Ukrainian musician from Rivne, leader and vocalist of the band Ot Vinta!, artist, animator, public figure, actor and screenwriter.
Biography
According to the musician himself, he was born on the way from Kamin-Kashirsk, in Volyn, to Ovruch, in Zhytomyr Oblast. Father - Zhuravel Hryhoriy Vasyliovych. Mother - Balyk Galina Oleksandrivna. Father was a soldier, mother was a teacher, so the family often moved from place to place. At school age, he changed as many as 7 schools. He associates the happiest part of his childhood with school in the city of Haysyn, Vinnytsia region. Yuri studied there until the 8th grade. It was at this school that the well-known Volodymyr Vysotsky studied.
When I came to Rivne for the first time, I got to a performance by the then famous band "Black Coffee". At that time, Yuri Zhuravel was already interested in rock music. The rockabilly band "Mr. Twister" performed at the warm-up, which attracted the attention of the future musician and gave him a creative impetus. Not being able to play the guitar, he bought himself this musical instrument and taught himself to play, not knowing the notes and the correct tuning.
Even later, while working in Rivne's "From the Lantern" theater, Yuriy Zhuravel and his friends wrote music for the plays "Peppy Longstocking", "Ordinary Miracle" and tried to play like a live theater orchestra. And later, at one of the first charity marathons of the Rivne Palace of Children and Youth, the band "Ot Vinta" performed a full concert program.
He has a higher education, graduated from the faculty of pedagogy and methods of primary education of the Rivne State Pedagogical Institute, majoring in "fundamentals of design and fine arts".
Paskar's wife Maryna Timofievna died in 2014. He has a daughter, Kateryna, who is studying to be a journalist in Warsaw. On September 13, 2020, Yuriy and craftswoman Natalia Siomchyk had their first joint son, Aeneas, and on June 14, 2023, their second son, Arey.
Among his advantages, Yuriy Zhuravel names diligence and purposefulness, and among his disadvantages - compliance and "inhibition". Work is considered the best hobby. He likes to play volleyball and badminton, swim, and the most pleasant rest is when his daughter comes home. Yuriy Zhuravel defines his life credo, referring to the writer Mykhailo Starytskyi: "Sing, cry and be ready to take a crown of thorns on your forehead instead of a laurel."
By Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 336/2016 dated August 19, 2016, he was awarded the jubilee medal "25 years of independence of Ukraine".
Art
Yuri Zhuravel on the cover of the newspaper "Culture and Life"
Yuriy Zhuravel is the inventor and founder of the "Ukrabili" musical direction. The author of the words and music of the albums of the band Ot Vinta!, winner of many rock festivals in Ukraine, Russia, Poland and Lithuania. He is the leader of the children's band "Zla Mala".
Pioneer of Ukrainian flash clip animation. Animated films by Yuri Zhuravlya: "The old woman didn't have to worry - she bought a piglet", "Oplea - potatoes!" and the animated rendition of "Darma I ate onions for nothing" have repeatedly won prizes in the hit parades of the leading music channels of Ukraine, Russia and Lithuania.
Yuriy Zhuravel drew fabulous graphics for the video of the band "TaRuta" for the song "Borom-Borom". Actually, the clip was shot in the Carpathians by film director Taras Khymych.
Yuri Zhuravel is also known as an artist. It was his drawings that illustrated the book "Mazepa. A step to the truth" and the novel "My Secretary's Diary" by the famous Ukrainian writers Kapranov Brothers.
Together with the Kapranovs, Yury Zhuravel participated in the creation of the "Illustrated History of the Independence of Ukraine". Artists from 5 cities of Ukraine worked on the design of the book, and Yuriy Zhuravel was the author of the portraits of prominent Ukrainians. At first, he was supposed to make comics for the book, but due to a busy schedule of performances, he did not have time to draw in full, so he concentrated only on portraits. There are many figures that no one has seen in reality, says Yurii Zhuravel. — They had to be portrayed according to various historical data and their own ideas. I decided to depict some of them more "alive" than they are usually depicted. For example, Lesya Ukrainka, whose face shows not only emotional turmoil, but also physical pain.
Zhuravel also created a number of drawings in which he conveyed his vision of Ukrainian politicians. These drawings immediately gained considerable popularity on the Internet.
During the Eurorevolution, Yuri Zhuravel created a series of drawings in the graphic genre (60-70 works), which were burned on February 18, 2014 in Kyiv at the intersection of Hrushevskyi and Khreshchatyk streets:
They cannot paint, and the only thing they can do is burn. As Bulgakov said, manuscripts do not burn. Photos of the drawings are distributed on the Internet, in social networks, so the exhibition continues its life.
He also drew a chevron for Maidan citizens.
In 2014-2015, Yuriy Zhuravel published a two-volume collection of caricatures "Karikadurka", the funds for the publication of which were collected in that volume with the help of crowdfunding.
Read more: Caricature II
In 2016, he published the tablet book "Battles for the Native Land". The book was published thanks to the program of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine with the support of the Rivne Regional State Administration.
Yuriy Zhuravel about the book "Battles for the Native Land":
I want, shevery boy who flips through these pages plunged headfirst into the time and space of glorious battles, imagined himself as a defending hero, felt the weight of Svyatoslav the Brave's sword with his hand, tried on the armor of Prince Ostrohsky, aimed at the enemy with a Galician crossbow or a cyborg bazooka, waved a Cossack saber and shouted triumphantly - Glory!!!
Motto of life: "An intelligent facial expression is not a sign of intelligence. Smile!!!".
In 2019, he published the first volume of the book "Know Us", which tells about outstanding Ukrainians in text and illustrated form. In total, the book contains 59 characters, 118 illustrations by Yuriy Zhuravlya.
Social activities
In 2004, Yuriy Zhuravel, along with artists and politicians, took part in the "Friendship Train" car race through the eastern cities of Ukraine, giving concerts and calling for unity and brotherhood.
In 2005, he became one of the founders of the public movement "Don't be indifferent".
According to his plan, the "Dveri" film festival, the "ChZh" flash mob, and "Veloden" are held in Rivne.
In 2012, Zhuravel created the public organization "Children of the Dungeon".
Yuri Zhuravel about his mission:
Now I feel that I have a responsible mission - education of the future generation. We still won't recycle veteran communists, but we are losing future generations before our eyes. The mass primitive culture of consumption (sorry) makes them dumb zombies. And I want them to be free creators of their own happy destinies. To feel how nice it is to create and win. For this, I use all my skills and directions and OT VINTA and the "Dobrodiy" channel, and drawings, and books, and conversations.
Together with the band OT VINTA, they started the campaign "Guitar for a soldier", collecting guitars all over the country, which were then handed over to the ATO.
