The City That Never Sleeps...

Review of

Myroslav Levytsky's

"The City That Never Sleeps" CD released in 2011.

Written by: William (Vasyl) Pawlowsky

CD The City That Never Sleeps

Date published: 08/24/2011

4.75 / 5 stars

Some time ago I discovered that my old friend Myroslav Levytsky had just put out a new CD. It in fact is only the second studio production that he has out, even though he has been around for some time. Fortunately enough, Myroslav and I are on great personal terms and he first sent me a number of tracks from the CD for a listen followed up by a signed copy for me personally and a limited number of personally initialled copies to be made available for those who want something different, for a price. We'll get to that a bit later.

Before I launch into reviewing this work, let me preface it by saying that I have known Myroslav for over ten years and have been involved in some of the collaboration he has done with the artists that appear on his latest release. I have written about Myros' here and will continue to do so as long as he continues to develop as an artists. He has always been, in my eyes, a musician's musician and is far from being in the mainstream, thus he has never had an easy row to hoe, but he ventures on and I have to give him credit for that in the very least.

Being a musician in any country is difficult, but being one in Ukraine where corruption is high, and intellectual property is something that is still not understood, after twenty years of the country's independence, makes things a little tougher than for most other artists, though regardless, Myroslav presses on. His gumption is something that admire, both as a musician and as a friend, and because of this I will digress.

Prior to the release of his first studio album Myroslav invited me out to his place near the Minsk metro station in Kyiv. I grabbed a Tetra-Pak® of pineapple juice I had in the fridge. I was living with a friend, his younger brother and their cousin. Myroslav had just received the master of that CD from BMG studios in Munich and he wanted to share it with me before they decided to putting it out.

As we listened to a copy of the master, Myroslav asked me where the juice was that I had brought. He poured us each a glass, and we looked at each other strangely. Not only were IP rights being violated, but so were consumer rights. We looked at our glasses, this stuff was practically water. A number of years later I found out from, directly from my friend's younger brother that he had spent an hour, extracting the pineapple juice from the Tetra-Pak® with a syringe and then re-injecting it with water. Kids – Sashko... you know I know that you did this, and some day you will pay! Just kidding. While our pineapple juice wasn't that sweet. Myroslav's tracks back then were, and I am pleased to say that the tracks on his latest release are also sweet. So without further delay, let me get to this new CD of Braty Bluzu featuring a great acquaintance of mine from Vienna Rens Newland.

Now, unlike so many others, I will get into a track by track review of this latest album by Braty Bluzu, and it's composer Myroslav Levytsky. Maybe I will finish writing this by midnight. It's nearly 20:00 now.

First of all I would like to say that I was pleased to see that the “jewel box” is going the way of the dinosaur, I hope. This CD is in a nicely packaged soft triple-fold package.. The art work on its exterior finely coincides with the title of the work . Who knows, maybe artwork on CD covers will be as coveted as those of our love vinyl albums we had in the past!

Now let's get to the nitty gritty.


No, wait! I have to say one other thing before getting into the music stuff. Rens Newland who is featured on all the guitar work here, recorded it at his studio on Vienna, so this is truly an international album, virtually, “Music Without Borders”!

So now let's get into a track by track run down of The City that Never Sleeps.

Damn it, my controller has died... No super small batteries for it at the moment...Seems to me I will reviewing this on cruddy headphones, as opposed to nice JBL-L19 studio monitors.

Well here we go!

The first track which is called “Intro” features the voice of yet unknown star Romchyk Vintersky, the young son of the band's drummer. It is clearly an atmospheric piece and for the most part sets up positive atmosphere of what awaits us. Who can resist the babble of a young child. Though this is not the only voice one will hear on this primarily instrumental album.

The second tracked called “Sky Coloured Blue Eyes”, features the colourful Oleh Levytsky on sax. While not a blustering Gerry Raferty style, Oleh can hold his own, and the tune has a very positive demeanour to it. Rens Newland first appears here on this album, and, clearly his years of experience are clearly heard. Did I not mention this is a musician's CD.

