An interlude from something sweet - but cleansing

Yesterday a friend of mine and fellow Twitterer hinted that she would be interviewing Oleh Skrypka today... According to her report on Deutsche Welle it seems the initiator of the Kraina Mriy festival, now in its sixth year, will not himself be at the festival. In fact he will be at a festival taking place in Tartistan.

One thing I noticed at the festival last year, was that the people who were there were not only orderly but they picked up after themselves. But this was not only my observation but that of many friends, and it turns out that Oleh Skrypka himself along with many of the performers made not of this as well.

A few days ago I met with an old friend over coffee, as we went our separate ways Mykaylo said to me... "Everyone likes to complain, but no one seems to want to change anything. However, those who understand who they are, take care of things including themselves, their homes and the neighborhoods they live in," he said. Well Oleh Skrypka seems to echo this sentiment and told Deutsche Welle:

...головна проблема на Землі загалом - екологічна, починаючи з внутрішньої екології і закінчуючи екологією довкілля: "Ми ініцювали рух "Країна Мрій — чиста країна". Так, каже Скрипка, в рамках громадської ініціативи і не за гроші та не через вказівку – збирались люди й прибирали Труханів острів та Замкову гору в Києві.

So it seems that there are people out their that do care about what is on right in their own backyards.

While this year's festival has been cut from three days to one, it is certain that those who make a day of it and head out for the 12:00 start time, will be individuals who will leave the place as spotless as it was when they arrived.

A weekend of fun under the sun - Are we certain?

I awoke on Saturday morning bright and early. The sun was shining and all I could see was big white clouds in the sky. After a little meandering around my neighbourhood, making a number of phone calls and then meeting up with a friend just after noon I decided it was time to go to the office to tidy up some loose ends. But as I emerged from the underground of one of my most frequented locals, I could see a storm a brewing. I got into the the Kyiv metro system just in time and my timing seemed to hold for me. As ascended up toward street level there were all kinds of people who looked like they had just experienced a downpour.

During the few hours I spent in the office the rains came down and when it was time to leave the sun started to come out... My timing had been just right and I headed off to the Krayina Mriy festival which is in its fifth year, to meet up with some friends. Not that we were exactly planning on it, but I knew that I would see people there that I don't see day in and day out.

It wasn't long before I started running into friends of mine, but more important we had gathered to list to some music, and that we did. The two piece duo from Les Karpat (France) put on a great show and a full sound from all but a stand up bass and a guitar. But I was soon to discover that the sound I heard was only due to my physical location. Later on we listened and listened to Karavan Familia (Hungary) and Gypsy (Czech Republic) and Kal from Serbia... Unfortunately the time that the Serbs spent on set up and sound check would have been much more appreciated by the audience had their performance last more than 30 minutes.

The first evening was over and while the performers were good, there was something that was bothering me. It was the poor quality of the sound.

The next day I headed out to the festival under much more pleasant conditions from the start. The sun was shining it was warm and there was a pleasant breeze, just enough to keep things from getting to hot.

On my way into festival ground I stopped in at the Literaturna stena and caught the tail end of some ballads by Eduard Drach, and chatted with producer Serhiy Archipchuk, who encouraged me to stick around that stage for the series of performances. Had I not agreed to meet some friends I would have.

Somehow, Sunday was not as spontaneous for meeting friends as Saturday had been, but it wasn't long before I ran into an old friend Yevhen, and from that point on it was a full day of walking from stage to stage trying to catch the different acts. There was a lot of running around and then we settled in on the main stage where our friend and Kobzar Taras Kompanichenko and Yurko Fedynsky (USA), though now in Kyiv for eight years, were performing. As we approached the front row, Taras was giving the sound man heck for problems with the monitors.

As we wandered up one of the hills to one of the stages we came across Lirnyk Sashko known for his incredible tales which he would weave. Though Sashko was not telling a tale but he was sitting in a small circle with a group of children listening to one, being told by a young boy of about 10 years old. Yevhen said, "They should give the kid a microphone, so we could all here him!" From their we wandered off to the nearest stage where Edmonton's Koubasonics had just started into their rendition of Arkan.

Later on while moving back down the hill we sat with some Yevhen's distant relatives. After a while Yevhen looked at me and said, "What to heck is wrong with the sound!" He had confirmed my feelings of the day before, there was something wrong with the sound. Unless you were in direct line with the speakers there were an awful lot of dead spots.

At about 19:00 I got a phone call from Oleksandr from Drymba da Dzyga in order to meet and talk about the possibility of cooperation. We met about 50 meters away from where Yevhen and I had been sitting. He too noted that the sound just wasn't quite right. I returned to Yevhen and we settled in to eating some varenyky and some shashlyk together with little doses of Khortystia horilka.

Over the course of the evening I met up with other friends and we enjoyed the rest of the evening. About a week earlier I received some photos from a friend of mine from Vancouver, in one of the photos Oleh Skrypka was on crutches. I wrote my friend and asked him what had happened to Oleh. It turns out that during a performance back in May he had done some damage to his ankle, and surgery didn't quite solve his problem. This was confirmed when I saw Skrypka hobble out on stage on crutches.

