The excellent Kyiv-based dark-folk project Pororoka releases the EP “Samhain,” a six-track, 21-minute work recorded between 2021 and 2025 and now available on all digital platforms. Frontwoman Svitlanka Sugak says the EP is a seasonal threshold piece: “It’s time to summarize and move on… Only those of us who have mastered this key ability – to release – are able to move on.”

The video for “Laguz (Performance, Drum Set, 2025)” is available as well now.

About Pororoka

The Ukrainian dark-folk project was founded in Kyiv in 2017 by vocalist/multi-disciplinary artist Svitlanka (Svitlana) Sugak and guitarist Eugene Kolyada. The band’s name references a tidal river wave. Musically the band focuses on voice, hand percussion, and acoustic/organic timbres combined with minimalist electronics.

Sugak, originally from Luhansk, relocated to Kyiv in 2002; she serves as the project’s primary songwriter, vocalist, and video producer. Selected tracks also credit Andrij Boichenko on vocals/backing parts.

A self-titled set was released in 2019 followed by “Polyn” (2021) and “Dym” (2021). During the full-scale war with Russia, the project continued issuing material that referenced place, history, and local events. In 2023 the band released “Vytoky/Origins” and “Hey, Look Around”. In 2024 they issued “Aidar,” an experimental single tied to the Aidar River.

In 2025 the band released the rune-themed EP “Samhain,” a six-track, 21-minute digital release distributed via Amuse/streaming platforms. A performance video for “Laguz” was released as well.

Pororoka also contributed twice to Side-Line’s Ukrainian charity compilations supporting humanitarian causes:

• “Electronic Resistance – A Darkwave / Post-Punk Compilation from the Ukrainian Underground” (2022) with “Dym.”
• “Electronic Resistance – Reconstruction” (2022) with “Hagalaz.”

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The Ukrainian dark folk project Pororoka has released a cover and video of the old Riflemen’s song “Zakvitchaly, Divchatonka” (“Заквітчали”) written by Rifleman and poet Roman Kupchynsky. The song is available on all streaming platforms and on Bandcamp.

The song was originally written in 1916 and dedicated to Vasyl Malovanyi, a junior officer in the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen Legion who was killed in battle against Russian Bolshevik forces. Roman Kupchynsky, the song’s author, was among the first to join the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen – a volunteer legion formed in 1914 within the Austro-Hungarian Army.

The Sich Riflemen later became the backbone of the Ukrainian People’s Republic army in the 1920s. Their legacy also influenced the creation of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and continues to echo in the modern Ukrainian Army.

The video includes footage of historical sites often overlooked by the state, such as the presumed grave of Hetman Andriy Mohyla – the only known hetman’s grave preserved in Ukraine; the Cossack cemetery in Trakhtemyriv, once the Cossack capital and home of Hetman Sahaidachny; and ancient cemeteries in Zaliznyachka and Kolodyste, both in the Cherkasy region.

About Pororoka

​Pororoka is a Ukrainian dark-folk band founded in Kyiv in 2017. The band’s name refers to a rare wave phenomenon on the Amazon River. Fronted by musician and vocalist Svitlanka Sugak, Pororoka integrates ethnic vocal techniques and traditional instruments, grounding their sound in Ukrainian folk traditions. Their music often delves into themes from Ukrainian folklore and history.

Their most recent releases were singles. The first is “Origins” (2023) which explores the Sun cult in Ukrainian culture. The track features Sugak’s vocals and percussion, Eugene Kolyada on didgeridoo, and Andrij Boichenko’s vocals. ​The second is “Hey, Look Around” (2023), a folk ballad dedicated to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, inspired by the liberation of Kherson in November 2022. In 2024 Pororoka released “Aidar“, an experimental track embodying the essence of the Aidar River, and now also “Заквітчали”.

Pororoka has also contributed to compilations like our very own “Electronic Resistance“, featuring Ukrainian darkwave and post-punk acts.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Out now is the all new Pororoka track “Aidar”. This time the Ukrainian dark folk band band went for a more experimental approach adding various vocalizations. The song aims to reveal the voice of the river Aidar from the occupied territory in the east of Ukraine.

Founding member Svitlanka Sugak explains why she chose this theme: “Aidar is a memory of my parents’ native home. A bright symbol of my childhood. It could have taken my life, but it did not. Unpredictable, dangerous, and magnetic.”

Pororoka is Ukrainian dark-folk band founded in Kyiv (Ukraine) in 2017 after taking part in the song contest “She.Pisnia” devoted to Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko. The band uses ethnic vocal technics and ethnic instruments and has its roots firmly in Ukrainian folk music. The name ‘Pororoka ‘ means a wave, which appears twice in a year on the Amazon River, when Atlantic Ocean invades into it.

The band was one of the biggest surprises on both of our “Electronic Resistance” charity compilations featuring darkwave / post​-​punk acts from Ukraine.

The previous single was the folk ballad “Hey, Look Around” devoted to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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A new music video by the Ukrainian dark-folk band Pororoka titled “Hey, Look Around” (Хей, подивись) has just been released, and it is a tribute to the Ukrainian Army.

