Kazaky
Kazaky is a Ukrainian synthpop dance boyband,[1] made up of Kyryll Fedorenko, Artur Gaspar and Artemiy Lazarev. Assembled in Kiev in 2010 by former original member Zhezhel, a skilled choreographer, the group has released two albums and several singles so far. In 2016 the group announced they were disbanding [2] saying "It's time to create new interesting things" with the group members pursuing solo careers.[3] In 2019, the group reformed with two new members Vlad Koval and Evgeny Goncharenko.[4]
Kazaky | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Kiev, Ukraine |
| Genres | Synthpop, electronic, dance, house |
| Years active |
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| Labels | Kazaky |
| Associated acts | Madonna, Loreen |
| Website | kazaky |
| Members | Kyryll Fedorenko Artur Gaspar Artemiy Lazarev Vlad Koval Evgeny Goncharenko |
| Past members | Stas Pavlov Francesco Borgato Oleg Zhezhel |
History
2010–11: Formation and Single releases
The band is originally made up of Kyryll Fedorenko, Artur Gaspar, Stas Pavlov and Oleg Zhezhel. The group's first single, "In the Middle", was released at the end of 2010, earning them the "Breakthrough of the Year" award at the 2010 Myway Dance Awards. The video features the four group members dancing in boy clothes at first, and then transitioning into a more androgynous look with their signature stiletto heels. It quickly went viral on YouTube. It was then followed by the video for their second single, "Love," shot in black & white, which furthered their online popularity. In June 2011, the group performed at the DSquared² Men Spring/Summer 2012 runway show. On 16 July 2011, they made their American debut at Club 57 in New York City, and performed their third single "I'm Just a Dancer" for the first time.[5] In August 2011, original member Pavlov left the group and was replaced by Italian singer Francesco Borgato.
2012–13: Departure of Zhezhel, The Hills Chronicles and I Like It
With this new line-up, they released two more singles, called "Dance and Change" and "Last night" until they released the group's debut album The Hills Chronicles on October 22, 2012. In 2012, Kazaky are featured as cameo as background dancers in the Madonna music video "Girl Gone Wild".[6] On February 26, 2013, Borgato announced his departure from the group to pursue a solo career.[7] Former original member Stas Pavlov rejoined the group immediately after Borgato's departure, and he is featured in the group's new track and video, "Crazy Law", released on March 4, 2013. It will serve as the group's first single of their second studio album, titled I Like It, which is set to be released in two parts. The first part has been released on June 9, 2013, while the second part has been released on December 12, 2013. The follow up singles were "Touch Me" and the promotional single "Doesn't Matter", both released in 2013. On December 12, 2013, founder Zhezhel announced on their official Facebook page that he won't perform with Kazaky anymore, leaving them as a trio, thus he added that he will continue to produce the group's music and choreographies. He stated he won't leave Kazaky.
2014–15: Second departure of Pavlov and Singles
In 2014, original member Pavlov left the band for a second time and was soon to be replaced by new member Artemiy Lazarev. In 2014, the follow up singles "The Sun", "Magic Pie" and "Pulse", which music video has been shot by director Radislav Lukin, and the promotional single "Horizon" have been released. On September 29, 2014, Kazaky were featured in the song "Strange Moves" by The Hardkiss, to be released as a single with a music video. Zhezhel makes a special cameo appearance in "Strange Moves" alongside his former bandmates. In 2015, the final single from I Like It, titled "What You Gonna Do", has been released. In the same year, the group makes a dance sequence cameo in the video for Loreen's music video "Paper Light (Higher)". Their single "Milk-Choc" has been released in 2015 as the lead single from their upcoming third studio album.
2016: Disbanding and 2019: Return
In June 2016 the band announced they would be disbanding due to each member wanting to take different creative paths individually. Kazaky has stated that the band cannot exclude the idea of them not coming back together again to create something for the fans. The group has since been posting updates on their "Kazaky Official" Facebook page about their individual activities such as solo concerts and collaborations with other artists.[8] But on June 24, 2019, finally after more than three years, Kazaky come back together posting a new video on YouTube of the song "Push" where appear two new member Vlad Koval and Evgeny Goncharenko. The band dedicated "Push" to the "entire LGBTQ community" that had supported them over the past nine years. The reason for the song is the CSD in Kiev. Other singles were published in the same year like "Inside My Body", "Hands up" and "We Should Be Like No One Else".
