Fifteen years ago, Ivan Ganzera came from the village of Kalinovo in the Kharkov region to conquer the capital - he took part in the first season of “The Voice of the Country”. And he became the winner of the project and a voice that thundered throughout Ukraine. At that time the singer was only 23 years old. Today he is still in music: he records songs, performs and runs his own YouTube channel.

“Now I live in Korosten, this is the Zhytomyr region, my Olya is from here,” says Ivan Ganzera. – And, looking at what is happening in Kyiv today, I don’t regret at all that we are here. It can be difficult here too, but overall it’s calmer than in the capital. I continue to do what I have lived all my life: I write songs, run my own YouTube channel, and when possible, I go to the military. I don’t want to advertise this now, because times are very difficult.. If earlier, back in 2015, we went to the ATO zone and understood: the main danger is to be where a shell can land, but now everything is different. Today, any place where the military gathers is a responsibility. You are actually responsible for their lives.. Therefore, when I am somewhere, I avoid publicity. As they say, God protects those who are careful. The only thing I sometimes advertise is participation in charity concerts or fundraisers."

“I also work at the Palace of Culture in the city of Korosten,” continues Ivan. – I have a small studio there - a kind of creative laboratory, which I “grew” from scratch. There now I can completely make songs: from idea to finished track. All this started during Covid, when there were almost no concerts: it was impossible to travel around Ukraine and gather people. And I'm a person who can't sit still for a long time. Therefore, I began to look for like-minded people, meet local musicians, and little by little put together a team. And somehow they told me: “Listen, you’re with us all the time, so why don’t you officially work? " I joke that I do the same thing as always, only now they also pay for it monthly. And to be specific, I’m a soloist. And I also help local talented young performers. For those who want to show their original music to a wider public.

" Engages in sports dancing and travels as a team to competitions. Recently we were at the Ukrainian Championship: last year we took second place, this year we also took second place. And she’s also a judoka.. She won gold at regional competitions in Zhitomir. And at the same time an excellent student. My wife's name is Olya. Works in our Center for Children and Youth Creativity, leads a theater group. He also lives by creativity. And I’m proud of it - she really has results. Previously, my wife and I, who was my manager, led a more nomadic lifestyle: constant trips, concerts, roads. And now I have a little less of that active scene. And I’m glad that thanks to this, Olya has more space for herself - she can fully reveal herself in what she loves. What struck me most was the story of one girl who came to her circle and stuttered very much. After a certain time of classes, theater exercises, my speech became much better.

“Frankly speaking, we have chosen Korosten for a long time - we bought an apartment here. But for a long time it was more of a “transshipment point” for us.. I joked that we come here to wash things, sleep - and then hit the road again. We traveled constantly: such is the life of an artist - on your feet, on the road. Things have changed a little over time, but I like it. Korosten has everything you need to live normally, and at the same time there is no frantic rhythm, as in Kyiv. And for me it's perfect. I love silence, being alone, locking myself in the studio, sitting, thinking, creating something - without haste and without anyone pushing me. For Olya, on the contrary, it is more difficult. She loves movement, people, rhythm. I think I still dream about it somewhere in my soul. I sometimes joke: “I look at you and see that you don’t miss it so much anymore.”.

" Today we are here, and tomorrow we can be in a completely different place - life is like that. We cannot foresee what God has planned for us.. It’s interesting that before Covid and the full-scale invasion, many people didn’t even know that I live in Korosten. Because no one saw me - constantly on trips, at concerts. The neighbors, of course, knew. But for the general public this has already come as a surprise. People are still sometimes surprised when they see me on stage or at local events. I see a very warm reaction. I'm glad that they remember and know. Often recognized on the street and photographed.

It so happened that in terms of recognition I was really lucky, because the first season of “The Voice of the Country” was watched by a lot of people. In 2023 I celebrated 15 years on the professional stage. We held a big concert, raised funds for our military. Friends came to see me: Viktor Pavlik, “Lisapetny Battalion”, Alexander Kvarta. People said: “We’ve never had this before - four hours, and star after star changes on stage.”.

