Matetskiy for the singer's duet performance with Jaak Joala and it is still popular. During the next 15 years Matetskiy and his co-author, Mihail Shabrov, practically monopolized the right to collaborate with Sofia Rotaru. They produced songs, most of which became part of her concert progammes in 1990–2000, and these songs helped to establish a popular and charismatic personality for Sofia Rotaru with her unique vocal timbre. After the first collaboration many others have followed, including: "Moon, Moon", "It Was, But It Has Gone", "Wild Swans", "Golden Heart", and "My Life, My Love".

1990–1991: Leading Singer Among Different Cultures

I rather owe my coming into being singer and, probably, personality, namely to those women, with whom I worked in the village. It is namely from them that I have learned to understand the sense of life. I received help in difficult moments from them - simple and magnanimous.

Towards the end of the 80's her active touring and constant presence in top hit parades and musical charts assured that Sofia Rotaru became objectively the leader of the Soviet popular song. In 1986 she was awarded the People's Artist of the USSR, which was unique for pop singers, however this justly reflected the status of Rotaru. Sofia Rotaru has sung more than 400 songs in Russian, Moldavian, Romanian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Polish, Italian, English and German languages. For 60 years of artistry she has walked a long way from an unknown Bukovynian singer to the People's Artist of three countries, whose songs became extremely popular repeated by the entire population. Many of them became classics of Ukrainian and Russian pop culture and scene.

At the same time, the transition to Russian language repertoire caused a certain animosity in Ukraine. Accustations in betrayal of national culture, without mentioning a general growth of nationalism, were also supported by the Soviet producer State structures, philharmonic societies, and concert companies who were losing control over the financial side of the concert and tour activity of Sofia Rotaru as a result of economic reforms. In order to avoid large scale provocations, Sofia Rotaru refused to participate in the festival "Chervona Ruta", taking place in Chernivtsi in 1989. The diminuation of proportion of Ukrainian songs was caused by the absence in Ukraine of such talented composers and poets, as Volodymyr Ivasyuk. The exceptions became the songs of N. Mozgovoy, ("Country", "The Day Passes"), A. Blizniuk ("Echo of Fidelity"), E. Rybchinsky ("The Water Flows"), Yu. Rybchinskiy ("Ball of Separated Hearts"), and R. Kvinta ("Wait", "One Guelder-Rose", "Fog"). In 1991, during a conert in Lviv, the listeners put up a poster with "Sofia, a heavy penalty is waiting for you" written on it. After this, the next concert that took place in Ukraine happened only in the end of the 90's, and this only through the personal request by the President of Ukraine L. Kuchma.

At the same time, a new program was prepared and presented to the public in 1991. One half of it consisted of remixes of Ivasyuk's songs and other known Ukrainian composers and poets in the Ukrainian language, in particular: "Chervona Ruta", "Bird Cherry Tree", "Maple Fire", "Country", "Gray-feathered Bird", and "Yellow Leaf", which became classics of Ukrainian pop song culture, so after that similar accusations have disappeared.

1991–2004: New Time

After the collapse of the USSR and commercialisation of the musical space, Sofia Rotaru has kept her top positions on the market and has a stable public, including Russian speaking diaspora in Europe, USA, Australia and Israel. In 2000 Sofia Rotaru was named the Best Ukrainian Pop Singer of XXth Century. In 2001 Sofia Rotaru performed in a new soloist concert program "My Life - My Love". To the expression of 70's were added the lyricism of 80's, drive of 90's and the present play of half tones, on which Rotaru-producer Rotaru-singer has built her programme, uniting new songs and hits of previous years, read this time in a new manner. Many of her songs, independently how long ago they were sung for the first time, cannot be qualified as "retro" format, since they continue to live in every new concert program for the singer. In 2002 Sofia Rotaru was awarded the title "Hero of Ukraine".

After heavy losses, related to the death of her husband, for many years producer and artistic director of programs Anatoliy Evdokimenko, of her mother and father, Rotaru had stopped for a certain time her active touring activity. Twice Sofia Rotary went to the monastery after the death of her husband. Following several months of mourning after his death, Rotaru resumed her feverish concert and recording activity and again topped the Russian, Ukrainian and Moldavian charts.

