I am sure that anyone who reads my blog, and I know that there may be one or two of you left, and this is not surprising. Due to my inactivity and my departure from Ukraine for an undetermined amount of time, I find it difficult to write about an environment that I have been removed from. By blog entries were usually the result of something that prompted me to write, they were personal tidbits of my experiences. They were never fictitious or text bookish when I dealt with my subject, they were personal forays into one aspect of the cultural industry which is under developed and will probably remain so until professionals fill the ranks of the appropriate Ministries in Ukraine, and cronyism as it as exists in Ukraine is reduced to being negligible.
Of those who read my blog, I know there was one individual who eventually thanked me for ragging on him about plagiarism to the point he eventually shut his blog down. I think readers of blogs should play watchdog on intellectual property issues. I won't say that I was playing bad cop in that particular situation, I was just asking the individual to play by the rules, and to write original material, and if if he chose not to then to properly cite his sources. That is not a great deal to ask.
All the things that I wrote about I had a personal connection to, no less than what I am putting out as what may possibly be my last blog entry in this particular area that I started in three years ago. A decade has come to a close. This is not because I can't find material to write on, but because the personal and human connection to those that I will write about has been removed due to geographic distance. Without this connection I consider it to be unfair to anyone that has read my musings over the years to think I just had a coffee, or beer with Mis'ko Barbara or someone else, but before you are in for a long hiatus from my musings I will leave you all with two other personal notes.
The first is directly related to the season. Back in 2006 my company was involved with the Telnyuk Sisters in the area of creative. They had been off the Ukrainian music scene for quite some time and they felt they had a need to bet back and find their audience. During that period there were two videos we were involved in, both of which I put up on YouTube and virulently distributed, the first really has nothing to do with this time of year, while the second, a period piece, captures the entire atmosphere of the season.
In the days leading up to and shorty after Christmas in 2006, I was home in Montreal with family but I was also busy trying to find software to convert copy of the master of Sad Rizdvyanniy to a format and size acceptable by YouTube. I did finally find the software I was looking for on SourceForge, and some of you thee years ago first saw the Sad rizdvyaniy clip. I said it then and I will say it again, the piece is timeless! I am happy to have been one of the very small cogs in the wheel to make it work.
Now one last personal foray into an industry I feel strongly for but this one comes from a totally different angle. Most of you either are personally on or know something about the vast array of social networks that have become unfathomably popular and big money makers to those who the first kids on the block to exploit Web 2.0. Most recently I received a request to become connected with someone on one of these networks. I saw the picture and the name meant nothing to me at all, but then I read on and I realized something that I have known for a very long time now. Milgram's six degrees of separation theory doesn't apply to me or most people who are Ukrainian diaspora, or are involved in the Ukrainian cultural non-industry. This person Ihor started off by stating that he had heard a great deal about me from our common friend Yurko, and that his project Radio Skrynia was a hobby which Yurko was helping him with. Yurko, or Ryba as his close friends who knew him more than 20 years ago call him is an old friend of mine and in his own right a bit of a legend. From what I heard, he was one of the first people in the former USSR to both port and localize UUCP from UNIX to Mac, so while his talents lie in a not so cultural sphere he is now helping out his friend Ihor with a pro-Ukrainian music project.
When I checked out the site, the first thing I saw was Sad rizdvyaniy! I didn't watch the clip but looked around the site and will be visiting it again soon, and hope that Ihor and I, who are now so far removed from where our roots are, will thanks to Ryba get to know one another and possibly collaborate in the future.
Things will be taking on a new format regarding what I blog about, and music and Ukrainian culture will not be the sole focus. When I return, I will once again share with you things that are personal. I'm not sure who first said it, but reality is sometimes stranger than fiction. Anyone, who has spent a great deal of time in a place they have called home because of their genetic and emotional attachment has also probably had experiences that are not only stranger than fiction, they are a reality and part of their lives. Like I have in the past shared with you little pieces of my life as they pertain to the music and cultural arena in Ukraine, uaMuzik, is in fact a small part of a larger story.
I believe that the larger story is one that Ukrainians in the diaspora will understand, though others will understand it too. People from countries that were once behind the "Iron Curtain"; people who traveled to Canada to find a new home in the aftermath of the Second World War and were separated from family; by lovers of peace who heard of a country in Europe that renounced its nuclear arsenal; by those who were appalled to hear of the death of an opposition journalist more than a decade ago whose murders have still not been brought to justice; by those knew that Voice of America, Radio Liberty others had been quashed in Ukraine as a radio station owner fled the country in fear for his life; and those who watched their screens and read the headlines of an incredibly peaceful (r)evolution. This story will not be the headline, but one small aspect of what went on behind the headlines in the hearts and minds of individuals, not the talking heads we so often are exposed to.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Decade!
Everything is constantly in flux, from the music we listen to, to the politics and society around us. uaMuzik is a reflection on Ukrainian music, politics, society, the food I create and technologies.
Showing posts with label Mis'ko Barbara. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mis'ko Barbara. Show all posts
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
A long time coming Made in UA
When one has spent more than ten years of their life in Ukraine and has made many different friends from many different walks of life, but primarily those who are involved in the development of contemporary Ukrainian cultural life you start to miss those friends a great deal when you are far away from that environment. This feeling started to come upon me surprisingly just this past Saturday as it was Mykolaya, or St. Nicholas Day, that day that St. Mykola brings children gifts. This longing for those friends happened the day after I got together with some guys I went to high school with, one of them I hadn't actually seen for nearly as long as it has been since I finished high school. While the three of us had one common bond it became apparent to me that I lived in a completely different world than they do. The time in Ukraine was like a self-imposed exile from my home in Canada in a new home with new people and in a new place, and there was nothing wrong with this, it was a period in which I needed to really live through it was more than anyone I knew in Canada could live through in a life time.
Now I am once again in exile, another self imposed exile that is required for work on a book that has been incubating in my mind for over a year and half now. I have started writing and there are are episodes of that book that are directly related to Ukrainian music, some of which I have mentioned in passing on this blog. But it has been an extremely long time since I have actually written something here, and when I did write it was not about a happy event, but the passing of one of those musicians that I met and who I considered my friend. All his friends will miss Andriy Valaha, but they must continue and move on.
So even though the album came out so long ago, and Mis'ko Barbara of Mertviy Piven', gave me a signed copy of it some time ago, when he told me about Dana and Shockolad, in the spring I never really had the time to sit down and listen to Made in UA. A compilation of songs to the poetry of Yuriy Andrukhovych, I knew that when I finally did sit down and listen to it, it would be when time was something I had and serious listen would be possible.
That time came over the weekend, as I was in the midst of writer's block, and jumping between writing an episode on my first encounter with my Ukrainian cousins in 1985, in Leningrad of all places, and an episode from nine years later which is related to Barabara, and other musicians from L'viv, when we all met in Ternopil, a city so different than Leningrad.