Other endeavours
Fashion
Because of their daring and unusual fashion sense, the band has been featured on a number of high-profile publications, such as Attitude, Billboard, GQ, The Los Angeles Times, New York Post and The New York Times.[9] After Anna Osmekhina created their fashion for the "Love" music video, Kazaky hired her to design their outfits and style their videos. However, the group has also received and worn fashion from DSquared² and Thierry Mugler. Their high-heeled shoes are all 5.5 inches (14 centimetres), and they are designed to allow them to dance comfortably for their stage performances.[10] The group has a penchant for elaborate, decadent and very structural costumes, or alternatively very skimpy outfits meant to enhance the physicality of their performances.
Artistry
Music
Kazaky's sound draws on house, synthpop, electronica and dance. Their tracks feature monotone, loopy, manipulated vocals and dance-driven, layered beats with electronic bleeps and prominent bass lines.
Style
"Kazaky" is Russian for "Cossacks". The Cossacks had a very prominent role in the shaping of Ukraine's national history and culture. However, the band claims that their name has nothing to do with the Cossacks, but that it is a derivative form of the Japanese word Kazaki, which they claim is a popular word in Japan.[11]
All four members are trained dancers, and the group is famous for their elaborate, acrobatic and spectacular choreography routines, which feature perfectly synchronized and complex dancing moves executed on high heels. Artur Gaspar is especially known for his signature leg lift, which he often performs live and in videos. The group confronts gender norms by fusing masculine and feminine attributes together, most notably by regularly wearing stiletto heels in videos and live performances.
Members
| Member | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyryll Fedorenko (2010-2016; 2019–present) | |||||||||
| Artur Gaspar (2010–2016; 2019–present) | |||||||||
| Artemiy Lazarev (2014–2016; 2019–present) | |||||||||
| Oleg Zhezhel (2010–2013) | |||||||||
| Stas Pavlov (2010–2011; 2013–2014) | |||||||||
| Francesco Borgato (2011–2013) | |||||||||
| Vlad Koval (2019–present) | |||||||||
| Evgeny Goncharenko (2019–present) | |||||||||
Oleg won't perform with Kazaky anymore, but he will continue to produce the group's music and choreographies.
Discography
Studio Albums
| Title | Album details | Chart positions | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RUS | UKR | |||||||||||||
| The Hills Chronicles |
|
— | — | |||||||||||
| I Like It (Part 1 + 2) |
|
— | — | |||||||||||
| Greatest Songs |
|
— | — | |||||||||||
| Music from Live Shows |
|
— | — | |||||||||||
| "—" denotes a studio album that did not chart. | ||||||||||||||
Singles
| Title | Year | Chart positions | Info | Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RUS | UKR | |||||||||||||
| "Love" | 2011 | — | — | Released on February 14, 2011 in EP format | The Hills Chronicles | |||||||||
| "In the Middle" | — | — | Released on July 1, 2011 as a single EP with remixes. Re-released on August 20, 2013 | |||||||||||
| "I'm Just a Dancer"[12] | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "Dance and Change" | — | — | Released on November 24, 2011 in EP format | |||||||||||
| "Crazy Law"[13] | 2013 | — | — | I Like It (Part 1) | ||||||||||
| "Touch Me" | — | — | Released on July 11, 2013 in EP format | |||||||||||
| "Magic Pie" | 2014 | — | — | |||||||||||
| "The Sun" | — | — | I Like It (Part 2) | |||||||||||
| "Pulse" | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "What You Gonna Do" | 2015 | — | — | |||||||||||
| "Milk-Choc" | — | — | Greatest Songs | |||||||||||
| "Your Style" | 2015 | — | — | Greatest Songs | ||||||||||
| "Push" | 2019 | TBA | ||||||||||||
| "—" denotes single that did not chart or was not released. | ||||||||||||||
Singles (As featured artist)
| Title | Year | Chart positions | Info | Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RUS | UKR | |||||||||||||
| "Strange Moves" (The Hardkiss feat. Kazaky) | 2014 | — | — | Released on September 29, 2014 | Stones and Honey[14] | |||||||||