The third track called “World”, is oddly enough aptly entitled. We are not really sure what is going on now, and the beat set up and the violin, by Zakhar Valaha, son of the bands deceased violinist Andriy Valaha, gives us a sense of uncertainty, while at the same time some extremely positive energy. Ten years ago I spent some time living at Andriy Valaha's in Kalush Ukraine. After the Chervona Ruta Festival in $$$ Andriy suffered an aneurysm in his late twenties. He was a tenacious son of a gun, and I met his son Zakhar, who is clearly carrying on his father's legacy with Braty Bluzu.

Oh, sorry for the digression.. It is extremely clear that Oleh also puts his lips to the reed and blows out some great sax on this track, filled with the energy that our world now needs.

Now we move on to track number four, which can be considered the title track. The clearly electronically generated back beat to the entire tune, in my mind, shows the development of Levytsky in accepting new trends This is most likely the influence of his drummer Andriy Vintserskiy, though this in no way distracts from the composition. In fact the entire album was mixed at Vin Records, Andriy's studio in Kyiv. Oleh Levytsky's sax here is no less prevalent than in other tracks...

Now talking about sax! Clearly, Myroslav has employed his brother's abilities on the fifth track with out end. I will tell you my dear reader, there were probably a few nights that I awoke and knew Myroslav was working on this track entitled “Jazz – Ballet on the Themes of Short Stories by William Shakespeare”. Now, I'm not really certain how may short stories old Willy wrote... But if looking for a name for a song, Myroslav picked a good one here. Newland clearly weaves a fine tapestry in the tale with his guitar work and arrangements. A consummate professional!

The sixth track is in fact for me something special. Sure you all ask, “why?” Well it is a track that I was present at during its first creation between Myroslav and Rens. It was the end of June ten years ago. We had just completed the first collaboration between Myroslav Levytsky, Rens Newland and Lionel Lodge in Linz Austria as a project called “Music Without Borders” Rens had stated he had a few hours to sit down with Myroslav to record something if he desired. I was the medium. Myroslav spoke no English. After four hours, we had a piece. Rens turned to Myrsolav and asked, “What are you going to call your composition?” Myroslav looked out the window of Rens' studio.. and replied in Ukrainian, “ Videnskiy Lis” - Vienna Woods... The song has taken on many transformations in the last ten years, but I can listen to it over and over again, as it brings back some very positive memories of my time in Vienna with Myroslav and the guys he had pulled together for that project. “Vienna Woods” was an extremely pastoral piece when it was conceived, and has grown over its ten year existence.

The seventh track “Father and Son” probably has more meaning that I could even express here in this simple babbling about Myroslav's CD. I'm not going into why this is the case, though there is such a positive feel t this track that I would recommend it as a listen to any father who has a son. The light nuances of piano and guitar make it an extremely positive track. It almost becomes a discourse between two individuals, in this case , Rens Newland on guitar and Myroslav Levytsky on keyboards.

“With You”, now who would that be? I sometimes wonder myself, though I don't have to wonder much. The ultimately positive track right from the beginning even sounds like the words “With You”! If you have made it this far and haven't given up, you will clearly understand that this is a music lover's CD and not something for someone who hasn't the foggiest. Enjoy Oleh's sax here... it is a total sax chill. Wow I even heard some nice bass lines by Vitaliy Savenko on this piece.

Vitaliy and I go back a number of years... and I never expected him to be working with Myroslav when I met him at the “Cowboy Club” in Kyiv, playing bass with “Gaytana” covering a bunch of cover tracks. But I always enjoyed talking to him about music and life in general.

Goodness, only three more tracks to go! Yes, folks I am actually listening to this CD track by track and it is about the thirtieth time and I know I will listen to it many times more.

While “Two Evenings With Love” starts off in a very mellow state, don't be fooled. The interplay between the sax of Oleh and the guitar of Rens, boils into a frenzy that is clearly some hot stuff in the middle of a hot summer night. Slowly subsiding to a relaxed tempo of post coitus and then ... well you will have to listen to it if you want to understand what I mean....

