The newly established Svitanok mixed choir is led by singer Yulia Zadarko. The group meet between 8-9pm on Thursday evenings and perform both traditional folk songs and modern hits.
It was more than 30 years ago that Yulia Zadarko showed a talent for singing when, at just 3 years old, she would bellow Abba songs on demand. Brought up in the small Ukrainian community of Wolverhampton, throughout her childhood she was taught to sing beautiful Ukrainian folk songs and was involved with many choirs and ensembles until her late teens.
Professionally singing in her early 20s, Yulia was a session vocalist for Wedding Present's off-shoot the Ukrainians, R&B band QM and the Ukrainian folk band Vovki. It was in 1994 she became the lead signer with her all-family band the Spookie Kookies. Her discipline for achingly crisp and pitch-perfect harmonies came to the fore as the Spookies popularity grew. Their 'one-take' version of Bila Hata v'Sadu was recorded for the Ukrainians' album 'Kolo' in 1998 and best explains the bands' approach to simple but hauntingly beautiful arrangements.
Moving permanently to London in 1998, Yulia is now married with three young children but still manages to fit in recordings and choir performances where she can. She teaches singing to the members of the Ukrainian Youth Association every Saturday and leads Svitanok's mixed resident choir every Thursday and is always on the look-out for strong voices to join them. Yulia's vision is to develop those voices into faultless harmonies she knows makes people's hair stand on end and she continues to combine the simple folk traditions of her upbringing into ever-complex and modern harmonies rarely heard outside Ukraine.
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