| "—" denotes single that did not chart or was not released. | ||||||||||||||
Promotional Singles
| Title | Year | Chart positions | Album | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RUS | UKR | |||||||||||||
| "Last Night" | 2012 | — | — | The Hills Chronicles | ||||||||||
| "I Can't Stop"[15] | — | — | ||||||||||||
| "Doesn't Matter" | 2013 | — | — | I Like It (Part 1) | ||||||||||
| "Horizon" | 2014 | — | — | I Like It (Part 2) | ||||||||||
| "—" denotes promotional single that did not chart or was not released. | ||||||||||||||
Filmography
Music Videos
| Title | Year | Director(s) |
|---|---|---|
| "Love" | 2010 | Yevgeniy Timokhin |
| "In the Middle" | 2011 | |
| "I'm Just a Dancer" | Andrey Sarymsakov | |
| "Dance and Change" | Alan Badoev | |
| "Last Night" | 2012 | Yevgeniy Timokhin |
| "Crazy Law" | 2013 | Hindrek Maasik |
| "Touch Me" | ||
| "Doesn't Matter" | Various (Footage) | |
| "Magic Pie" | 2014 | Ivan Kvasha |
| "The Sun" | Roy Raz[16] | |
| "Pulse" | Radislav Lukin | |
| "What You Gonna Do" | 2015 | |
| "Milk-Choc" | 2015 | Hindrek Maasik |
| "Your Style" | 2015 | |
| "Push" | 2019 | Alan Badoev |
| Title | Artist | Year | Director(s) | Note(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Girl Gone Wild" | Madonna | 2012 | Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott | Dance sequence cameo appearance |
| "Strange Moves" | The Hardkiss feat. Kazaky | 2014 | Valeriy Bebko | Released on September 29, 2014. Oleg Zhezhel makes a special cameo appearance |
| "Paper Light (Higher)" | Loreen | 2015 | Charli Ljung | Dance sequence cameo appearance |
| Title | Year | Director(s) | Note(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Pohvir (Change, You Can, I Know)" | 2011 | Andrey Sarymsakov | Footage from the music video "I'm Just a Dancer" |
| "Love (Horror Picture Show Version)" | 2012 | Yevgeniy Timokhin | Promo video by V Magazine with the song "Love" |
| "Stadium" | Promo video for the debut albums intro "Symphony No. 404" | ||
Tours
- The Pulse Tour (2014-2015)
See also
- List of synthpop artists
- Ukrainian culture
References
- "STILETTO STOMPING BOY BAND, KAZAKY - Dirty Magazine". dirty-mag.com. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
- "High-Heeled Boy Band Kazaky Breaks Up: "It's Time To Create New Interesting Things" - NewNowNext". www.newnownext.com. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
- "Kazaky Official". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
- "KAZAKY is coming back with a new video about freedom and love | The Gal Post". Retrieved 2019-06-29.
- . queernewyorkblog.blogspot.com.
- Kalbfleisch, Jessia (20 March 2012). "Kazaky in Madonna's New 'Girl Gone Wild' Video". Music (blog of The Vancouver Observer). Retrieved 4 August 2012.
- It's All About Kazaky / "Borgato departure" Archived 2014-12-20 at the Wayback Machine Archived 2013-04-23 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
- "Kazaky Official". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
- Hawgood, Alex (1 August 2012). "This Boy Band from Ukraine Has Legs, on High Heels". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
- Santos, Jhon Jairo (undated). "Anna Osmekhina: Styling for Kazaky Archived 2012-05-20 at the Wayback Machine. metrovelvet.com. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
- Bruno, Paul. "Boys in Heels: Stiletto Stomping Boy Band, Kazaky". Dirty Magazine. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
- ""I'm Just a Dancer - Single" von Kazaky". Retrieved 26 April 2019 – via itunes.apple.com.
- "Kazaky - Crazy Law". Discogs. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
- "Stones and Honey by The Hardkiss". Retrieved 26 April 2019 – via itunes.apple.com.
- ""I Can't Stop - Single" von Kazaky". Retrieved 26 April 2019 – via itunes.apple.com.
- "Kazaky - The Sun (2014)". IMVDb. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
External links
- kazaky.com, the group's official website
- Kazaky's channel on YouTube
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