“How I remember “Voice of the Country”? The project left me with very fond memories. I am grateful to all the people who were around then - the coaches, the team, and the participants.. Because each of them, in their own way, made me a little better than I was before.. My coach was Diana Arbenina - Russian singer. Those were the times back then: the trainers in the project were about 50/50 – Ukrainian and Russian artists. And no matter what happens, I remember all the good things she did for me as a mentor. And as a person. We all know that after the start of the war in 2014, she came to Ukraine and from the stage at a concert asked for forgiveness for what was happening. And then, as they say, the repressive machine does not sleep. I once followed a little what was happening to her, and from what I understood, she was forced to “work off” her loyalty, including by performing in Crimea. Now, as far as I can see, she is silent and does not comment on anything.. But if we talk not about politics, but about human relations, I can’t say anything bad about her. After the show, we congratulated each other on holidays for another year or two, corresponded. But she had her own life, I had mine."

“Four artists then reached the finals: me, Tonya Matvienko, Arsen Mirzoyan and Vlad Sytnik. Are we communicating now From time to time - yes, but not all the time. I congratulated Tonya on the success of her song " I once saw her story on Instagram – and for some reason I wanted to write. She sincerely thanked me. I think if we met now, we would definitely say hello warmly. We haven’t corresponded with Arsen for a long time, but we also had a good relationship on the project. I’ll say more – we drank more than one glass together (laughs).

After the “Voice of the Country”, which became a triumph for him, Ivan participated in politics: in 2012 he ran for deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from the Radical Party, but did not get elected. “It was fashionable back then for actors to appear in parties,” recalls the performer. – I was then under contract with Universal Music and, to be honest, I didn’t really make the decision myself – I did what they said. However, if we talk about the party, I was close to what Oleg Lyashko declared. The program was simple and understandable. And the team at the start is bright and positive. Then came the changes - we marched as a party, and a month or two before the elections, looking at the ratings, we realized: there would be no barrier to entry. Therefore, all the team’s efforts were devoted to ensuring that Oleg Lyashko qualified for the major.”.

“In principle, if you are interested in my opinion about Oleg Vladimirovich, then on the screen and in life they are completely different people. In reality, he is deeper: educated, “reads” people and clearly understands what he wants. Many people perceive him as simple, because in public he knows how to be as close to people as possible - he speaks easily, without pathos. I even joked with him that he should not be given the mandate of a people’s deputy, but the title of people’s artist - he works so masterfully with the audience. Other politicians often need singers and shows to create the right atmosphere: first someone entertains, and then a serious man in a suit comes out and starts promising something to the electorate. Lyashko didn’t need this - he himself knew how to hold the audience and control the public’s attention."

Since the beginning of full-scale Russian aggression, Ivan Ganzera has repeatedly spoken to the Ukrainian military directly in the combat zone. In the ranking of Ukrainian musicians who most often performed in the ATO zone, it was Ganzer who topped the top list by number of concerts. In 2014, Ivan Ganzera, together with performer Nikolai Yanchenko, recorded a satirical song about the President of the Russian Federation called “Khan to Putin”. The composition was created in an ironic style: the music track was combined with a video sequence of performances and videos of Russian artists who openly supported Putin. This work was often performed at concerts for the military and became one of the most famous patriotic compositions in Ganzer’s work..

“In fact, I went through the state in which many people live today,” recalls Ivan. – And now I look at all this – and sometimes my heart even rejoices, because then it seemed that we were shouting into the void. I literally fell ill with this matter, I lived by it. I was constantly in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. We brought the guys everything we could: from underwear and basic necessities. Because then there was nothing. Nothing at all. Now, if we compare, provision is heaven and earth. Today we collect for thermal imagers, drones, and complex equipment. And then they collected it for panties. Sorry, but it's true"