Now just a little about Made in UA. Just like I was searching for something contemporary and new back in the late 1980s, getting a little tired of traditional folk music, there were others who were searching for something new and refreshing on the Ukrainian music scene, and 20 years one of the bands to appear on the contemporary Ukrainian music scene was Mertviy Piven', sure there were others, but anyone who has been following what has been going in Ukrainian music there are probably less than a dozen bands or individual musicians that have been active all these years. One of them is MP, but also coming out of that boisterous period as the Soviet Union was crumbling there were others, Eduard Drach, Maria Burmaka, Plach Yeremii, and while I'm not going to mention those that went the way of the Dodo, there are few that made it on to the scene then that are still around.
If you want something that is a mix of the sometimes in-your-face poetry of Andrukhovych and something that regardless of their twenty-year history, pick up Mertviy Piven's Made in UA. I had fun listening to it, and there were even a few tunes that were a little contagious.
Now I am once again in exile, another self imposed exile that is required for work on a book that has been incubating in my mind for over a year and half now. I have started writing and there are are episodes of that book that are directly related to Ukrainian music, some of which I have mentioned in passing on this blog. But it has been an extremely long time since I have actually written something here, and when I did write it was not about a happy event, but the passing of one of those musicians that I met and who I considered my friend. All his friends will miss Andriy Valaha, but they must continue and move on.
So even though the album came out so long ago, and Mis'ko Barbara of Mertviy Piven', gave me a signed copy of it some time ago, when he told me about Dana and Shockolad, in the spring I never really had the time to sit down and listen to Made in UA. A compilation of songs to the poetry of Yuriy Andrukhovych, I knew that when I finally did sit down and listen to it, it would be when time was something I had and serious listen would be possible.
That time came over the weekend, as I was in the midst of writer's block, and jumping between writing an episode on my first encounter with my Ukrainian cousins in 1985, in Leningrad of all places, and an episode from nine years later which is related to Barabara, and other musicians from L'viv, when we all met in Ternopil, a city so different than Leningrad.
Now just a little about Made in UA. Just like I was searching for something contemporary and new back in the late 1980s, getting a little tired of traditional folk music, there were others who were searching for something new and refreshing on the Ukrainian music scene, and 20 years one of the bands to appear on the contemporary Ukrainian music scene was Mertviy Piven', sure there were others, but anyone who has been following what has been going in Ukrainian music there are probably less than a dozen bands or individual musicians that have been active all these years. One of them is MP, but also coming out of that boisterous period as the Soviet Union was crumbling there were others, Eduard Drach, Maria Burmaka, Plach Yeremii, and while I'm not going to mention those that went the way of the Dodo, there are few that made it on to the scene then that are still around.
If you want something that is a mix of the sometimes in-your-face poetry of Andrukhovych and something that regardless of their twenty-year history, pick up Mertviy Piven's Made in UA. I had fun listening to it, and there were even a few tunes that were a little contagious.
Friday, July 3, 2009
The morning after – the ShockolaD interview
I got up the next morning and I was still staying on Filetova, not to far away from where I had to be in about an hour, and as usual, for that district of L'viv I missed the time period when the hot water was turned on. Well it was after all Friday and I was still in L'viv, which is incidentally one of my favorite chill-out cities, so what did I have to complain about? Nothing at all!
I headed out the door and walked along Filetova toward Lychakivska Street. From their down towards where it joins the beginning of Vynnychenko Street. I walked by the Kabinet. This is a nice little cafe/bar which is also a hotbed of cultural activity at times. With poetry reading, book launches and the like, which often, incidentally are recorded and podcast. I passed the monument to Vyacheslav Chornovil and a few minutes later I walked across Fedoriv Square and past the monument of Fedoriv.
At the agreed upon time of 10:00, I walked through the heavy wooden doors at Dzyga and began to look around for two guys I had met the night before through Markian. One of them I was told was going to make sure I had the equipment in order that I could do an interview for radio with three of the members of ShockolaD that would be able to meet with me that day.
I walked into the first room and looked around. Then I glanced into the second room up the three steps to the right. I didn't notice anyone that looked familiar, so I turned around to walk out and then someone came running up behind me, and I could hear a somewhat familiar voice calling me, “Pane Vasyliu!” I turned around and there stood Yuriy Kucheryaviy, one of the guys I had met the previous evening sitting with Markian Ivashchyshyn after the ShockolaD show.
“Andriy should be here shortly, with everything we need for you to do this interview with ShockolaD,” said Yuriy, and just as he said so in walked Andriy Izdryk, a tall lanky figure with a satchel in one hand and a army surplus style back pack that would be suitable for a two to three day trip away from home. Andriy greeted me and sat down at the table next to me. First he unloaded his satchel, pulling out his laptop, then came the surprise. Out of his back pack he began to pull out a number of things, and as he was doing so in walked Anastasia Lytvynyuk, Dana Vynnytska and Ihor Hnydyn of ShockolaD. We all greeted one another, and Andriy handed Dana one microphone and then another, as I recall they were AKG's, not top of the line but better than anything I've seen anyone pull out of such a back pack before. But what followed was an even bigger surprise!
Andriy moved somethings away from his laptop and next to it he placed an eight-channel mixer. Within a few minutes he was ready to roll. Well not quite, there was still the matter of background music and the ventilation ducts in the back room of Dzyga. Yuriy got up and spoke to the administration about that and soon I was ready to start the interview with ShockolaD! But first we all decided that coffee would be a great start. After all it was only ten in the morning.
Once our coffee arrived and we checked the levels things got underway.
As a favour to my friend and fellow blogger Pawlina whom I recorded this interview for below is a translation and transcript of the interview which transpired, for her listeners.
VP: Dear listeners of Nash Holos in Vancouver, not to long ago I was sitting with a musician friend of mine, Misko Barbara of Mertviy Piven'[Dead Rooster] in Kyiv and he told me about a girl, who's name is Dana. Dana sings with not such a new band from L'viv, but I think they still have a lot to do. And what I heard at a concert at the Jazz Club at Dzyga on Virmenska Street yesterday evening, that's to say Thursday, I liked a great deal. Dana maybe you could briefly tell our listeners how this project started and when it started?
Dana Vynnytska: In 2004 each of us was a student at the Musical Academy. When I say each of us, I'm talking about Ihor Hnydyn our drummer, Anastasia Lytvynyuk, pianist and me Dana Vynnytska. Then we were studying at the Musical Academy and for the first time we went to see the Jazz Bez Festival in L'viv. We were so enthralled by the music that we all started dreaming of how to try to start playing something similar. First Ihor got in touch with Nastya, and then I joined in and then at one time five years ago in 2004 in the month of June we met up and started to play the standard My Funny Valentine.
It looked something like this. We were playing sheet music, we weren't sure how to play, we were uncertain. We tried listening to things, we were searching, we tried to copy things tried to find our own thing, but we started with the standards. At first there were three of us, then we had one contra-bass player join us. Well the story with contra-bass and bass players was classical. The bass line did not hold its own under intellectual and emotional tension and then a new figure appeared, in August our saxophonist joined us with whom we are working with until this day and that is Volodya Urban. And this is how the group ShockolaD was born.
