Where is the Gryndjola group, which represented Ukraine at Eurovision with the anthem of the revolution?

Ukrainian music band from the Ivano-Frankivsk region “Gryndjoly” is best known to fans to the song “Together we are many, we cannot be overcome”, which became the slogan of the Orange Revolution.

“Grindjols” were created in 1997 and they became a kind of continuation of the group “Nema Marli”, which at that time included Roman Kostyuk and the band's frontman Roman Kalyn. After the founding of “Gryndzhol” they were also joined by Oleksandr Unitsky, who played keyboards and saxophone.

By the way, the name of the team comes from the Western Ukrainian “grynjoly” – wooden sled, and this word is phonetically identical to the English phrase green jolly (“green jolly” or “green jolly”).

In November 2004, after the very first revolutionary rally in their native Ivano-Frankivsk, both Romanys got fired up with the idea of ​​creating a composition that would become an inspiration for the protesters. Four hours later, the song “There are many of us together” was written, which they immediately sang on the local square in their hometown. Someone from the audience posted the video on the Internet, and the very next day this song was performed in the capital.

In this way, “There are many of us together” became the anthem of the Orange Revolution, and at that time the still little-known band “Grindjolas” instantly became wildly popular. In the same year, the recording of this single with the same name took place.

“We remember the events of that time in Ukraine – the “Orange Revolution”. Until then, I was not interested in politics at all. And when I got on the radio, I felt this atmosphere, a wave of indignation, was influenced by it, and that's how the song “Together we are many” was born, which I wrote in four hours. Then this song took off and it was a surprise for us, because we had already put the cross on our own music. We started doing more production, because it was interesting to us and brought us income”, commented Kalyn on the creation of the song, which became the anthem of the revolution.

In March 2006, Roman Kalyn ran for the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Council from the Pora party, but did not become a deputy, as the party did not cross the 3% barrier.

In 2008, the band released a new album, and the following year practically stopped his concert activity. Since 2010, “Gryndjoly” actually exists in the person of Roman Kalin, who occasionally performs the group's songs and also records new compositions. Kalin himself said that the disintegration of the team happened gradually:

“Some went abroad, some just played in a band for money. The main founders were only me and Roman Kostyuk. We played together for the longest time and at one point we realized that we had to stop fighting windmills and started producing music for others, for those who don't have such a political background. We continue to communicate with Roman, he has his own recording studio, but we no longer play together,” said Roman in an interview with the “KP” publication.

Kalyn shared that he could gather the band again, but for now focused on the development of his own creativity and production. However, the artist does not rule out that one day he may return to the stage:

“Do not know yet. Time will show. I have a lot of projects, I can't just drop everything and start working on myself. I am a responsible music producer. People cannot be let down. Today, many people tell me about returning, but I haven't decided what to do next.”

At the moment, Roman Kalin's main activity is sound production: “The only type of my favorite income. This is what I know how to do, and I do it with pleasure. I no longer conduct any kind of activity. I spend 14 hours a day in the studio. Except Sunday. This is the creation of songs, this is the recording of voices and instruments, compilation of songs, their mastering. It all takes a lot of time, and I just don't have time and don't want to do anything else.”

The man is engaged in creating music for Serhiy Lazanovskyi, 7TEEN'S, “FLEET”, singers TAYNA, RINA, RYANA, ROMA TUZ , KRIS. He also made arrangements for many authors – singer Serhiy Yurchenko, the band “Karma Lamara”, collaborated with Kateryna Buzhynska, Ivo Bobul, Stepan Giga and others.