Mirages - or playing with one's memory

Last night after a few meetings a friend of mine and I decided to go to one of the places that everyone should know about in Kyiv, especially if they like different types of pirizkhy and bulochky, the place is Yaroslavna on Yaroslaviv Val just above from where Ivano Franka Street starts. As we were stepping inside this guy who looked extremely familiar to me and was sitting outside with a number of other familiar faces, stops me. "Hey Vassya, go get yourself something to drink and come out here and join us, and I have two more CD's to give you!" he said while handing me a CD.

For the longest time I tried to remember this guy's name, but to no avail. Rather than heading outside right away we sat down and order something to eat, and only later when a free table become available did we head outside. By this time, my acquaintance from a distant past was two sheets to the wind and didn't even notice that we had sit down at a table over from where a sizable crowd had started to gather.

By the time I was ready to join this person whose name I couldn't remember he had disappeared and rather than joining a table full of strangers and but two familiar faces I decided it was time to head home.

One of the familiar faces was that of Alexei Alexandrov lead man of Kyiv's Er.J.Orchestra the other I could not remember his name, though when I did a little digging around this morning as I write this the second face was that of Gregory Nemirovsky one of the Er.J.Orchestra's members whose CD I had been gifted by the man with the familiar face whose name I couldn't remember.


While I had never met these two talented musicians before there was a third from the group that I did meet back in 2001 while working on a project with Myroslav Levytsky called Music Without Borders, or as my friend Lionel Lodge would put it Music Without Boarders that took place in Linz, Austria. Lionel loves to play with words, and I don't blame him. That person was Volodymyr Sorochenko, not only a great musician but a really nice guy. Having obtained a one month Shengen visa, and while in Linz, Vlodko was discussing with me as to whether he should go to Dusseldorf to visit an old friend. I convinced him that the side trip after the gig in Linz would be worth it. At the end of the month when I met him at the Dynamo Jazz Club, he thanked me for convincing him to travel to visit his old friend.

I will have to look back into my past blogs to see if I ever completely chronicled how the Music Without Borders project came about, if I have well then you have read it here, if not it will be something to blog about in the future.

This morning as I sat down to blog I decided to take a listen to the CD given to me by the man who's name I couldn't remember, though some day I will, struck me as both simple yet complex at the same time. The album title is Mirages and its author is Gregory Nemirovsky. From what I gather from the liner notes the seven-track album was record in a home studio back in 2007 and finally came out this year.

The focus of this CD of course is on Nemirovsky's work on the Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Medieval cornet and in places keyboards. I found it extremely easy to listen to. I've been listening to it for the last three hours now, and there is always something a little new I'm picking out of it. The CD was released by Caravan Records and has a total running time of just under forty-one minutes. Look for it and if you can't find it I will point you in the right direction.

When will the posters disappear - Cry Fire

Well, last night one of Russia's musical oligarch's, Yosef Kobzon had his anniversary concert in Kyiv. Unfortunately the posters promoting it will be around to remind everyone just how great he is. I hope they come down soon I am getting sick of looking at his ugly mug.

In the entry on Wikipedia above there is mention that he was one of the first singers to perform in the Zone in 1986 for those who helped fight the fire in the fourth reactor that had gone critical. A number of years ago, six to be exact, I had the pleasure to meet and MC Myroslav Levytsky's first Music Without Borders concert in Kyiv together with Ukrainian singer Alla Popova[Link in Ukrainian].

The day after the concert, sitting with Alla, Myroslav, Rens Newland and Lionel Lodge Alla told us how many musicians were supposed to travel to Germany, both the FRG and DDR as well as a few other countries at the beginning of May of 1986. They were told, 'you will go and sing in Chornobyl, or you will not be going west.' So whether Kobzon should be viewed as such a good person for singing in the Zone is another matter. Lionel had asked her whether she was worried about the possible outcome of this mandatory performance. Her reply was as she pointed to her thirteen year old daughter sitting with us at the table, "I was a little worried, but as you can see and from what the doctor's say, my daughter is perfectly healthy!"

As an addendum, I guess there is some justice in this world. During Kobzon's concert last night a fire started on the stage at 21:05. According to Ukrainska Pravda the first to notice the fire were the musicians on the stage. While no one was injured during the fire caused supposedly by faulty wiring, according to Channel 5, as of 21:50 there were 20 fire crews working to put out the fire.

While I certainly am happy no one was injured, the property damage is a shame. Some reports state that most concerts planned for Palats Ukrainy will most likely be rescheduled, postponed or canceled. Maybe this was simply a signal to our brothers north of the border.

Ukrainian musicians to descend on Budapest

Back in 1998 Myroslav Levytsky and Braty bluzu performed on the main stage at the Pepsi-Sziget Festival as the first Ukrainian group to perform. There he met Canadian Lionel Lodge which eventually led to work with both Lionel and Rens Newland on the Music Without Borders project.

Later on in 1999 Mandry headed off to Pepsi-Sziget.

Shortly thereafter, the festival dropped Pepsi from their name, I suspect their sponsorship contract had come to an end.

Last year Mad Heads XL made their way to the Sziget. At the time I had a little bit of a conflict with the Kyiv Post for claiming that they were the first Ukrainian group to perform at the festival. While the writer at the Kyiv Post tried to find all the Ukrainian bands who had performed at the festival, it was unfortunate that the festival's archive did not go very far back.

While they are still not listed on the official site yet, SUMNO.COM reported that that TNMK and Esthetic Education will both be featured in this year's line up of over 80 performers from all over the face of the planet.

Braty bluzu together with Rens Newland

While in L'viv on business I got a phone call from my good friend Myroslav Levytsky, composer and founder of Braty bluzu. He asked me if I would be in town on Thursday as he wanted to invite me to a concert he, his brother and Funk/Jazz guitarist Rens Newland will be performing at a private concert for the Association of Ukrainian Architects. He said, "You are down on the invite list as a member of the band!"

It will be interesting to hear Myroslav on keyboards, his brother Oleh on sax and Rens on guitar - together again. Last time I heard them all play together was back in January of 2003 when I helped Myroslav organize two concerts as part of a project we started together with Rens and our Canadian friend Lionel Lodge - the first at Ukrainian House and the second at Art Club 44, then belonging to Eric Aigner. Last fall Eric got pushed out of his restaurant club business by his local partners...

I will post a short review of the private gig tomorrow.

A Happy Birthday To Myroslav Levytsky

Myroslav Levytsky, composer and lead man of Braty bluzu, which won the Grand Prix at the Chervona Ruta festival in 1993, turned 40-something today. The band's name is often confused in its meaning, and is translated as "Blues Brothers", but in fact it is a western Ukrainian expression which means to take one's jacket and go out on the town.

Levytsky has released three albums. The first self entitled CD was released in 2000. Shortly before that he had met Canadian Lionel Lodge at the Sziget Festival in Budapest, which led to working on a project called Music Without Borders together with Lionel and his friend Rens Newland - after performing the project in Linz, Austria on June 9, 2001 - Levytsky together with Newland put down the foundation of what would be his Vienna Woods album, and released it in 2002.

In 2004 Levytsky participated in the Banff Center for the Performing Arts professional development program, and as a result released his Session in Banff in the spring of 2005. Currently Levytsky is working on new material based on the Romeo and Juliet theme.