That same year we participated in the Jazz Bez as juniors, and at the festival at one of the jam sessions we heard some very interesting musicians from Poland. I have in mind Joachim Mansel, pianist; Aryk Skolyk drummer and Mikhail Baranski vocal. When conversing with them in a more intimate setting they told us that in Krakow there are international master classes which take place, called the International Summer Jazz Academy. And that summer we went to those master classes and understood a bit more, because up until that point we were contriving our bicycle, but because of such a good experiences and pleasant knowledge that we were able to obtain last year, in as much that the three of us, Ihor, Natya and myself received a stipend from the Polish Ministry of Culture, Gauda de Polonia, we were able to be in Warsaw and cooperate and study under legendary Polish musicians: Czeslaw Bartowski, drummer; Andrzey Godinski, piano and Janusz Szroma for vocals.
VP: This is an interesting story, but I noticed that your drummer works a lot with arrangements and writing of music. It sort of reminded me of something, like á la Phil Collins, as you know Phil Collins is a drummer but also writes music. How did this all come about, I think it would be interesting for our listeners, because it kind of rare, it rarely happens that the drummer takes care of arrangements?
Ihor Hnydyn: Well like Dana said earlier that we started from learn from traditional jazz music, but learning from this music you begin to understand that the more you swallow of that music, then the greater the space for development in traditional music. But in order that, but because there is so much traditional jazz music in the world, and in America they play so much of it, and we are very far from there, and we wanted to something of our own, and I started to try to write for the first time, because earlier I never considered myself seriously as a composer, but it was when I was in Ireland working and the yearning for Ukraine came out in music. It was the first time where I didn't know where to place my soul, and I began to sit behind the piano and in principle began to think about Ukraine, and quite simply Ukrainian motifs appeared which I had heard from the time I was little, in as much that I myself am from a village and everyone in our village sings or plays on an instrument, and I simply wanted that music, simply for those ethno motifs to grow into something that was bigger. And in principle we tried to do something, and our first album called Number One,which we recorded in Poland with Polish musicians, that came out as ethnic music.
VP: One thing that really impressed me last night was the arrangement of Shchedryk by Leontovych [ed. Known as Carol of the Bells] I really liked it.
Ihor Hnydyn: But that was Volodymyr Urban. That's our saxophonist, he wrote that ten years ago, and the music laid there until it found its performer.
VP: It's a good thing that the performer was found.
Ihor Hnydyn: Yes!
VP: Like Dana said the other night at the concert, 'It's ours, everyone borrowed it from us. Over there the Americans borrowed it, the Japanese say it's theirs, but we all know that it is our own!'
Ihor Hnydyn: Chuckles.
VP: Not something foreign. You said you were in Ireland. What would you say – Celtic music and let's say our Hutsul music, there are certain nuances, there is something particular about them both. Did you ever have that feeling?
Ihor Hnydyn: Yes at one time I really had the opportunity to experience the feeling of real Irish music, when I entered a small out-of-the-way town, but there were a lot of tourists there and I was walking by this pub and I entered it and there I heard.... I don't know what to call their – accordion, it was similar to a bayan, and there this guy was playing Irish music with a flute and guitarist. It really was something to survive through, because there was something incredible there, first of all it included their coloring, at one moment, and I heard so much jazz within, and ... and... in principle you really could compare it to our Hutsul kolomeyky or something similar when they start improvising, because improvisation is strength.
VP: Well we could say that jazz really is improvisation, an individual take some small nuances and begins to build something from it. Nastya I heard this a little last night in your role as pianist and you added something on the synthesizer that really reminded me of the beginning of the 1970s when they really started to make use of that technology. Could you please tell us a little about your vision of ShockolaD and jazz?
Annastasiya Lytvynyuk: For me ShockolaD in principle now is the embodiment somehow of all my musical views, musical impressions and there I can express myself as a musician in the first place; and... well what is jazz, well that's very... we could sit and talk about it day and night and we could still do not know if we could to come to a complete explanation. But for me personally, it is music, at the given moment, music with such freedom that you can put in anything you want, in principle, because jazz as understanding, because now time has extreme expanses, it can be the ethnos that we personally put into ShokolaD, and it could be academic music or avantgarde music, we can put in anything possible. Regarding piano jazz or regarding my personal improvisations. Right now I am searching for myself searching for my own personal style, even though it is difficult for a young person to do, but thanks to the fact that I had an opportunity to study in Poland, now I am trying to find some of my own personal things that would become recognizable, and I hope that in a certain time I will be able to accomplish this.
VP: Dana actually we met last Sunday at the 20th anniversary concert of Mertviy Piven, and Misko was not mistaken when he told me about your voice. I heard it last Sunday, and I heard it last night. You as a singer have to give something to your audience, and I can see it in the audience, when each individual plays their role but somehow it all comes together as a general work. There were a few times where I would say, 'Dana just a little bit louder, just a wee bit so I could hear you better!' I have it all written down and maybe we can share ideas. What are your next plans for ShockolaD, lets say in the next little... let's say during the summer, because summer is a period which will always exist?
Dana Vynnytska: Thank you for your warm words, now when we are talking about when I sing very quietly, well its because silence is also very strong music and I want to edify the audience so that they also hear that silence. Well regarding our plans with ShockolaD, we are now working on arrangements and texts of works of Polish and Ukrainian authors. Now in particular, in this album POKOSY there is a bonus track which include the song to the text of the poem by Juliusz Slowatski Maty do syna [ed. Mother to son], and now we are completing the composition Rym [ed. Rome] and this summer we plan on putting out,... on creating compositions to the verse of Juliusz Slowatski and we are trying to add the texts of Ihor Bohdan Antonych. Right now we are on a road where we are searching for different poets that inspire us and we are now trying to find that place were there is a crossover between the word, music and improvisation.
VP: Well I would like to thank you all very much that we all got together this early. I remember earlier on Annastasia said, 'Oh my head isn't working yet, but maybe if we have a bit of coffee, everything will work fine!' Because I think that when our listeners in Vancouver will hear the music, listen to the compositions from this disc they will somehow be enthused! I would like to thank you all for your time and I think we will meet again not only on air but maybe our listeners will be here in L'viv and will be able to walk in some place, or maybe somehow sometime we will take you to Canada so that our listeners could hear you and I wish you all the success, prosperity and creativity.
Dana Vynnytska: Thank you very much, and we are our part would like to tell all your listeners that sooner or later we will visit you; [laughs] and we would like to wish them all the very best and more pleasant experiences from Ukrainian music.
So there you have it folks... I think we all went through about two coffees each that morning during the interview. But given that Andriy had his whole kit out and running, remember there was an eight channel mixer, microphones, laptop there on the table, so Yuriy, as a literary critic decided to also hit ShockolaD with a barrage of questions for one of the many projects that these to guys are working on.
