Mandry () is a Ukrainian folk-rock/blues/ska band formed in 1998 in Kyiv. The band's vocalist and lead member is Serhiy Fomenko. Their music combines traditional Ukrainian folk music with modern rhythms, influenced by urban life, French chansons, reggae, blues, rock and punk. Biography Mandry were formed in 1997 by singer-songwriter Serhiy Fomenko, who had previously been active in the Kyiv underground music scene with the group Den' Vmyraye Rano (Day Dies Early). The band initially performed as a three-piece acoustic band, before several line-up changes, including the addition of accordionist Leonid Bieley in October 1997, percussionist Salman, and drummer Andriy Zanko, and Serhiy Chehodayev replacing Oleksandr Kokhanivsky on bass. As a result of these changes, the band developed a new sound, inspired by contemporary rhythms and French melodic influences, which became known as "folk music of the cities". They performed their first concert with this new style on 24 December 1997. Around this time the band was offered a contract by the director of Asteroid Records. In the months that followed they recorded their first EP for Asteroid. In August 1998 the band produced their first video, for the song "Romansero pro nizhnu korolevu". In September 1998, the video was placed in the top three in the first All-Ukrainian Music Video Contest, and director Anton Trofimov was also nominated for an award. The EP, containing seven songs and the video clip for "Romansero pro nizhnu korolevu", was released in December 1998. In the same year Mandry played in Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Donetsk, Minsk and Kyiv. In January 1999 they filmed their second video in Lviv, for the song "Kartata Sorochka", broadcast on the national TV channel 1+1. In spring 1999 they visited Budapest, Hungary, to participate in a festival commemorating the 50th anniversary of the European Union. In summer they performed at the festivals Rock-Kyiv, PEPSI-SZIGET (Budapest) and Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk (Vitebsk). At the end of summer they started filming a video for the song "Rusalky" ("Mermaids"). In April 2000 they released their first full-length album, Romansero pro nizhnu korolevu, on Karavan Records, alongside the video for "Rusalky". In June 2000 Mandry took part in the International Festival of Ukrainian Culture in Sopot, Poland. In September they performed at Rock-Existence festival in Kyiv. In November they released their EP Rusalky on Karavan Records. From 14 to 26 May 2001 Mandry went on a two-week tour of Poland, playing in