Sofiia Mykhailivna Yevdokymenko-Rotaru (Ukrainian: Софія Михайлівна Євдокименко-Ротару [soˈfijɐ roˈtɑrʊ]; Russian: София Михайловна Евдокименко-Ротару; née Rotaru; born 7 August 1947), known simply as Sofia Rotaru, is a Ukrainian singer.
In 1972, she released the multilingual album Sofia Rotaru, re-released three times and covered by numerous singers, establishing herself as a viable pop artist in the countries of the former Soviet Union. She first gained international recognition after participating in 1968 in the International Youth Song Festival in Bulgaria and winning first prize at the Golden Orpheus in 1973 and second prize in the category of Polish songs at the Sopot International Song Festival in 1974. In the former USSR her career was marked by her stage success and numerous controversies.
Rotaru has been performing for more than 40 years, and topped the Moscow airplay with "Ya nazovu planetu imenem tvoim" in 2008.
She reported the highest income of all celebrities in Ukraine in 2008 and 2010.
Her repertoire consists of more than 40 albums and 400 songs recorded in many languages. She has received awards, deemed a Merited Artist of the Ukrainian SSR, People's Artist of Ukraine, People's Artist of Moldavian SSR, Laureate of the Lenin Komsomol 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 Merit to the Fatherland", respectively. She has been acknowledged by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Rotaru's official surname is Yevdokymenko-Rotaru. Yevdokymenko was the surname of her late husband. Yalta is her main residence, although she also has homes in Moscow, Kyiv, and Baden-Baden.
Sofia Rotaru, who comes from the Romanian minority in Ukraine, was born in Marshyntsi (Marșenița), Chernivtsi Oblast to the family of Mikhail Rotaru (Rotar), a brigadier of wine-growers. Marshyntsi is a village of Novoselytskyi Raion (Noua Suliță), close to the border with Moldova, and the majority of its population is Romanophone (Romanian-speaking). The area was part of Kingdom of Romania before 1940, when Soviet Union occupied and annexed it after an ultimatum.
She was the second child in a family of six children. Her siblings are Zina, Lidia, Aurica, Eugen and Anatol. A passport office employee misreported her birthdate on her passport as 9 August; as a result, Rotaru reportedly celebrates her birthday twice.
Her father, Mykhail Fedorovich Rotaru, spent World War II as a heavy machine gunner and traveled to Berlin. Injured, he returned home only in 1946, and was the first person to join the Communist Party in the village. Her older sister, Zinaida ("Zina"), was born on 11 October 1942. Zina endured severe childhood illness and went blind, but possessed perfect pitch and easily memorized new songs, so she taught Sofia folk songs. Sofia said of her elder sister: "We all learned from her – what a musical memory, what a 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 Romanian. As a child, Sofia participated in regional competitions of pentathlon and running.
She started singing from the first grade in the school choir, as well as in the church choir. However, the latter was not acceptable to the school officials. Hence, she was threatened with an exclusion from the Young Pioneer organization. Rotaru was attracted by the theatre. She practiced in drama classes and sang popular folk songs in vocal classes. In the evenings, 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. Rotaru 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..."
1962–1968: Career start and pop-folk
Rotaru's victory at a vocal competition of amateur performers opened the door to a regional review in 1962. In 1963 in Chernivtsi, she earned a first degree diploma at the regional amateur art review. In 1964, she won the all-republic festival of popular talents in Kyiv. On this occasion her picture made it on the cover of No. 27 of the magazine Ukraine in 1965. After graduation from high school, Rotaru decided to become a singer and entered the vocal and conductor department of the Chernivtsi musical college. In addition, she took lessons at Chernivtsi Philharmonic from the famed singer and actress Sidi Tal. In 1964, Rotaru performed at the State Kremlin Palace.
In 1966, while being a student, she was the subject of the short Soviet musical documentary film Solovey iz sela Marshyntsi (Russian: Соловей из села Маршинцы, lit. 'Nightingale from the village of Marshyntsi'), in which she performed 3 Moldavian folk songs and one Russian pop song.
1968–1973: International recognition
In 1968, after graduation from college, Rotaru performed as a delegate of the IX World Festival of Youth and Students in the capital of Bulgaria, as a member of an artistic group. She won First Prize in the competition of singers of folk popular songs. Bulgarian newspapers were full of headlines: "21-year old Sofia has conquered Sofia". Her performances of the Ukrainian folk pop song "Na kameni stoyu" (Standing on the Stone), Moldavian folk pop songs and "Valentina" by Gheorghite made headlines. The latter song was dedicated to the first female cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, who was present in the concert hall. In 1968, Rotaru married Anatoliy Yevdokymenko, who at that time was a student at Chernivtsi University and a trumpet player in a student pop band.
In 1971, producer Roman Alekseev shot a musical film Chervona Ruta for Ukrtelefilm. The plot was about the tender and pure love of a girl from the mountains (played by Rotaru) and her relationship with a man from the industrial city of Donetsk. The name of the film means rue, a flower derived from an ancient Carpathian legend. Rue blossoms only on Ivan Kupala Night and the girl who succeeds in finding a blooming rue will be happy in love. Songs of the composer Volodymyr Ivasyuk and other writers were co-performed by Zinkevich, Yaremchuk and other singers. The film enjoyed significant success. After the film was released, Rotaru received an offer to work in the Chernivtsi Philharmonic Society and with a backing ensemble called Chervona Ruta. Anatoliy Yevdokymenko, Rotaru's husband, became the artistic director of the ensemble.
As a result of collaborating with Volodymyr Ivasyuk, a cycle of songs was written based on the roots revival material in an orchestration characteristic of the 1960s and the 1970s in Continental Europe. Resulting works brought Rotaru great popularity in the Soviet Union, especially in Ukraine. This was largely due to the fact that the Soviet authorities eagerly promoted her art as an example of international Soviet culture, as she was an ethnic Moldavian/Romanian singing in Moldavian/Romanian, Ukrainian and Russian languages. Consequently, Rotaru gained regular airplay on state radio and television and was systematically billed for state-organized concerts.
In 1972, Rotaru and Chervona Ruta participated in a tour in Poland with the programme Pesni i tantsy Strany Sovetov (Songs and Dances of the Country of Soviets).