Buy the time we were wrapping everything up we realized it was nearly twelve-thirty... Oh how time flies when you are having a great time.
In any case, I chatted with Ihor some more that day, and Markian Ivashchyshyn gave me to the OK to try to organize a second evening for ShockolaD to present their new CD Pokosy in Kyiv. A few hours later as I was going to meet a fellow Rotarian at his office in L'viv, I made a call to Fedir the head honcho at Kupidon in Kyiv.
“Vasyl, what ever it is you want to do, its fine by me,” said Fedir.
After having coffee at Genna's office and chatting about the possibility of getting some things from their Rotary Clubs in L'viv for our Charity Ball, he offered to drop me off where ever need be. I told him Dzyga, as I still had to finalize a few things for ShockolaD. I walked into the back room, where we had done the interview to find Markian and a few others sitting at a table, amongst them VlodKaufman. They were discussing some project, but they invited me to join them, after they finalized some of their matters, I finalized things with Markian regarding ShockolaD and then we just made small talk. I understood that there was a long standing conflict over work done by VlodKaufman for Fedir at Kupidon, but Markian said that if I can work things out with Fedir for ShockolaD, then it would be great. “Vasyliu, as you know, just how much room is there in Baraban, anyway!” God it was good to be in L'viv!
I headed out the door and walked along Filetova toward Lychakivska Street. From their down towards where it joins the beginning of Vynnychenko Street. I walked by the Kabinet. This is a nice little cafe/bar which is also a hotbed of cultural activity at times. With poetry reading, book launches and the like, which often, incidentally are recorded and podcast. I passed the monument to Vyacheslav Chornovil and a few minutes later I walked across Fedoriv Square and past the monument of Fedoriv.
At the agreed upon time of 10:00, I walked through the heavy wooden doors at Dzyga and began to look around for two guys I had met the night before through Markian. One of them I was told was going to make sure I had the equipment in order that I could do an interview for radio with three of the members of ShockolaD that would be able to meet with me that day.
I walked into the first room and looked around. Then I glanced into the second room up the three steps to the right. I didn't notice anyone that looked familiar, so I turned around to walk out and then someone came running up behind me, and I could hear a somewhat familiar voice calling me, “Pane Vasyliu!” I turned around and there stood Yuriy Kucheryaviy, one of the guys I had met the previous evening sitting with Markian Ivashchyshyn after the ShockolaD show.
“Andriy should be here shortly, with everything we need for you to do this interview with ShockolaD,” said Yuriy, and just as he said so in walked Andriy Izdryk, a tall lanky figure with a satchel in one hand and a army surplus style back pack that would be suitable for a two to three day trip away from home. Andriy greeted me and sat down at the table next to me. First he unloaded his satchel, pulling out his laptop, then came the surprise. Out of his back pack he began to pull out a number of things, and as he was doing so in walked Anastasia Lytvynyuk, Dana Vynnytska and Ihor Hnydyn of ShockolaD. We all greeted one another, and Andriy handed Dana one microphone and then another, as I recall they were AKG's, not top of the line but better than anything I've seen anyone pull out of such a back pack before. But what followed was an even bigger surprise!
Andriy moved somethings away from his laptop and next to it he placed an eight-channel mixer. Within a few minutes he was ready to roll. Well not quite, there was still the matter of background music and the ventilation ducts in the back room of Dzyga. Yuriy got up and spoke to the administration about that and soon I was ready to start the interview with ShockolaD! But first we all decided that coffee would be a great start. After all it was only ten in the morning.
Once our coffee arrived and we checked the levels things got underway.
As a favour to my friend and fellow blogger Pawlina whom I recorded this interview for below is a translation and transcript of the interview which transpired, for her listeners.
VP: Dear listeners of Nash Holos in Vancouver, not to long ago I was sitting with a musician friend of mine, Misko Barbara of Mertviy Piven'[Dead Rooster] in Kyiv and he told me about a girl, who's name is Dana. Dana sings with not such a new band from L'viv, but I think they still have a lot to do. And what I heard at a concert at the Jazz Club at Dzyga on Virmenska Street yesterday evening, that's to say Thursday, I liked a great deal. Dana maybe you could briefly tell our listeners how this project started and when it started?
Dana Vynnytska: In 2004 each of us was a student at the Musical Academy. When I say each of us, I'm talking about Ihor Hnydyn our drummer, Anastasia Lytvynyuk, pianist and me Dana Vynnytska. Then we were studying at the Musical Academy and for the first time we went to see the Jazz Bez Festival in L'viv. We were so enthralled by the music that we all started dreaming of how to try to start playing something similar. First Ihor got in touch with Nastya, and then I joined in and then at one time five years ago in 2004 in the month of June we met up and started to play the standard My Funny Valentine.
It looked something like this. We were playing sheet music, we weren't sure how to play, we were uncertain. We tried listening to things, we were searching, we tried to copy things tried to find our own thing, but we started with the standards. At first there were three of us, then we had one contra-bass player join us. Well the story with contra-bass and bass players was classical. The bass line did not hold its own under intellectual and emotional tension and then a new figure appeared, in August our saxophonist joined us with whom we are working with until this day and that is Volodya Urban. And this is how the group ShockolaD was born.
That same year we participated in the Jazz Bez as juniors, and at the festival at one of the jam sessions we heard some very interesting musicians from Poland. I have in mind Joachim Mansel, pianist; Aryk Skolyk drummer and Mikhail Baranski vocal. When conversing with them in a more intimate setting they told us that in Krakow there are international master classes which take place, called the International Summer Jazz Academy. And that summer we went to those master classes and understood a bit more, because up until that point we were contriving our bicycle, but because of such a good experiences and pleasant knowledge that we were able to obtain last year, in as much that the three of us, Ihor, Natya and myself received a stipend from the Polish Ministry of Culture, Gauda de Polonia, we were able to be in Warsaw and cooperate and study under legendary Polish musicians: Czeslaw Bartowski, drummer; Andrzey Godinski, piano and Janusz Szroma for vocals.
VP: This is an interesting story, but I noticed that your drummer works a lot with arrangements and writing of music. It sort of reminded me of something, like á la Phil Collins, as you know Phil Collins is a drummer but also writes music. How did this all come about, I think it would be interesting for our listeners, because it kind of rare, it rarely happens that the drummer takes care of arrangements?
Ihor Hnydyn: Well like Dana said earlier that we started from learn from traditional jazz music, but learning from this music you begin to understand that the more you swallow of that music, then the greater the space for development in traditional music. But in order that, but because there is so much traditional jazz music in the world, and in America they play so much of it, and we are very far from there, and we wanted to something of our own, and I started to try to write for the first time, because earlier I never considered myself seriously as a composer, but it was when I was in Ireland working and the yearning for Ukraine came out in music. It was the first time where I didn't know where to place my soul, and I began to sit behind the piano and in principle began to think about Ukraine, and quite simply Ukrainian motifs appeared which I had heard from the time I was little, in as much that I myself am from a village and everyone in our village sings or plays on an instrument, and I simply wanted that music, simply for those ethno motifs to grow into something that was bigger. And in principle we tried to do something, and our first album called Number One,which we recorded in Poland with Polish musicians, that came out as ethnic music.