The new period of her creation started in 2003 with performances in the concert hall "Russia" in Moscow, dedicated to the opening of the star monument named Sofia Rotaru on the alley in front of the hall. The main authors working with Rotaru became composers Ruslan Kvinta ("One Guelder-Rose"), Oleg Makarevich ("White Dance") and Constantine Meladze ("I Loved Him", "One in the World"), as well as poet Vitaliy Kurovskiy.

In 2004, after a four year break, Sofia Rotaru gave two major soloist concerts in the United States, in Chicago and in Atlantic City, where she performed on the stage of one of the most prestigious hall - theatre of Taj-Mahal casino. In 2001, the US tour was cancelled because the sound operator could not obtain visa. Twice the popularity of Sofia Rotaru was abused in the USA by enterpreneurs who without permission of the singer announced Sofia Rotaru's concerts in the most prestigious concert halls of the US for her concerts and successfully sold tickets.

During this time, appear new albums: "For the Only One" (2003) (with new songs and arrangements in Ukrainian and Moldavian languages), dedicated to the memory of her deceased husband, "Sky - It's Me" (2004), "I Loved Him" (2005), compilations "Snow Queen" (2003), "Fall of the Leaves" (2003), "Lavanda, Hutoryanka fartherm everywhere" (2005), "Fog" (2007).

2007–today: 60th Anniversary

In 2007, Sofia Rotaru celebrated her 60th Anniversary, Hundreds of fans, as well as top artists and politicians came to Yalta from different parts of the world to congratulate the singer. President of Ukraine awarded Sofia Rotaru with the II Degree Order for Merits. Official reception and birthday party took place at the famous Livadia Palace (Yalta Conference), where this time for a festivity, again three Presidents were invited (Russia, Ukraine and Moldova). The event was covered live by Ukrainian and Russian major TV channels. Celebrations in honour of her anniversary continued in September in Sochi, where at the song festival of young performers "Five Stars", one of the competition days was completely dedicated to the art of Sofia Rotaru. Young performers sang Sofia Rotaru's hits. In October 2007, the Anniversary Concerts of Sofia Rotaru took place in Moscow, at the State Grand Kremlin Palace, in which also took part popular Russian singers who all sang hits earlier performed by Sofia Rotaru: Joseph Kobzon, Filipp Kirkorov, Alla Pugacheva, Lev Leshchenko, Nadezhda Babkina, Larisa Dolina, Anzhelika Varum, Kristina Orbakaite, Masha Rasputina, Nikolay Baskov, and others and Ukrainian singers: Verka Serduchka, Taisia Povaliy, Valery Meladze, Potap & Nastya Kamenskih, Tanok na Maydani Kongo and others.

At present time Sofia Rotaru leads an active touring activity, participates in collective concerts and TV shows and musicals. She is in perfect physical and vocal shape, possesses enormous authority with Ukrainian and Russian musical circles.

After a busy year 2007, where one album "Fog" was released in Eastern Europe and two albums You Are My Heart" and "What's the Weather Like in Your Heart" in Germany for Western European market, participation in numerous TV shows and concert programmes the film made about her on Ukrainian TV channel "Sofia Rotaru - Secrets of Her Success", she took a one month break in January which made place for a lot of rumours ranging from illness to car and airplane crash. At present, Sofia Rotaru is preparing for an all Russian Anniversary Tour starting from March till June 2007. A new TV musical show was filmed with Sofia Rotaru and will be aired on 8 March.

The repertoire of Sofia Rotaru counts more than 400 performed songs.