When I was growing up I used to go picking mushrooms, and many other things that nature gifted to us. And I often heard from people in our community, if you don't want to get “Lost in the Forest” take my father along. We never got lost in the forest,. This along with the first track of the album is the only one which features “voice”. I would call it extremely experimental for this day and age. Why? Because I would say that most individuals are not ready for such a mix. Well maybe not most, but those who listen to mainstream, definitely. This piece features the haunting voices of a group called “Drevo” and I am almost tempted to give them the line: “We are not men we are Drevo”.

Finally we are getting to the end of my track-by-track review... Some are probably happy, others are most likely indifferent.

Now what could a track like “Rock – Jazz” mean to anyone? Clearly a fusion of both...

All compositions of this CD are of my good friend and former roommate Myroslav Levytsky, the album was published by Jive Music in Vienna Austria.

If you just need something to listen to, with all the crazy lyrics to boggle your mind you can pick up a copy of this CD initialed by Myroslav himself if you are in North America. Copies are limited, but you will have to drop me an e-mail and I will tell you how we can go about this. Once, I am out of copies you will have to deal with Jive Music in Vienna.

Taking on a new shape...

Well just over a week has passed since I was at a concert at Art Club 44 in the heart of Kyiv. It was on Halloween night, and like many places the staff at that establishment were all ghouled up... Like any other thing here in Ukraine, if it can be commercially feasible, then go along with it, and Halloween is no different, no matter what the Russian Orthodox Church's take on the day is.

The band performing and its musicians can be considered dinosaurs when compared to many of the bands that have developed in the last five years here in Ukraine, however, this should be understood in a positive sense. On July 24, 2007 Braty bluzu held a 15th Anniversary Reunion gig, and more than a year has passed since then and given I was in Montreal for business at that time, I will not be able to compare that gig to this last one. All I can say is, that it was different than what I had ever experienced from Braty bluzu before.

Having arrived at 44 at about 21:40 there was already no where to sit, except right next to the stage, well that wasn't even sitting, it was leaning against a pillar. I was expecting to be joined by a couple of friends and wondered where they would fit in. About ten minutes prior to when the show was to start I first saw Myroslav Levytsky, lead man and composer for the group, and in a short time his brother Oleh wandered by. I gave him my hand and embraced him... and congratulated him on the birth of his daughter, his first child, at the beginning of June of this year. It didn't take him long to pull out his phone to show me pictures of her. Clearly a very proud father!

Not far behind in his footsteps was Serhiy Taftay, who now spends his time between my home of Montreal and Ukraine. Serhiy greeted me, "Bonjour, ça va?" and then said to me, "What about those Habs!" Referring to the Montreal Canadians hockey team. Blair, if you are reading this... our fellow Canadian Jason, said that Serhiy reminds him of you... but of course with a little more hair and bushier eye brows. But nonetheless a Habs fan!

The next of the band members I ran into was a relative newcomer to Braty bluzu, but old friend of mine Vitaliy Savenko, and former bass player with Gaytana. "Of course, where else would I run into you?" said Vitaliy as he shook my hand.

In a sprightly rhythm Andriy Vintsersky the group's drummer bounded by Vitaliy and I but not with out shaking my hand and smiling as he bound up on to the stage and started to set up his high-hat. Vinnia as his friends call him is a powder keg of energy for his small stature. I stand a head and a bit taller than him!

Then to top it all off I saw a familiar face. It is hard to even express what it meant for me to see Zakhar Valaha! Now I must digress in order for those of you who are not familiar with the history of the band. In the beginning, the group's front man was Andriy Valaha, Zakhar's father. In 1993 after receiving the Grand Prix at the Chervona Ruta Festival in Donetsk, and while still in Donetsk, Andriy Valaha suffered an aneurysm, as a result Andriy would never play with his fellow musicians again. Though a few years ago Myroslav Levytsky asked Zakhar to join him on the occasions when Kyrylo Stetsenko, grandson of the famous Ukrainian composer, was not available to join the group to play violin.