VP: One thing that really impressed me last night was the arrangement of Shchedryk by Leontovych [ed. Known as Carol of the Bells] I really liked it.
Ihor Hnydyn: But that was Volodymyr Urban. That's our saxophonist, he wrote that ten years ago, and the music laid there until it found its performer.
VP: It's a good thing that the performer was found.
Ihor Hnydyn: Yes!
VP: Like Dana said the other night at the concert, 'It's ours, everyone borrowed it from us. Over there the Americans borrowed it, the Japanese say it's theirs, but we all know that it is our own!'
Ihor Hnydyn: Chuckles.
VP: Not something foreign. You said you were in Ireland. What would you say – Celtic music and let's say our Hutsul music, there are certain nuances, there is something particular about them both. Did you ever have that feeling?
Ihor Hnydyn: Yes at one time I really had the opportunity to experience the feeling of real Irish music, when I entered a small out-of-the-way town, but there were a lot of tourists there and I was walking by this pub and I entered it and there I heard.... I don't know what to call their – accordion, it was similar to a bayan, and there this guy was playing Irish music with a flute and guitarist. It really was something to survive through, because there was something incredible there, first of all it included their coloring, at one moment, and I heard so much jazz within, and ... and... in principle you really could compare it to our Hutsul kolomeyky or something similar when they start improvising, because improvisation is strength.
VP: Well we could say that jazz really is improvisation, an individual take some small nuances and begins to build something from it. Nastya I heard this a little last night in your role as pianist and you added something on the synthesizer that really reminded me of the beginning of the 1970s when they really started to make use of that technology. Could you please tell us a little about your vision of ShockolaD and jazz?
Annastasiya Lytvynyuk: For me ShockolaD in principle now is the embodiment somehow of all my musical views, musical impressions and there I can express myself as a musician in the first place; and... well what is jazz, well that's very... we could sit and talk about it day and night and we could still do not know if we could to come to a complete explanation. But for me personally, it is music, at the given moment, music with such freedom that you can put in anything you want, in principle, because jazz as understanding, because now time has extreme expanses, it can be the ethnos that we personally put into ShokolaD, and it could be academic music or avantgarde music, we can put in anything possible. Regarding piano jazz or regarding my personal improvisations. Right now I am searching for myself searching for my own personal style, even though it is difficult for a young person to do, but thanks to the fact that I had an opportunity to study in Poland, now I am trying to find some of my own personal things that would become recognizable, and I hope that in a certain time I will be able to accomplish this.
VP: Dana actually we met last Sunday at the 20th anniversary concert of Mertviy Piven, and Misko was not mistaken when he told me about your voice. I heard it last Sunday, and I heard it last night. You as a singer have to give something to your audience, and I can see it in the audience, when each individual plays their role but somehow it all comes together as a general work. There were a few times where I would say, 'Dana just a little bit louder, just a wee bit so I could hear you better!' I have it all written down and maybe we can share ideas. What are your next plans for ShockolaD, lets say in the next little... let's say during the summer, because summer is a period which will always exist?
Dana Vynnytska: Thank you for your warm words, now when we are talking about when I sing very quietly, well its because silence is also very strong music and I want to edify the audience so that they also hear that silence. Well regarding our plans with ShockolaD, we are now working on arrangements and texts of works of Polish and Ukrainian authors. Now in particular, in this album POKOSY there is a bonus track which include the song to the text of the poem by Juliusz Slowatski Maty do syna [ed. Mother to son], and now we are completing the composition Rym [ed. Rome] and this summer we plan on putting out,... on creating compositions to the verse of Juliusz Slowatski and we are trying to add the texts of Ihor Bohdan Antonych. Right now we are on a road where we are searching for different poets that inspire us and we are now trying to find that place were there is a crossover between the word, music and improvisation.
VP: Well I would like to thank you all very much that we all got together this early. I remember earlier on Annastasia said, 'Oh my head isn't working yet, but maybe if we have a bit of coffee, everything will work fine!' Because I think that when our listeners in Vancouver will hear the music, listen to the compositions from this disc they will somehow be enthused! I would like to thank you all for your time and I think we will meet again not only on air but maybe our listeners will be here in L'viv and will be able to walk in some place, or maybe somehow sometime we will take you to Canada so that our listeners could hear you and I wish you all the success, prosperity and creativity.
Dana Vynnytska: Thank you very much, and we are our part would like to tell all your listeners that sooner or later we will visit you; [laughs] and we would like to wish them all the very best and more pleasant experiences from Ukrainian music.
So there you have it folks... I think we all went through about two coffees each that morning during the interview. But given that Andriy had his whole kit out and running, remember there was an eight channel mixer, microphones, laptop there on the table, so Yuriy, as a literary critic decided to also hit ShockolaD with a barrage of questions for one of the many projects that these to guys are working on.
Buy the time we were wrapping everything up we realized it was nearly twelve-thirty... Oh how time flies when you are having a great time.
In any case, I chatted with Ihor some more that day, and Markian Ivashchyshyn gave me to the OK to try to organize a second evening for ShockolaD to present their new CD Pokosy in Kyiv. A few hours later as I was going to meet a fellow Rotarian at his office in L'viv, I made a call to Fedir the head honcho at Kupidon in Kyiv.
“Vasyl, what ever it is you want to do, its fine by me,” said Fedir.
After having coffee at Genna's office and chatting about the possibility of getting some things from their Rotary Clubs in L'viv for our Charity Ball, he offered to drop me off where ever need be. I told him Dzyga, as I still had to finalize a few things for ShockolaD. I walked into the back room, where we had done the interview to find Markian and a few others sitting at a table, amongst them VlodKaufman. They were discussing some project, but they invited me to join them, after they finalized some of their matters, I finalized things with Markian regarding ShockolaD and then we just made small talk. I understood that there was a long standing conflict over work done by VlodKaufman for Fedir at Kupidon, but Markian said that if I can work things out with Fedir for ShockolaD, then it would be great. “Vasyliu, as you know, just how much room is there in Baraban, anyway!” God it was good to be in L'viv!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Pre-SockolaD – but just as sweet working out some deals for charity
Between the time I had first met Dana at Liviy Bereh underneath the L'viv Opera, a few days had gone by, but during that time I had arranged accommodations for some employees of a friend of mine who were coming into town on Wednesday morning and had been running around meeting with journalists and trying to ensure media coverage of an event being held on May 28.
On Wednesday afternoon I finally met up with them in by the Neptune fountain on Ploscha Rynok, L'viv's main square surrounding the City Hall. I wandered around with them doing the tourist thing for some time and then led them off to Dzyga, stopping at the Dominican Cathedral along the way.
