It’s not easy to create when you are in a space overwhelmed with destruction, but composer Yevheniia Huzha took a different approach. Get to know her story about the war in Ukraine and how that affected her music.
Yevheniia Huzha never saw herself as a performing musician, but her love for music has always prevailed. Like any creative, it started as a hobby. Eventually, Huzha found herself creating music for commercial tracks.
“What inspires me the most is the diversity and beauty of different cultures and people,” she shares. Huzha adds that creating tracks is an opportunity for her to surprise herself sometimes.
The war in Ukraine has only propelled her to keep creating. It’s not easy to create when you are in a space overwhelmed with destruction, but Huzha took a different approach.
Here’s more of our conversation with PremiumBeat contributor and Create Fund winner Yevheniia Huzha (a.k.a. GarnaVutka).
Yevheniia Huzha: Music has always been my passion, but I initially viewed it as a hobby. While playing in a band and touring, I decided to pursue an engineering education and started building yachts and sports boats. Perhaps I chose this because I didn’t aspire to be a performing musician.
When I learned about the possibility of writing music for stock, where I could fully focus on studio work, I realized that this was for me.
My technical skills and love for music eventually led me to the world of electronic music, where I found the freedom to experiment and create something unique.
SSTK: What do you love the most about creating music for commercial tracks?
Huzha: When creating music for commercial projects, I’m constantly exploring new sonic horizons. Each track is an opportunity not only to realize my ideas but also to surprise myself with discoveries along the way.
Interacting with other musicians and experimenting with various instruments always infuses my creativity with new meaning and inspiration.
SSTK: Beyond the genre, can you describe the kind of music that you produce?
Huzha: I enjoy merging traditional music with electronic genres. My music is an attempt to preserve and reinterpret ethnic heritage in a modern context.
When the war in Ukraine began, I realized how crucial it is to preserve my people’s cultural legacy. Therefore, I also plan to compose tracks with Ukrainian ethnic elements.
Sultan’s Souvenir by GarnaVutka.
SSTK: I love that you mentioned ethnic heritage. Can you expand on what you mean when you say reinterpreting it in a modern context?
Huzha: It can manifest through traditional instruments or unique melodic structures blended with contemporary genres.
It’s like an illustration of a modern metropolis, where every detail helps you understand where you are.
SSTK: What inspires you to create?
Huzha: I listen to a lot of music in different genres, but what inspires me the most is the diversity and beauty of different cultures and people.
I’m also inspired by musicians who aren’t afraid to experiment and create something new.
SSTK: To follow on that, how does music impact you as a person and as a creative?
Huzha: When I decided to become a composer, I was drawn to the unlimited potential for development and prospects.
It also shaped my lifestyle, where I choose when to work and with whom, different from the lifestyle I had when I was an engineer.
In times of war, independence from the workplace allowed me to keep my job and to leave with my girlfriend to the western part of Ukraine, where it’s safer.
Diversity by GarnaVutka.
SSTK: I’d love to know how the war in Ukraine impacts you as a creative, and as a musician.
Huzha: Surrounding conditions and events inevitably affect the creative process. When there’s destruction around you, and you experience the loss of loved ones, when you have to leave your home and move to another city due to military actions, it fills me with feelings of sadness and anger.
When I try to create music with a more positive mood, I have to put in more effort and concentration. Sometimes, it’s a struggle to not let external circumstances hinder my creativity.
SSTK: You also mentioned diversity. I’d like to dive a little deeper into that. From your perspective, how diverse is the stock music industry today?
Huzha: Today’s music industry is so diverse that it’s sometimes hard to imagine how new genres emerge, but they do.
It’s like a fusion of various genres that constantly change under the influence of trends. It compels us, composers, to be in a constant creative motion and seek new sonic solutions.
Huzha: I believe that to promote musical tracks, it’s important to find a balance between supply and demand.
Sometimes, it’s crucial to take risks and offer the audience something unique or forgotten; but also, perhaps it will help create a new trend.
Organic Conversion by GarnaVutka.
SSTK: What are the best parts and worst parts of producing music and monetizing it?
Huzha: There’s no clear division between the best and worst aspects of music production. You can create more commercially viable music, such as corporate or cinematic music, but there’s huge competition.
It’s also possible to be successful in creating a narrower genre that’s less in demand. The key factor is the desire for self-improvement and diversity in creativity.
SSTK: Lastly, music and empowerment—what are your thoughts about these two?
Huzha: When you engage in what you love, it opens up new opportunities for you. I’m glad I had the opportunity to join Premium Beat and receive a grant. It gave me a chance to expand my experience and work on more complex projects.
Thanks to the (Create Fund) grant, I’ve acquired many new instruments that I now use in my creativity.
Listen to Yevheniia Huzha’s entire album or individual tracks.
License this cover image Ruslan Lytvyn.
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