Peter Solowka or Solovka ( uk, Петро Соловка, , born late 1959 in

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

) is a musician of

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

and

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

n descent. He has been involved in music since 1985, most notably as guitarist with

The Wedding Present The Wedding Present are an English indie rock group originally formed in 1985 in Leeds, England, from the ashes of The Lost Pandas. The band's music has evolved from fast-paced indie rock in the vein of their most obvious influences The Fall, ...

from their inception until 1991, and then with

The Ukrainians The Ukrainians are a British band, which plays traditional Ukrainian music, heavily influenced by western post-punk. Career The Ukrainians were formed in 1990 by Wedding Present guitarist Peter Solowka, with singer/violinist Len Liggins an ...

until the present day. The Wedding Present was formed when Peter joined with old school friend

David Gedge David Lewis Gedge (born 23 April 1960, in Bramley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England) is an English musician and songwriter. Early life Gedge grew up in Middleton, Greater Manchester, in the area known as Top of Hebers. He attended Hollin High S ...

, Keith Gregory and Shaun Charman. The band released many EPs and singles as well as three successful albums: * ''

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A highly skilful dribbler, Best is regarded as one of the greatest pla ...

'' (1987) * ''

Bizarro Bizarro () is a supervillain/anti-hero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Otto Binder and artist George Papp as a "mirror image" of Superman, and first appeared in ''Superboy'' #68 (1958) ...

'' (1989) * ''

Seamonsters ''Seamonsters'' is the third studio album by English rock band The Wedding Present. It was recorded in ten days in 1991 by American producer Steve Albini at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. Albini had previously earlier recorded two ...

'' (1991) The group performed at major festivals and appeared in national and indie charts, plus TV shows. During this time, Peter developed an interest in his ethnic roots and worked with the band to produce an album of Ukrainian-inspired music, helped by Roman Remeynes and Len Liggins. The album featured for the first time in three

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

Sessions. It was later released by RCA records. * '' Українські Виступи в Івана Піла (1989)'' The album reached no 22 in the national album charts – a record for an Eastern European language record in the UK. The interest in the music was such that RCA requested another Ukrainian album. Throughout 1990, the band were working on two albums (''Seamonsters'' and the new Ukrainian album) and this caused tensions between individual band members. Both albums were finished in early 1991, after which it was decided that it would be best if Peter concentrated on the Ukrainian music. The RCA album recorded by The Wedding Present was released as

' first album: * ''

'' (1991) After leaving the Wedding Present, Peter formed The Ukrainians with Roman Remeynes, Len Liggins and Stepan Pasicznyk. Known as the originators of Ukrainian folk rock, The Ukrainians have released ten albums since 1991. The group have performed over 1000 gigs in 20 countries, including many of the major international world music festivals. * ''The Ukrainians'' (1991) * ''Pisni iz The Smiths'' (EP) (1992) (four songs originally by The Smiths translated into Ukrainian). * ''Vorony'' (1993) * ''Live in Germany'' (1993) * ''Kultura'' (1994) * ''Drink to my Horse! The Ukrainians Live'' (2001) * ''Anarchy In The UK'' (EP) (2002) (three songs originally by the Sex Pistols translated into Ukrainian). * ''Respublika'' (2002) * ''Istoriya: The Best of the Ukrainians'' (2004) * ''Live in Czeremcha'' (2008) * ''Diaspora'' (2009) * ''20 Years (Best of) (2011)'' * ''A History of Rock Music in Ukrainian'' (2015)

References

1959 births Living people The Wedding Present members English male guitarists English rock guitarists British people of Ukrainian descent British people of Yugoslav descent People educated at St Anne's Academy People from Oldham 20th-century British guitarists 20th-century English musicians 20th-century British male musicians 21st-century British guitarists 21st-century English musicians 21st-century British male musicians {{UK-guitarist-stub