Kateryna Pavlenko

Pavlenko was born on August 10, 1988, in Nizhyn, Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine, (at the time it was the Ukrainian SSR) a city north-east of the capital Kyiv. Her mother worked an unpaid job in the military which meant her family was poor and, at one point, homeless.[1] She was surrounded by folk music from an early age. Her grandmother was a singer and taught her the traditional style of singing known as 'white voice' and her grandfather played the accordion. Her mother also sang in a folk choir.[2]

During her time at school she studied singing and was encouraged by her teachers to become an opera singer, however she realised she wanted to become a rock musician. She was in a local rock band as a teen and performed in several concerts.[1]

Pavlenko studied at the Nizhyn School of Culture and Arts, graduating in 2009. She then went on to study folklore at the Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts, graduating in 2013.[3]

Pavlenko has directed multiple folk ensembles, including the veterans choir in Berezan, Kyiv Oblast. She is the lead singer of the band Go_A, and has written and published her own music under her pseudonym, Monokate.[4]

On August 24 2023, Pavlenko, under the pseudonym Monokate, released "Vorozhyla", a soundtrack to the Ukrainian action drama film Dovbush, in which she also played the role of a Carpathian molfar.[5]

Pavlenko originally joined the electro-folk band Go_A as a backup singer in 2012, but she is now the lead singer. Their first single, "Koliada" (Ukrainian: Коляда), came out in 2012, but the band didn't gain much recognition until 2015, when they released "Vesnyanka" (Ukrainian: Веснянка), which was number one in the 10Dance chart of the Ukrainian Kiss FM radio station, and was elected 'discovery of the year' by the same radio station.[6] Their debut album Idy Na Zvuk (Ukrainian: Іди на звук) was released in 2016.

In June 2021, Kateryna Pavlenko entered the top 100 most influential women in Ukraine according to Focus magazine, where she took 10th place.[12]