After they took a look around Dzyga and with no place to sit, with the exception of the four seats at Markian Ivashchyshyn's table, which he kindly offered, they went off and I met with Markian to discuss the possibility of a few items his gallery may be able to provide for a charity event taking place in Kyiv on June 13. The Kyiv Multinational Rotary Club Midsummer Night's Dream Charity ball.
Discussions, were usually outside on the street outside of Dzyga at the end of Virmenska Street, often being interrupted by people either one of us knew just saying hello, but for the most part they were people Markian had business with. After explaining our reasons for the charity event with the Rotary Club of which I was President of from July of last year, Markian finally said he had some items he could provide for the charity event, but he would have to locate them. “Vasyliu, what you are doing is a good thing, I've known you for what, nearly twenty years now, if has to do with helping children I'm all for it,” he said in his low voice. “Let me see exactly what I can come up with for you before you head back to Kyiv, and before your event,” he added.
After sitting around and me sipping on some medivka [a fine spirited drink made from honey] and Markian on his Becherovka, Markian says, “Dana tells me you are coming out their show tomorrow night, don't worry about the cover, you're my guest, just be here for seven-thirty tomorrow evening, and don't worry about your bill I'll pick that up too, let's head upstairs, the music is about to start.” I picked up my remaining medivka and followed Markian up the curved steel staircase up to the Jazz Club at Dzyga. A number of years earlier, the room that now houses the Jazz Club was Dzyga's operations office. When dropping into L'viv during the mid to late 1990s after they had relocated to this location from the Porokhova zezha [The Powder Tower], this was the office I dropped in on first. This is where I could find out exactly what was going on in town by asking my friends who worked there, or musicians I knew who would often drop by, be it Mis'ko Barbara, Vsevolod Dyachyshyn, or John Suk.
Markian and I sat down at the table by the door. Apparently, there were some patrons who wanted to watch the football match. Through his staff Markian clearly told them that if they wanted to watch sports they could go to a sports bar, this is after all a jazz club and the music starts at 20:00. Markian ordered a plate of snacks, comprised of kolbassa, ham, and other crudites.
We listened to jazz and chatted about old times and I even brought up a matter that had been bothering me for a while, which we quickly resolved. “I can't remember what that was all about Vasyliu, but it is behind us now, we've all gone through a lot together and lost many close friends along the way, particularly shortly after we had sort of lost touch with one another,” said Markian calmly but with an air of sadness in his voice. I knew who he was referencing. In 1994 our close friend had been murdered by poisoning, that case was never solved; in 1996 another close friend had lost his short but painful battle with cancer, shortly after finishing his Master's degree in Prague, and his wife was about 6 months pregnant when he died; and a third friend we had known in different capacities, whose headless body was found in the woods outside of Kyiv. The entire world knows how badly this case has been handled. But there were many others which were not as tragic but nonetheless losses.
We sat for a while had a few more drinks and some food and then Markian pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down what he could provide me for our Rotary Club charity event in Kyiv.
At the top he noted:
An old friend of mine and I, were once again connected. And if when we met we both were striving for Ukraine to be an independent nation, now we were helping out each other to ensure that children born prematurely in Ukraine, would receive the medical care they needed.
He explained to me that the icon they were providing us was done by a seven-year old boy back in 1997 after an icon workshop. The bottles were done by well known Ukrainian artist, Mykhaylo Dzyndra, and would be filled with the precious golden drink.
Having covered what we wanted to, we both looked at each other and agreed that it was time to head home. A waitress came over handed Markian a bottle of medivka, he picked up and handed it to me and said, “This is for you!
Given it was raining to beat the band, as my grandfather used to say, Markian offered to drop me off where I was staying a few blocks away. We walked out of Dzyga, and got in a cab. As I got out in front of my friend's place Markian said to me, “See you tomorrow, goodnight!”
I headed up the stairs and headed off to sleep. Tomorrow was another day.
On Wednesday afternoon I finally met up with them in by the Neptune fountain on Ploscha Rynok, L'viv's main square surrounding the City Hall. I wandered around with them doing the tourist thing for some time and then led them off to Dzyga, stopping at the Dominican Cathedral along the way.
After they took a look around Dzyga and with no place to sit, with the exception of the four seats at Markian Ivashchyshyn's table, which he kindly offered, they went off and I met with Markian to discuss the possibility of a few items his gallery may be able to provide for a charity event taking place in Kyiv on June 13. The Kyiv Multinational Rotary Club Midsummer Night's Dream Charity ball.
Discussions, were usually outside on the street outside of Dzyga at the end of Virmenska Street, often being interrupted by people either one of us knew just saying hello, but for the most part they were people Markian had business with. After explaining our reasons for the charity event with the Rotary Club of which I was President of from July of last year, Markian finally said he had some items he could provide for the charity event, but he would have to locate them. “Vasyliu, what you are doing is a good thing, I've known you for what, nearly twenty years now, if has to do with helping children I'm all for it,” he said in his low voice. “Let me see exactly what I can come up with for you before you head back to Kyiv, and before your event,” he added.
After sitting around and me sipping on some medivka [a fine spirited drink made from honey] and Markian on his Becherovka, Markian says, “Dana tells me you are coming out their show tomorrow night, don't worry about the cover, you're my guest, just be here for seven-thirty tomorrow evening, and don't worry about your bill I'll pick that up too, let's head upstairs, the music is about to start.” I picked up my remaining medivka and followed Markian up the curved steel staircase up to the Jazz Club at Dzyga. A number of years earlier, the room that now houses the Jazz Club was Dzyga's operations office. When dropping into L'viv during the mid to late 1990s after they had relocated to this location from the Porokhova zezha [The Powder Tower], this was the office I dropped in on first. This is where I could find out exactly what was going on in town by asking my friends who worked there, or musicians I knew who would often drop by, be it Mis'ko Barbara, Vsevolod Dyachyshyn, or John Suk.
Markian and I sat down at the table by the door. Apparently, there were some patrons who wanted to watch the football match. Through his staff Markian clearly told them that if they wanted to watch sports they could go to a sports bar, this is after all a jazz club and the music starts at 20:00. Markian ordered a plate of snacks, comprised of kolbassa, ham, and other crudites.
We listened to jazz and chatted about old times and I even brought up a matter that had been bothering me for a while, which we quickly resolved. “I can't remember what that was all about Vasyliu, but it is behind us now, we've all gone through a lot together and lost many close friends along the way, particularly shortly after we had sort of lost touch with one another,” said Markian calmly but with an air of sadness in his voice. I knew who he was referencing. In 1994 our close friend had been murdered by poisoning, that case was never solved; in 1996 another close friend had lost his short but painful battle with cancer, shortly after finishing his Master's degree in Prague, and his wife was about 6 months pregnant when he died; and a third friend we had known in different capacities, whose headless body was found in the woods outside of Kyiv. The entire world knows how badly this case has been handled. But there were many others which were not as tragic but nonetheless losses.
