 At the end of 1997, Sashko Polozhynsky and Vasily Zinkevich, Jr., who formed the band at the time, were joined by Andrii Blahun - keyboardist - and guitarist Andrii "Muha" Samoilo.At the beginning of 1998, as a part of the band, musicians traveled all over Ukraine as the winners of the Chervona Ruta-97 festival ("chervona" means red and "ruta" is a mythological or actual species of flowering plants).At the end of the tour, Tartak experienced a number of setbacks.