Having, stayed with Andriy Valaha in Kalush, Ukraine in 2001, I could only imagine what it must mean to him for Myroslav to bring his son in to play with his former fellow brothers in arms.

Well, maybe these digressions are a little to much for some of you so I will get on with the gig itself, but at the same time they are important in understanding the history of the contemporary Ukrainian music scene.

As the first set opened, there was a sound that I was not expecting! I finally had a feeling that I had done the right thing in both morally and financially assisting Myroslav Levytsky in attending a Professional Development session at the Banff Centre in the winter of 2004. I listened and thought to myself, "This has to be the influence of Jeffery Goldberg under whom Myroslav had studied at Banff!"

As the first set continued there were a lot of surprises, the interplay of keyboards, saxophone, guitar and bass surprised me. It was a totally new shape, a new pentagon of sound. With girls in their early twenties moving and grooving to the music, clearly indicated to me that there was new generation of people in Ukraine with a different taste in music, and thank goodness.

Somewhere, with a few tunes left in the first set, my friend Jason showed up. As a musician, I could clearly see that he was was enjoying what he was hearing.

During the break between the first and second sets, I introduced Jason to the musicians. Clearly, there was an appreciative tone in his voice toward them, as well as from others, that Myroslav said to me this morning, "people I have never seen before."

As the second set began, I began to hear compositions I was familiar with, including a different arrangement of Vienna Woods which I was witness to the birth of in June of 2001 at Bizzy Man Studio run by Rens Newland. Unlike the pastoral sound recorded for the first time in Vienna, this arrangement with Taftay on guitar had a totally different ring to it.

As usual, Oleh Levytsky was applauded by all for his sax work, and during the second set the younger Valaha had an opportunity to demonstrate the skills that his father had passed on to him, if not through a lot of hard work, it was clearly genetically.

I truly hope that the materials of the first set make it into studio... A new shape in an new era is what Braty bluzu needs.

So some of you are probably wondering why it took me a week to write this... Let's just say I needed to consult with Levytsky about his first set...

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.

The Braty bluzu - Newland gig

Well it wasn't really a gig, it was more like a closed party for the Association of Ukrainian Architects, and a get together for some friends.

I entered the Hotel Rus where the reception for Architects was bing held Myroslav ushered me into an ante room just off the main hall. In a short while, Oleh Levytsky and Rens Newland appeared and we began to chat, after all over four years had passed since I had seen Rens. A couple of minutes later someone caught my eye, and somehow I had caught her's as well. Natalka came running up to me and we gave each other a big hug. Rens laughed, and then I introduced him to Natalka, an old friend and journalist with ICTV, whom I hadn't seen for nearly a year.

The gig was in fact divided into four different parts, and part of the overall show. After the first set, another old friend appeared. In fact Olena had traveled to Linz, Austria as part of the original Music with out Borders project with us back in 2001. That was a great experience. As Olena and stood listening to the second or third set we looked at one another - I mentioned that I thought that maybe we were the only ones in the hall that knew that some of the material that Myroslav Levytsky was playing over 12 years old... Pieces, like Authentic Life, Letter, Wild Rain and other pieces.

Joining us was a young woman Ira who was serving as interpreter for Rens while he was in town. Between sets she asked me how I knew Myroslav and Rens, and I tried to keep it short and sweet. We stepped out to listen to one of the sets which included Vienna Woods. Ira asked, "Is it true that Myroslav recorded this in Vienna at Rens' studio?"
"Of course I replied, we spent just over six and a half hours in studio working on that piece!" Sure the arrangement had changed a little since it was recorded in 2001 Myroslav had to work in Oleh's saxophone work into the pieces.


During one of the sets I met an editor of an Ukrainian architectural magazine, she was a little surprised to see me at the event, not knowing my connection to Levytsky. She said she was enjoying the show but noted that not everyone was ready for this type of music.

When it was all over we had a few drinks and parted ways. Rens gave me a copy of his latest CD "Rens Newland with the twenty second line circus - Freedom Street Parade" which have listened to a couple of times already... and then we all went our separate ways... Well there was a little bit of joking around and pictures taken but that is a whole different story unto itself.

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.