ШЛЯХИ РОЗВИТКУ УКРАЇНСЬКОЇ МУЗИЧНОЇ ЕСТРАДИ: ВІД НАСЛІДУВАННЯ ДО СТАНОВЛЕННЯ НАЦІОНАЛЬНОГО КОНТЕНТУ

Abstract

The Ukrainian variety art is a phenomenon that reflects changes in cultural and value orientations of society. In the Soviet Union popular music developed under the strict control of censorship, which conditioned the development of only a certain vector of musical art. This hampered the process of assimilation of a new cultural and artistic product emerging in the West. Censorship in itself is not an exclusively negative phenomenon, because it can prevent the formation of extremism, chauvinism, racism in society. However, the example of the Soviet censorship proved that it inhibited social development and acted as a factor contributing to the preservation of outdated elements of cultural life. All the achievements of foreign pop music were banned. After Ukraine gained its independence, it began to adopt the themes, styles, and genres that were characteristic of the American pop scene. The analysis of the songs reveals a preference for love themes, which dominate most of the lyrical songs. The theme of love is central to songs that have topped various charts over the past 50 years. Taking into account that pop music is created to achieve commercial success, the portrayal of love and unrequited love is extremely appealing to any audience. The writers of America's top-charting pop songs were masters of using poetry as a tool to get across their point, employing a rich system of similes: love like oxygen, like a butterfly, like heat, like a bridge over troubled water, sweet like honey. Love was also mentioned in a metaphorical sense: battlefield, devil, drug, temple, higher law. Listeners are much more receptive to metaphorical language because metaphor helps us effectively express complex concepts and emotions. With the spread of globalization, cultural identity has gained relevance. In Ukrainian music, the desire for national and cultural identity manifested itself in the development of folklore, more precisely in the inclusion of its elements in pop music. As a result, two opposing processes are taking place in the Ukrainian pop music - the desire to create a standardized (Americanized) musical product and a unique ethnic one. This latter type of musical production is associated with the formation of a national product, which may contain folklore motifs, instruments, etc. A stable factor is the development of love themes and the use of styles that originated in foreign space. On the other hand, among the latest trends, that can be attributed to new tendencies is the spread of patriotic themes in Ukrainian pop music and the formation of nationally colored content. Key words: Ukrainian pop music, song, theme, national, identity, product, globalization.