the song is performed by the soloists of the smerichka vocal-instrumental ensemble , nazariy yeremchuknkevich, and the author of the song, vladimir ivasiuk. i saw smerichka, the first day of the new year, when the song of the year 1971 was broadcast, and we were preparing for the exam and suddenly i hear the announcer announce ensemble smiri. vyzhnytskyi district house of culture, chernivtsi oblast, ukraine , my god, my countrymen, i say, girls, be quieter, and what is that, i say, my countrymen are singing, quietly, when they sang the red ruta, tears flowed in a hail of tears, you know how then in a foreign country, to hear my native language, and i didn't even imagine then that... a year later i will be on the same stage singing with nazarry vodogray, it can only be in a fairy tale, you know, a magic wand, once there is one. applauded for so long that we already left scene, and then the applause does not stop, and the guys do not know, they pick up the guitars again, whether to play again or what to do, and we leave so confused, the scene, we left, bowed and of course left, because t