An ordinary guy from Kharkiv.
Ukrainian-language singer-songwriter — from Kharkiv, based between Manchester and Düsseldorf.
- from
- Kharkiv, Ukraine
- based
- Manchester & Düsseldorf
- sings in
- Ukrainian
- listen
- YouTube ↗
Kohan grew up in Kharkiv — a kid from an ordinary block who was always more comfortable at the back of the room than the front of it. He learned piano the slow way: by ear, in the evenings. He started writing songs the way other people keep a diary.
From his early years he lived between Ukraine and Europe, growing used to two cultures and different rhythms of life. He plays club nights constantly — singing, and sharing his music. Today his life is split between Manchester, where his mother lives, and Düsseldorf, where he built his career, though he returns to Kharkiv a few times a year. And wherever he is, he keeps singing and writing in Ukrainian. Home just sits a little further away now.
Seven, so far.
Words & music by Ingvar Steinberg: «Мамо» (2026), «На жаль» (2004), «Весна» (1999), «Кохана» (2006). © Ingvar Steinberg. Performed by Kohan.
the new one
«Мамо»
a soul ballad — produced by Ingvar SteinbergOne voice, one piano, and a phone call home that never quite gets made. It is the newest song in the set — and the one people go quiet for.
Three ways to hear it.
Slow, unhurried songs — built to be listened to, not played over.
Loud rooms, low light. By the third song a club feels closer to a living room.
Best heard by accident — a piano on a city pavement, a crowd that gathers on its own.
Club — Kharkiv
A small stage, a borrowed upright, and a room that came for something louder and stayed for something quieter. He opened with «Небо зоряне»; by «Червоні троянди» nobody was talking.
It is still the gig he measures the others against.