Peter Solowka or Solovka (, , born late 1959 in

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

) is a musician of Ukrainian and

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

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 formed in 1985 in Leeds, England, by members of The Lost Pandas. The band has been led by vocalist and guitarist David Gedge, the band's only constant member. Closely linked to the C86 scene ...

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. Gedge's lyrics explore themes such as romantic love and heartbreak. According to Michael Sutton of ''AllMusic'', his ly ...

, 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 association football, footballer who played as a winger (association football), winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United F.C., Manchester Un ...

'' (1987) * ''

Bizarro Bizarro () is a supervillain or 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 (comic bo ...

'' (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 earlier recorded two EPs with th ...

'' (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), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

Sessions. It was later released by RCA records. * ''

Українські Виступи в Івана Піла ''Ukrainian John Peel Sessions'' () is a compilation album by The Wedding Present, originally gathering their first three Ukrainian language John Peel radio sessions. It was scheduled to be released in late 1988 by their own record company, Rec ...

(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 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 and ...

. 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 Musicians 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