Maria Burmaka (; born June 16, 1970 in Kharkiv, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian singer, TV personality, musician, and songwriter in the genres of rock, pop, folk, and world music. She also holds the title of People's Artist of Ukraine. Biography and education Burmaka was born into a family of teachers. She began singing Ukrainian songs while studying in guitar class in a musical school. She graduated from that school, specializing in guitar. In 1987, she entered the faculty of philology of Kharkiv University of Karazin. As a student, she began to write original songs. In 2004, Burmaka graduated from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv with a degree in journalism. She also has a PhD degree in philology. Early festivals and contests Early in her career, Burmaka won several important and All-Ukrainian musical contests or festivals, which quickly made her famous and made her an icon of the Ukrainian music. In 1989, Burmaka won first place in Lutsk at the Oberig music festival and came second at the famous Chervony Ruta youth music festival in Chernivtsi. In June 1990, she won in Kaniv the All-Ukrainian Festival DZVIN, earning the title of "Laureate". In 1993, she won the hit-song contest "12-2" organized by the radio platform Promin. Music career Burmaka has been an active participant in many events in modern Ukrainian history, including the aforementioned first Chervona Ruta festival (1989), Student Hunger on Granite (1990), "Orange Revolution" (2004) and Revolution of Dignity (2013–2014). In 1991, she recorded her first CD, Maria, which was produced in Montreal by the Canadian company Yevshan. This became the first Ukrainian-language musical CD to be launched in Ukraine. In 1998, Burmaka released another album, Znovu lyublyu ("In Love Again"). The presentation of the record was special: Burmaka invited her closest friends and the press to the 17-18th century icons hall in the National Fine Arts Museum, where she gave an acoustic guitar concert. Language Burmaka is a staunch supporter of the Ukrainian language and is the only People's Artist of Ukraine who does not perform in the Russian language, nor has a musical repertoire in Russian language. She stated, "Ukrainian regions without Ukrainian language lose their ethnic identity and freedom." Performances In 2005, Burmaka recorded several English versions of her songs, produced new musical clips, and gave several charity concerts in North America. She performed at the largest Ukrainian festival in the United States, Verkhovyna,