“My native village in the Kharkov region has been under occupation since the beginning of the full-scale invasion,” continues the performer. - There are no relatives left there anymore. Now it’s actually a gray area: it seems to be under our influence, but it’s impossible to live there. Drones are constantly flying. I am monitoring what is happening there, and even those brave people who held out for some time have left for the winter. Because how can you stay there The nearest store is 40–50 kilometers away. That is, you can still sit at home and more or less survive. But as soon as you get into the car, drones immediately start hunting you. And they don't care whether it's a civilian car or a military one. That’s why the village seems to have been liberated, but there is no life there"

“It’s also a difficult story with my own sister. She lived two kilometers from Russia - in the urban village of Kazachya Lopan, in the Kharkov region. There was also occupation there for a long time. Oksana called me on February 24, at about half past five in the morning: “Brother, we are being bombed. “I told her: “Pack your things.”. But literally 15 minutes later she called back and said that Russian tanks were driving through the village. They sat in the basement for more than two months. Then, by some miracle, we managed to escape: through Russian territory to Europe. Now she's abroad. And in fact she has nowhere to return. The place where I lived - now it’s generally unclear what’s going on there. I don’t even know what condition our parents’ graves are in now.. They once moved closer to Oksana and built them a small house there. And now I’m not even sure that I’ll ever be able to go there and find something. Because I read the news more than once that the Russians were hitting exactly the area where the cemetery. I don’t know if that place still exists or if it has already been wiped off the face of the earth." " We tried to save, although the doctors immediately said it was too late. But I did my best. All the money I earned was spent on treatment. It happened that there was nothing left for it, but I was looking for any opportunity to earn money. When we remember my mother now, I often think about that time. I once even wrote on social networks that I was ready to take any job to provide treatment - anywhere, anything. Because then it was a long, daily process: 20-30 thousand hryvnia daily for treatment. But even with this, we were able to “buy” from God just an extra year of life for mom. Dad passed away during Covid. He was a heavy smoker - three packs of cigarettes a day. You yourself know that Covid is a lung disease. Against this background, he began to have problems with blood, thickening. Then there was a stroke - one, two, three. Dad fell into a coma and died a week later. He was a little over 60 - also a little. These were very difficult times, because my family means everything to me."

“My illness is a congenital injury,” the performer recalls his childhood. “My parents didn’t lose hope for a long time, they treated me everywhere they could.”. We went everywhere: both traditional medicine and alternative. Odessa, Kharkov, Moscow. All possible clinics, doctors, professors - visited everywhere. It was very difficult for my parents, because we lived in an ordinary village, with simple incomes. But they wanted one thing - to give me a chance to see normally. And we held on to this hope for a long time. Until I grew up a little and said: “Mom, dad, that’s enough.”. Because we have already traveled so much and heard the same thing: nothing can be changed. Then one professor in Kharkov explained that my mother had a very difficult birth. And, most likely, there was an overdose of the drug that causes contractions. But you know, I always say: I'm lucky in my own way. Because I don’t know what it’s like to see well. I was born this way. And therefore I didn’t lose anything - I just learned to live in this world as I am."

“I am very grateful to my parents for not isolating me from a healthy environment,” continues Ivan. – I studied in a regular school among healthy children. And this, as for me, gave much more than if it were in a closed system. I learned to communicate, communicate. Unlike many children who grow up in special schools and boarding schools. I'm not saying there aren't advantages, there are.. But I think I have more adaptability to the real world. From childhood I learned how to behave, how to adapt, how to survive. At that time there was no fashionable word “bullying”, but they treated me often and very harshly. Almost every day after school I had to fight with the guys. But, oddly enough, it taught me a lot, in particular how to take a punch."

“I retain a certain percentage of vision: one eye sees a little better, the other worse,” says Ganzera. – Thanks to special settings I can work on a computer. I sit almost close to the monitor, make a large font, high contrast - black background, white letters. It's different on the street too. If the route is familiar, I can move around on my own. If not, my wife or someone close to me is with me. But, as I already said, in a certain sense I was lucky: I don’t know what it’s like to lose my sight, because I was born that way. Now we pay a lot of attention to the rehabilitation of military personnel. And it’s much more difficult for them. Because they’ve been healthy all their lives and can’t imagine what it’s like to wake up one day and live differently.. I remember once I was invited to a hospital in Lvov. I was very worried. It seemed to me that I would not find the right words, that my presence there was inappropriate - people were in pain, they had no time for me. I went with my daughter and wife. And already there I realized: it was right. I introduced my family to the guys and said something like this: “See, here I am. I've been like this since childhood. Many of you have become like this now. But life doesn't end there. For some it may just be the beginning."

