“Breakthrough of the Year” from TikTok to major concert halls.

The theatrical-music band Schmalgauzen was recently called the “Breakthrough of the Year.” If you haven’t yet seen snippets of their performances on TikTok, it’s worth knowing that their work always blends genres and has an active fan base (if you believe the comments and the Muzwar Awards). The band calls their supporters “connoisseurs.”

The group was formed in 2020 at their alma mater, the Karpenko-Kary University. Currently, there are actually more than six members: Schmalgauzen includes not only Vlad, Misha, Kyrylo, Roma, Zhenya, and Zhora who perform on stage, but also the band’s director Andriy and manager Valentyn. Together, they created the programs Tviy Vil (based on works by August Strindberg and Thomas Mann), Avgusto&Gustav (based on works by Robert Walser), and Silence to Silence (based on works by Samuel Beckett).

The band’s style is often described as underground, but the director says Schmalgauzen does not aim to be underground and is “ready to adapt without betraying themselves.”

Ahead of the premiere of their first music video, The Village Ukraine editor Viktoriia Kudriashova met with the band at their rehearsal space in the House of Cinema and asked what it takes for “improvisation within a system” to succeed, why it’s important to stage a program inspired by Mykola Vinhranovskyi—who could write simultaneously about space and salo—and why a theatrical-music band would even create a music video.