We sat for a while had a few more drinks and some food and then Markian pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down what he could provide me for our Rotary Club charity event in Kyiv.
At the top he noted:
На Київ для “Павловського Василя”
Внесок Мистецького Об'єднання “Дзиґа”
Благодійний бал — акціон, 13.06 Київ
1) Картина Василя Плітко (дитина) 7 років, 1997 р.
“Ікона на шлкі” назва “Свята Родина”
2) 5 ексклюзивник пляшок “Медівки”
An old friend of mine and I, were once again connected. And if when we met we both were striving for Ukraine to be an independent nation, now we were helping out each other to ensure that children born prematurely in Ukraine, would receive the medical care they needed.
He explained to me that the icon they were providing us was done by a seven-year old boy back in 1997 after an icon workshop. The bottles were done by well known Ukrainian artist, Mykhaylo Dzyndra, and would be filled with the precious golden drink.
Having covered what we wanted to, we both looked at each other and agreed that it was time to head home. A waitress came over handed Markian a bottle of medivka, he picked up and handed it to me and said, “This is for you!
Given it was raining to beat the band, as my grandfather used to say, Markian offered to drop me off where I was staying a few blocks away. We walked out of Dzyga, and got in a cab. As I got out in front of my friend's place Markian said to me, “See you tomorrow, goodnight!”
I headed up the stairs and headed off to sleep. Tomorrow was another day.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Made in ЮА [UA].... the long road to Liviy Bereh (L'viv)
It has been some time since I have actually sat down and written anything, but it does not mean that my life has not been filled with a great number of musical events.
On May 20th I was sitting in one of my regular haunts when in comes an old friend of mine, Mykhaylo [Mis'ko] Barbara, lead man of Mertviy Piven', he sits down and joins me for a while and we start chewing the same old fat as usual. I met Mis'ko back in 1994 and over the years, we have become good friends willing to share ideas, and sometimes even reminisce about when we met at a small cafe in Ternopil during the third week of July back in 1994. But that day we met was a little different, I tried to avoid thinking back into the past[My father passed away thirty years ago to that day and I didn't want to dwell on it!], I was thinking about today, what I would be doing tomorrow and how good it would be to see friends in L'viv on the upcoming weekend at the 20th Anniversary of Studentske bratstvo.
One of the first things Mis'ko says to me that day, “Vasyliu, I've just discovered a girl with an incredible voice, one of the best ranges and abilities I've heard in a very long time!” I smiled at Mis'ko, and asked, “So who is she?” He replied, “Her name is Dana!”
He said, “Well you are going to be in L'viv this weekend, aren't you? Come out to Liviy Bereh, is a new club that has opened up underneath the L'viv Opera, we are playing our 20th anniversary concert there on May 24th, and she will be singing back vocals on a few numbers.” With that he pulled out a copy of the band's latest CD called Made in UA, featuring the poems of Yuriy Andrukhovych put to their music. Pulled out a pen and signed it for me... “If you get a chance take a listen and tell me what you think?” said Mis'ko. In all honesty, I still haven't had the time to give it a great listen.
Mis'ko, packed up his notebook and headed off! Then I noticed a pair of sunglasses on the table. I gave Mis'ko a call... He answered and said, “See at the gig on the 24th, and don't forget my sunglasses! I won't be in L'viv on the 23th as we have a gig in Rivne that night, and have a great party with our friends from SB!”
A couple of days later I arrived in L'viv by train on a Saturday morning. The weather was clear when I arrived, but as the day went on we started to get some cloud cover, and I wondered just what kind of day would shape up for the 20th Anniversary Celebration of Studentske bratstvo. Let's just say that it turned out to be some party... Starting out in the courtyard of the L'viv City Hall at 17:00. It was good to see people, some that I had not seen for nine years, others I saw the last time in 1993.
The evening was filled with entertainment, primarily patriotic and satirical songs that students sang back in 1989, prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union and when there was a rebirth of being proud being Ukrainian, particularly in the western parts of Ukraine. By about 22:00 a core group of merry makers headed off to a friend's restaurant to continue the celebration. This was also filled with singing and dancing and plenty of good food and drink. By about 3:00 in the morning we all slowly began to disperse. It was a fine evening, but the core musical section of this blog is only about to begin.
By 15:00 on the 24h of May I ran into some friends that I didn't have time to catch up with the night before and we found a quiet side street, away from where any one of us could run into someone we knew. Given the Mertviy Piven' concert was to start at 21:00 I began to debate one key thing. Should I have a nap or push it and stay up... I decided upon the later, as going to sleep after the late night before would have clearly resulted in not a nap but a very long sleep.
As usual, when heading off to a new venue, I try to give myself a little bit more time than usual. I stood and front of the Opera and thought, “So where is the entrance?” Not that it really mattered, as I would eventually circumnavigate the Opera from the left hand side while facing it and find the entrance on the right hand side.
I pulled open the heavy wooden door and found a second door, paid my 100 UAH entrance fee, and headed down the stairs into the basement of the L'viv Opera. What I saw was a stage at the end of the hall, of about 35 meters long. The place was packed, clearly there were plenty of MP fans that had gathered to listen to both the new material off of Mertviy Piven's new album.
The club is done in good taste, and has vaulted brick ceilings. Looking around at the décor I thought to myself. “I wonder if the architect, Zygmunt Gorgolewski ever thought that this building would also serve such a purpose?”
I looked around then noticed my friend Markian Ivashchyshyn and a young woman sitting next to him. Markian told me to pull up a chair and introduced me to Dana. We sat and awaited the beginning of the concert, and it was not long before they started.
For the most part, the concert was filled with new material from their new CD. At one point, Dana got up and excused herself and made her way up to the stage, in fact this is what I was waiting for. I always feel that when a musician gives a thumbs up to another musician it is worth its weight in gold, and from what Mis'ko had told me about I was in for a bit of a treat. He was not mistaken.
As Mertviy Piven' wrapped up their material, Mis'ko traditionally introduced all the members of the band including Dana Vynnytska. They all, including Dana, received an incredible round of applause. It was not long before the audience started calling out for an encore. You could hear the repetition of the word “Bis! Bis! Bis!” from the crowd of probably close to 150 people under the vaulted ceiling.
Mertviy Piven' returned to the stage and launched into some of their older material including such well known songs as “Beautiful Karpaty” and “Lito bude” and concluded with their first “hit” “Eto!”. Everyone in attendance seemed pleased.
After all those seeking autographs and copies of the new Mertviy Piven' CD began to disperse I headed up to the stage with Mis'ko's sunglasses. To the right of the stage was a curtain which separated part of that end of the hall from the audience and served as a backstage area. As Mis'ko continued to sign CD's I had a chance to say my hello's to some of the band members and then moved towards the area behind the curtain. I was greeted with a big hug by Svitlana Oleshko, Director of the Arabesque Theatre from Kharkiv, and Mis'ko's partner... “Vasyliu good to see you, its been a while!” said Svitlana.
