“I Did Not Give Consent”: Composer Ruslan Kvinta Outraged by Bloggers Sinyak and Grey Wiese’s Performance of “Odna Kalyna” in Germany

At a concert in Germany, Russian bloggers Igor Sinyak and singer Grey Wiese (Sergei Grigoriev-Apollonov) performed the song “Odna Kalyna” (“One Rowan Tree”) — a composition that became part of Sofia Rotaru’s repertoire and is well known among the Ukrainian audience. The music’s author, Ruslan Kvinta, publicly expressed his outrage and stated that he had not given consent to the performance. The entertainment project Styler from RBC-Ukraine reports on the incident and the online reaction on its website, citing the composer’s post on the social network Threads.

Concert in Germany and the composer’s reaction

According to Styler, the performance took place as part of a concert in Germany, where Grey Wiese and Igor Sinyak often perform together. It was precisely the fact of publicly performing someone else’s composition in a “non-authorial” context that prompted Kvinta’s statement. The composer emphasized that he had not given personal permission for these performers to use the work and that, in his view, the problem lies not only in the act of performance itself but also in the context in which the song was heard.

Ruslan Kvinta’s statement

“I did not give consent for these individuals to perform it,” Kvinta stated in his address. According to him, he considers such a performance to distort the work’s intent and to be potentially capable of harming his honor, dignity, and creative reputation. Thus, the composer frames the situation not as a dispute over money but as a matter of protecting the authorial intent and his personal reputation.

Contradictory information

The public reaction to Kvinta’s statement was mixed, and the versions on both sides diverge significantly. On the one hand, some users supported the composer, emphasizing that an author has the right to protect his own work: “Rights must not be violated! The law must work!,” wrote one commentator. On the other hand, other participants in the discussion pointed to German law and the GEMA system: according to them, to perform a song at a concert in Germany, an artist does not necessarily have to personally obtain the author’s permission if the use falls within the scope of a corresponding license that the event organizer arranges automatically, with royalties to the author then paid out by GEMA. One commentator under the nickname “the.our.zon” additionally claimed that Sergei Grigoriev-Apollonov allegedly holds German citizenship and lives in France; however, this fact is not confirmed in the original source and is presented as a user’s assertion. Thus, two positions coexist online: “violation of copyright and reputation” and “lawful performance within the scope of a GEMA license,” while information about the performer’s citizenship remains unverified.

Who are Grey Wiese and Igor Sinyak

Sergei Grigoriev-Apollonov, who performs under the pseudonym Grey Wiese, is a singer and media personality of Russian origin, a relative of Andrey Grigoriev-Apollonov, a member of the pop group “Ivanushki International.” He began his music career with covers of songs by well-known international artists, and in 2017 released his first original composition, “Who Are You”; subsequently, the album #Beyourself and several singles were released. In 2025, Grey Wiese also released a licensed digital recording of his interpretation of Gilbert Becaud’s “Je reviens te chercher,” the release of which, according to the cited data, took place after obtaining a license from Universal Music France. Igor Sinyak is a beauty blogger and YouTuber from Kramatorsk, but holding Russian citizenship; according to available information, he also lives in France and showcases a “luxury” lifestyle on social media.

Context: the song “Odna Kalyna”

“Odna Kalyna” is one of the well-known songs in Sofia Rotaru’s repertoire, with the music composed by Ruslan Kvinta. The composition features a distinctive Ukrainian flavor, and the image of the rowan tree in it traces back to one of the most recognizable symbols of Ukrainian culture. It is precisely this cultural and authorial context that, in the composer’s logic, makes, in his view, the performance of the work in a foreign, “distorting” key undesirable. The discussion around the concert in Germany thus goes beyond the bounds of an entertainment incident and touches on issues of copyright, licensing in the EU, and the protection of the work’s creator’s reputation.