Vegreville Pysanka Festival JULY 4-5-6, 2025
Millenia
Grandstand & Saturday Night Zabava
Millenia formally came into being in the year 1999 as a young, energetic group of musicians dedicated to both preserving and advancing Canadian Ukrainian music. They have performed countless times to countless thousands across North America.
The band’s earlier albums “Коріння” (Roots) and “Життя” (Life) pay homage to the bands early Ukrainian musical influences, show the progression of Western Ukrainian music and bridge the Modern and Traditional musical styles. The album “Браття” (Brotherhood) was released in February 2012 and has been reviewed as “Hitting the mark on every musical level”. This album showcases the niche style of Millenia with a polished representation of their music. In 2014, Millenia released their first live album, which was recorded in front of an enthusiastic crowd at “On The Rocks” in Edmonton, hence the name “Millenia, On the Rocks!” This Album showcases Millenia’s raw energy from their live performances including songs often requested but previously unrecorded by the boys.
In 2015 Millenia prioritized their search for traditional Ukrainian music overseas to add to their repertoire and inspire a new direction, which spawned the 2016 release of an EP. This mini album granted Millenia an Edmonton Music Awards nomination gaining recognition outside of the Ukrainian musical community and resulted in a win of the “2016 People’s Choice Award”. Millenia was fortunate again with another nomination and win of the “2018 People’s Choice Award” for their early release of songs of the most recent album “Budmo Hey!”
2020 Millenia celebrated their 20th Anniversary and to commemorate this accomplishment “Budmo Hey!” was released.
Millenia continues to perform extensively and release music online to services such as Apple Music, Spotify and Social Media platforms reaching listeners around the world. Millenia is looking forward to continue making music for fans for many years to come.
Millenia has a wealth of musical experience and an extremely diverse musical background. Their mission remains to produce Traditional Ukrainian music in a modern progressive style. Millenia is Bobby Yakoweshen (Drums/Vocals), Johnny Wacko (Keyboards/Leading Vocals), Ryan Pugh (Guitar/Fiddle/Vocals), Shawn Ostafie (Accordion/Dulcimer/Bass), and Clint Moroziuk (Guitar/Bass/Vocals).
With 2024 being Millenia’s 25th year of existence, we are extremely honored to perform once again at Vegreville’s Pysanka Festival. What a phenomenal opportunity to share love of music and Ukrainian heritage with thousands of people all celebrating and sharing Ukrainian Culture and Arts. For this we thank you!!!