Popular music for various reasons has not yet received proper coverage and objective evaluation in modern Ukrainian musicology. Popular music is often interpreted as a part of musical life that has the right to exist, but is not considered as a part of the professional tradition. However, if we delve into the origins of the genre, we can see that modern mass culture is the result of the natural development of professional music culture, which provides the needs of cultural leisure of broad

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... l groups. Popular music also does not have to be low-cost, unprofessional. A striking example of an innovative and professional approach to the creation of popular music is the activity of the vocal-instrumental ensemble "Arnica" (Lviv, 1970s), which influenced the development of pop music of future generations. The founders of the newly created VIA were V. Vasiliev and L. Zimmer. O. Dutko was the first music director of VIA Arnica. His successor was V. Kit, later - composer, guitarist and singer V. Morozov from "QuoVadis". The executive staff during the existence of VIA was not stable. The peak of popularity dates back to the mid-1970s. The group's repertoire is diverse, it includes both author's and folk songs of lyrical, lyrical-patriotic and humorous content, it combines national culture with current world trends in the development of pop music. The creative work of VIA Arnica is a vivid example of modern popular music of the 60s and 70s of the last century. Through their activities, the musicians not only created high-quality music content that corresponded to the latest aesthetic trends of the time, but also became the expression of the idea of national competitive art. Their hits are marked by the perfect harmony of meaningful poetic text and the most appropriate means of musical embodiment of this content.