Politics

Sofia Rotaru does not support any particular political ideology. Nevertheless, her multicultural identity served both for and against her. Soviet authorities, persecuting her family for celebration of Christmas, represented her at the same time as the top singer of the USSR. The German press wrote about her as "The Conductor of the USSR" (Dirigentin der UdSSR). Big part of her albums were recorded in Germany. However, when the German label Ariola (today Sony BMG Music Entertainment) after recording of song L'immensità in Italian language and of songs in German language: Wer Liebe sucht, Deine Zärtlichkeit, Es muss nicht sein, Wenn die Nebel ziehen, proposed her to release a bigger studio album with these and other songs in French and English languages, as well as proposed her to organise a concert tour in Western Europe, the all mighty concert administration of the USSR officially prohibited her to cross the boundary of USSR during 7 years. This interdiction was also put in effect before the tour in Canada, which was consequently cancelled as well.

The song "Motherland" (Rodina), performed some tens of years ago, remaining popular even today, calls for ambiguous interpretations, whereas it speaks only about love, to the land and country this time. The song is officially considered as the first rap song ever performed.

During the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, Sofia Rotaru was dispatching food packages together with her family to people who came ot the Independence Square, independently from their political affiliation.

In 2006 Sofia Rotaru took active part in parliamentary elections in Ukraine, balloting for the deputy chair as a second number in the list of Volodymyr Lytvyn's political formation Lytvyn Bloc, however the bloc could not gather the necessary amount of votes to enter the Parliament, which became one of the major surprises of the elections. She held an all Ukrainian charitable campaign tour the same year. Among main reasons for supporting namely the political unit of Litvin, Sofia Rotaru named personal trust and steadiness of Litvin, as well as her own interest in lobbying the law on patronage of art in Ukraine.

Her songs have become the classics of Soviet and post-Soviet pop stage (e.g. such superhits as "Chervona ruta" (Червона рута) in Ukrainian, "Романтикэ" (Romantica), in Moldavian). Sofia was cast in seven musical films, her debut being in 1971 in Chervona Ruta ("Червона рута" (Red magic flower). She played the main roles in films "Где ты, любовь?" (Where are you, love?, 1980) and "Душа" (Soul, 1981). She has performed in concerts in the United States, Asia, Europe, Australia. Sofia has been awarded dozens of prizes, awards and medals.

Musical family

Besides Sofia, Aurica, her younger sister, has also performed professionally, combining a solo career with performances as back-up vocal, as well as duets with her brother and sister Lidia and Eugenia. However, for Aurica, the duet performing in the style of Italo Disco of the Eighties did not reach noticeable success and in 1992 she ended her singing career. Sofia's Husband - Anatoliy Kirillovich Evdokimenko is a People's Artist of Ukraine (1941–2002).

Son - Ruslan Evdokimenko

Daughter-in-Law - Svetlana Evdokimenko

Grandchildren - Anatoliy and Sofia Rotaru

Brothers - Anatoliy and Eugene Rotaru (bass guitar, vocal) - worked in the Chisinau vocal instrumental ensemble "Orizont", directed by Oleg Milishtein.

Sisters - Zinaida, Lidia and Aurica

Discography

Main article: Sofia Rotaru discography

Fan scene

The oldest official fan club of Sofia Rotaru is "Fortuna". In 2003, the information portal ROTARUNEWS was created. Today, the portal hosts one of the most extensive archives of statistical information, namely on charts' positions of aired singles and albums of Sofia Rotaru. There are fan clubs in Moscow, Riga, the Ural region, Tallinn, Lviv, Astana, and Prague. Sofia Rotaru has officially recognized her double act Dionis Kelm, who performs on tours using Rotaru's physical appearance, manner of singing and costumes.

External links

• Template:Ru icon Official site
• Fortuna official fan club
• Sofia Rotaru discography at Discogs
• Sofia Rotaru discography at MusicBrainz
• Template:MySpace-music
• Sofia Rotaru at IMDb
• All the news about Sofia Rotaru in Russian
• All Sofia Rotaru Lyrics
• Hundreds of Sofia Rotaru Lyrics
• Sofia Rotaru Became the Leader of the 100 Most Popular Performers (2004)
• Russians Like The Most Singer Sofia Rotaru (2005)
• Russia's most popular singer (2006)
• Sofia Rotaru on YouTube

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