Mis'ko tore himself away from his fans for a second when he caught a glimpse of me came over and shook my hand as I handed him his shades. He asked me how the celebration the night before and I asked him about the Rivne gig. I looked at him and told him it was time for me to head home to sleep. “Thanks for coming out and bringing my sunglasses,” he said with sincerity.
I headed back towards the door, and Dana and I headed up the stairs together. As we headed along Prospect Svobody, Dana said, “I hope to see you on June 6th at our CD presentation!” I told her that I wouldn't be in L'viv that long so she invited me to their concert on May 28th at the Jazz Club at Dzyga. Needless to say that will be a completely different blog post... and eventually, I will actually sit down and review Made in ЮА.
On May 20th I was sitting in one of my regular haunts when in comes an old friend of mine, Mykhaylo [Mis'ko] Barbara, lead man of Mertviy Piven', he sits down and joins me for a while and we start chewing the same old fat as usual. I met Mis'ko back in 1994 and over the years, we have become good friends willing to share ideas, and sometimes even reminisce about when we met at a small cafe in Ternopil during the third week of July back in 1994. But that day we met was a little different, I tried to avoid thinking back into the past[My father passed away thirty years ago to that day and I didn't want to dwell on it!], I was thinking about today, what I would be doing tomorrow and how good it would be to see friends in L'viv on the upcoming weekend at the 20th Anniversary of Studentske bratstvo.
One of the first things Mis'ko says to me that day, “Vasyliu, I've just discovered a girl with an incredible voice, one of the best ranges and abilities I've heard in a very long time!” I smiled at Mis'ko, and asked, “So who is she?” He replied, “Her name is Dana!”
He said, “Well you are going to be in L'viv this weekend, aren't you? Come out to Liviy Bereh, is a new club that has opened up underneath the L'viv Opera, we are playing our 20th anniversary concert there on May 24th, and she will be singing back vocals on a few numbers.” With that he pulled out a copy of the band's latest CD called Made in UA, featuring the poems of Yuriy Andrukhovych put to their music. Pulled out a pen and signed it for me... “If you get a chance take a listen and tell me what you think?” said Mis'ko. In all honesty, I still haven't had the time to give it a great listen.
Mis'ko, packed up his notebook and headed off! Then I noticed a pair of sunglasses on the table. I gave Mis'ko a call... He answered and said, “See at the gig on the 24th, and don't forget my sunglasses! I won't be in L'viv on the 23th as we have a gig in Rivne that night, and have a great party with our friends from SB!”
A couple of days later I arrived in L'viv by train on a Saturday morning. The weather was clear when I arrived, but as the day went on we started to get some cloud cover, and I wondered just what kind of day would shape up for the 20th Anniversary Celebration of Studentske bratstvo. Let's just say that it turned out to be some party... Starting out in the courtyard of the L'viv City Hall at 17:00. It was good to see people, some that I had not seen for nine years, others I saw the last time in 1993.
The evening was filled with entertainment, primarily patriotic and satirical songs that students sang back in 1989, prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union and when there was a rebirth of being proud being Ukrainian, particularly in the western parts of Ukraine. By about 22:00 a core group of merry makers headed off to a friend's restaurant to continue the celebration. This was also filled with singing and dancing and plenty of good food and drink. By about 3:00 in the morning we all slowly began to disperse. It was a fine evening, but the core musical section of this blog is only about to begin.
By 15:00 on the 24h of May I ran into some friends that I didn't have time to catch up with the night before and we found a quiet side street, away from where any one of us could run into someone we knew. Given the Mertviy Piven' concert was to start at 21:00 I began to debate one key thing. Should I have a nap or push it and stay up... I decided upon the later, as going to sleep after the late night before would have clearly resulted in not a nap but a very long sleep.
As usual, when heading off to a new venue, I try to give myself a little bit more time than usual. I stood and front of the Opera and thought, “So where is the entrance?” Not that it really mattered, as I would eventually circumnavigate the Opera from the left hand side while facing it and find the entrance on the right hand side.
I pulled open the heavy wooden door and found a second door, paid my 100 UAH entrance fee, and headed down the stairs into the basement of the L'viv Opera. What I saw was a stage at the end of the hall, of about 35 meters long. The place was packed, clearly there were plenty of MP fans that had gathered to listen to both the new material off of Mertviy Piven's new album.
The club is done in good taste, and has vaulted brick ceilings. Looking around at the décor I thought to myself. “I wonder if the architect, Zygmunt Gorgolewski ever thought that this building would also serve such a purpose?”
I looked around then noticed my friend Markian Ivashchyshyn and a young woman sitting next to him. Markian told me to pull up a chair and introduced me to Dana. We sat and awaited the beginning of the concert, and it was not long before they started.
For the most part, the concert was filled with new material from their new CD. At one point, Dana got up and excused herself and made her way up to the stage, in fact this is what I was waiting for. I always feel that when a musician gives a thumbs up to another musician it is worth its weight in gold, and from what Mis'ko had told me about I was in for a bit of a treat. He was not mistaken.
As Mertviy Piven' wrapped up their material, Mis'ko traditionally introduced all the members of the band including Dana Vynnytska. They all, including Dana, received an incredible round of applause. It was not long before the audience started calling out for an encore. You could hear the repetition of the word “Bis! Bis! Bis!” from the crowd of probably close to 150 people under the vaulted ceiling.
Mertviy Piven' returned to the stage and launched into some of their older material including such well known songs as “Beautiful Karpaty” and “Lito bude” and concluded with their first “hit” “Eto!”. Everyone in attendance seemed pleased.
After all those seeking autographs and copies of the new Mertviy Piven' CD began to disperse I headed up to the stage with Mis'ko's sunglasses. To the right of the stage was a curtain which separated part of that end of the hall from the audience and served as a backstage area. As Mis'ko continued to sign CD's I had a chance to say my hello's to some of the band members and then moved towards the area behind the curtain. I was greeted with a big hug by Svitlana Oleshko, Director of the Arabesque Theatre from Kharkiv, and Mis'ko's partner... “Vasyliu good to see you, its been a while!” said Svitlana.
Mis'ko tore himself away from his fans for a second when he caught a glimpse of me came over and shook my hand as I handed him his shades. He asked me how the celebration the night before and I asked him about the Rivne gig. I looked at him and told him it was time for me to head home to sleep. “Thanks for coming out and bringing my sunglasses,” he said with sincerity.
I headed back towards the door, and Dana and I headed up the stairs together. As we headed along Prospect Svobody, Dana said, “I hope to see you on June 6th at our CD presentation!” I told her that I wouldn't be in L'viv that long so she invited me to their concert on May 28th at the Jazz Club at Dzyga. Needless to say that will be a completely different blog post... and eventually, I will actually sit down and review Made in ЮА.
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