The video depicts the daily routines of military personnel, both in their personal and professional lives. According to the lead vocalist, Svitlanka Sugak, the song was written in November 2022, when the Ukrainian Army successfully liberated the city of Kherson from enemy forces. Originally, Sugak had planned to reference Kherson in the lyrics, but ultimately decided against it, as the song is about more than just one location. Instead, the lyrics focus on the future goals of the Ukrainian Army, which include liberating other Ukrainian cities from Russian occupation.

The video footage was collected from open sources, including social media channels that cover the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and especially the videos from poet and Pororoka musician Yelizaveta Zharikova, who has been in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale war.

Pororoka was one of the biggest surprises on both of our “Electronic Resistance” charity compilations featuring darkwave / post​-​punk acts from Ukraine.

You can find the very strong and touching video below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The (excellent!) Ukrainian dark folk act Pororoka have released an all new video. The new song is devoted to the Sun cult and is called “Витоки”[Vytoky] which is Ukrainian for “Origins”.

Here’s what frontwoman Svitlanka says about the track’s background: “Many nations in different times honored the biggest star in our universe. Traditionally for Ukrainian culture the Sun is depicted as an eight-pointed star and is called Ruzha or Rozha. This symbol combines two christs – a straight one and an oblique one. The Sun cult has close connections with the honor of a deer. In ancient times people believed that it was a deer who had been taking the sun from the depths of the earth to the sky every morning.”

Pororoka is Ukrainian dark-folk band founded in Kyiv in 2017. The band uses ethnic vocal technics and ethnic instruments and has its roots firmly in Ukrainian folk music. The name ‘Pororoka ‘ means a wave, which appears twice in a year on the Amazon River, when Atlantic Ocean invades into it. The line-up for this track consisted of Svitlanka Sugak, Eugene Kolyada and Andrij Boichenko. The track was mastered and edited by Pavlo Safonov at SoundPlant studio(Kyiv).

Pororoka was one of the biggest surprises on both of our “Electronic Resistance” compilations featuring darkwave / post​-​punk acts from Ukraine.

Here’s the all new video. Note the lovely design by Veronika Kolomiets in the video itself.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The Ukrainian dark foll act Pororoka, one of the biggest surprises on our “Electronic Resistance” compilation featuring darkwave / post​-​punk acts from Ukraine, has released a new lyric video featuring the Ukrainian floral life.

The video is devoted to the beauty of Kyiv’s nature and features plenty of shots.

Ukrainians are currently paying a very heavy price defending their freedom in the face of Russian aggression. The unjust war launched by Russia has been going on for more than six months and has led to countless human deaths, untold suffering, and widespread infrastructure destruction. The ecological damage has also been considerable. In fact the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine estimates the current ecological damage at 395 billion hryvnias or nearly $10 billion US dollars. Authorities are continuing to document facts of air, soil, and water pollution.

Svitlanka Sugak, frontwoman of Pororoka, explains us the video: “This video was conceived as a way of showing the breathtaking beauty of Kyiv’s nature and the wide variety of flowers that grow on just one meadow in the city’s northern outskirts. During spring and summer of 2020-2021, when there were quarantine restrictions on visiting public places, I began walking unfamiliar locations observing and documenting floral life. I shot photos and videos of nearly 50 types of flowers in one location. I observed how one type of flower changes another, how the aggressive types take over more territory, how some of the flowers bloom several times from may to October. But alas, these days such walks have become an inaccessible luxury for me and my fellow Ukrainians, who have to deal with frequent air raid alerts and the need to seek shelter. Harsh reality sure has a way of giving you a fresh perspective on things and helping you to re-evaluate life. Today I see these flowers not as something abstract, but as children of our Motherland, symbols of hope that the enemy cannot destroy, hope that we will soon, once again be able to walk our land freely without the threat of bombs and shells raining down on us.”

Pororoka is Ukrainian dark-folk band founded in Kyiv in 2017. The band uses ethnic vocal technics and ethnic instruments and has its roots firmly in Ukrainian folk music. The name ‘Pororoka ‘ means a wave, which appears twice in a year on the Amazon River, when Atlantic Ocean invades into it.

You can watch the beautiful video below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photo by Vitalij Shyshkevich) The Ukrainian dark folk act Pororoka just released a new song and video, “Дим”. The band’s a mix of three different types of voices, grunge guitar, tender bandura, piano and djembe next to other ethnic instruments as you will see in the video. The video features Andrij Bojchenko as a special guest on vocal duties.

Here’s the video for “Дим” which is devoted to the large-scale forest fires in Ukraine to remind us all about the importance of forest fund conservation. The video contains a lot of documentary shots, which were gathered with the help of photographer Vitalij Shyshkevich(from the Zhytomyr region), journalists Nadia Toropenko and Ivan Bykhtiyarov(from the Luhansk region) and volunteer fire and rescue squad Karg(from the Kyiv region).

The main hero of this video is the 9-year-old Artem Sytnik from the Ostrovy village near the Ukrainian-Belorussian border. In spite of last year’s tragedy, when a big fire destroyed 20 houses in his village, he continues to live at his native house with his parents, brothers and sister.

Says the band: “Forest fires in Ukraine have become a frequent phenomenon. The main reason is arson attack with different motives. It happens because the agriculture sector looks on fire as a quick method to take off deadwood and prepare soil for sowing. Very often, fire is going out of control. There is also the additional risk for Ukraine, which has to live with the 8th year in a state of war.”

Here’s the video.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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