Oleksiuk “Mikki” Mykola

Oleksiuk “Mikki” Mykola

Mykola lives in Kuty village, Kosiv district, Ivano-Frankivsk oblast. His nickname “Mikki” comes from his childhood. Mykola is a founder, director and frontman of Povin iconic western Ukrainian rock band.

Mikki’s music journey began in 1977. The band’s title was chosen given the European music tradition of band naming — laconic and apt. During one of the performances in Lviv, Povin was noticed by the director of Tavriya Games festival who invited it to sing in Nova Kakhovka. So the band from a small town received an opportunity to perform on the same stage with Ukrainian music superstars at the time.

In addition to passion for music, Mykola has other gifts. He helped decorate his native town’s hall, he built and decorated the summer stage for cultural events, built and designed the house and the yard for his family with his own hands.

He collects street and administrative signboards of the Soviet era. He also collects random sculptures. His collection contains several meters high bust of Olha Kobylianska and Serhii Kirov, Lenin’s bust and bas-relief. He found all of them by a happy coincidence and now they adorn his yard.

He considers Mick Jagger’s signature that someone brought him from France to be the gem of his collection.