" If earlier he was scattered about everything, chasing the wrong things, now there is a chance to stop and start living for real. I remember once as a child I was walking with friends and they started shooting with arrows. I tried too, but it didn't work. I came home angry and thought: “How can this happen " Then my mother told me: “Perhaps this is a sign that you need to focus on one thing.”. And become the best at it." I understood from school: music is mine. He started earning his first money at the age of 13, playing at weddings.. And honestly, I earned more than my mother in a month. She then worked as the head of the post office, and her salary was 54 hryvnia. And I could earn 40 in one evening. In addition to weddings, he organized discos in neighboring villages. My father gave me equipment - he worked on the land and sold the seeder to buy me a sound. And I understood: this is my bread. Musicians are always respected people, and I also wanted to be among them."

\? Yes on \! – continues the performer. – She then won tickets to “Snidanka z 1+1” and got on the show. I had a very difficult situation that day - my sister was taken to the hospital by ambulance, and I was very worried. I was told literally just before the broadcast that she was in a difficult condition.. I didn’t like the song they gave me either, and everything around me seemed against me. Then I thought that this was my last broadcast. Before the start of the performances, we took pictures for the TV picture with the audience who came to filming. I thought: “Okay, I’ll take a couple of photos and hide in the pavilion.”. And it was Olya who ended up in that part of the group where she didn’t plan to be photographed. And she loudly said something like: “They showed it several times on TV - and already a star.”. My dad heard this, caught up with me and asked me to take a photo. I took a photo and left"

“Later Olya posted them on social networks and tagged me. We started texting. By that time I already had a lot of work, but I remember that I was really looking forward to the evening to sit down and start communicating with her again. That's how we started - and now we've been together for thirteen years. She captivated me because she was completely different from me.. If I weigh every step, then she does it first and then thinks (laughs). Sofiyka, our daughter, is more like me in character – she’s just as “boring”. I am very demanding of myself and those around me, I love order, when everything is in its place, when there is a plan for tomorrow. Although, if earlier I made far-sighted plans, now we live here and now. We lived through the day - and we thank God that we have something to put on the table, it’s warm in the apartment, that we’re next to each other. And this is already a great happiness.

You know, when I found out that Olya and I were going to have a child, I said to myself: if it’s a boy, we’ll call him Nazar, in honor of Nazariy Yaremchuk,” Ivan Ganzera finally shares. – Girl – Sofia, in honor of Sofia Rotaru. Dreams of Nazar? Well, God willing, there will be a time of peace - we'll see. I believe that those people who are now deciding to take such steps are real heroes."

“When the full-scale invasion began, we went to Poland,” recalls Ganzera. – And it was hot in Korosten: a rocket fell very close to our house. We chose an ideal location to live - a park, a river, comfort, but did not take into account that the area is called a “military town”, and according to old maps there were parts. After that, I realized: the child must be taken out urgently.. In Poland, we immediately got involved in humanitarian work - helping Ukrainians. They left Sofiyka with Olya’s mother while they carried humanitarian aid. The situation at home was then critical: basic things were becoming scarce. This was especially felt in March - everything was closed, nothing worked. Those who remained were mostly old people and those who could not leave. I remember the first time we arrived with help: the local store had two packs of ketchup and one pineapple - and that’s all.

Then the situation improved a little. But I couldn’t stand it abroad for long. My wife liked it, she didn’t really want to go back. And I, when the situation stabilized a little and the Russians were driven away from Kyiv, said: “I’m going home - and you do what you want.”. We returned in June. I believe that during this time I have brought a lot of benefit to my country. We continue to volunteer, collect money, help people. Because it’s better to do something here than to sit there and wait."