After a long day, having met many different friends, both old and new, my friend Olha and I wandered away from the festival grounds, we caught a cab and she dropped me off near my place.

I was beat, and rightfully so, Yevhen and I had probably done about 5km running up and down the hills to the different stages. I reflected on the last two days... "Had it not been for the problems with the sound, it would have truly been a weekend of fun under the sun!"

Live Earth vs Kraina Mriiy

If we look back over the weekend there were two different events that were going on in the music industry as a whole and here in Ukraine with a focus on totally different matters. However, were they so different?

While former front man Oleh Skrypka of Vopli Vidoplasova held his Fourth World Music Festival Krayina Mriy in Kyiv, an event that was modeled on an event organized by Bob Geldof of The Boom Town Rats more than twenty years ago, Live-Aid, Live Earth was taking place on each of the planet's five continents.

The inclement weather kept me from attending Krayina Mriy, and while attending Live Earth was not in my budget I did manage to catch some of its programing which took place on the Tonis TV Channel here in Kyiv. It came as little surprise that the program was being sponsored by the Green Party of Ukraine [elections coming up], but what was also clear to me was that management at Tonis took advantage of the event to rake in some advertising dollars. While I may be wrong, I have a hunch that I'm not. While other TV stations in more developed parts of the world were showing the PSAs aimed at increasing public awareness regarding the problem, Tonis, cut many of these and replaced them with advertising.

Actually, the planet earth is a land of wonders, hence these are the only two similarities between the two events that took place over the weekend. While the money behind both these events was not shabby by far, Live Earth was something that I personally had more feeling for. Skrypka would have done much better for himself and those musicians who performed, had they somehow tried to join the global effort in raising awareness. Just how much effort would have been needed to do so? The ecology in around Kyiv is appalling, and I don't believe that a great deal is being done to do anything about it. A national program has to be started, and ecological awareness of Ukrainians has to start from a very young age, if the territory of Ukraine isn't going to become a major garbage dump.

I can say for certain that there are some other friends who are trying to make a difference. For example, Stepan Pasicznyk, aka Ludwig formally with the UK based band The Ukrainians. To have a better understanding of what I mean take a look at his video.

Ukrainian Music for Charity

Just over a year ago I was introduced to a fellow from Vienna Austria who is involved in an interesting project called East-Beat. At that time he asked me if I could help him contact various music labels and musicians here in Ukraine in order to do everything in a legal manner.

After a number of meetings with him we were able to get a number of agreements signed and things started moving forward and agreements to date have been signed to include the music of Vopli Vidopliassova, Iryna Bilyk,Haydamaky, Okean Elzy, Mandry, Marija Burmaka, Skrjabin, Nedilya and Ocheretyany Kit on the CD.

After a number of visits to Ukraine Fritz managed to get some great support of Oleh Skrypka.


Last week Fritz, was in Kyiv and we got together for some brainstorming on his project. Fritz also has an alter ego known as DJ Prutsky, working out of the Ost-Klub in Vienna, spinning Ukrainian artists and promoting Ukrainian music and artists.

The thing that pleases me the most is that Fritz is doing all this for charity, a Children's Hospital in Khersonska oblast near Odessa., and at the same time promoting Ukraine.

“I want to work for a substantial change in the way Westerners look at Ukraine. This includes also Western media. People in countries like Austria, Germany, France, UK should become much more aware of the fact that there is a country in Europe which can contribute a lot to the positive development of this continent in many ways. Lets get away from the simple, old-fashioned, biased view on the East, which goes back to Soviet times. Soviet Union is gone, Ukraine is here. This country is neither Soviet, nor is it Russia. Lets take a look on the many innovations Ukraine has to offer."

Friedrich Zindler, aka Fritz

I think that Fritz is doing a great job in what he is doing, and I hope that anyone who reads my blog will find a way to contribute to the project. Either in kind, by linking to the site, by sending a donation, or by purchasing the CD when it is available.

The will of the people

While Tantsi Zirkamy is a show which has helped 1+1 go to the top in the TV ratings, I consider it little more than kitsch which does little contribute to contemporary Ukrainian culture, the last episode over the weekend proved that no matter what the judges think Oleh Skrypka is going to the finals.

Many of the people involved in this show, and the formation of contemporary Ukrainian culture, are unfortunately former Communist Party aparatchicks, who during their time did everything they could to discredit Ukrainian culture. It seems that they continue to do this by pulling off shows like this one. While Oleh Skrypka now has a solid following why is this? One only has to look back of when they started out. Bands like Vopli Vidopliasova, Braty Hadiukyny and others, were bands that fit what the aparatchicks deemed as fitting the stereotype that was acceptable, and were given the opportunity to thrive and prosper. Some survived while others didn't. [The little venture into this area, requires much further examination which I plan to do in a future post!]

Well thanks to the following that Oleh Skrypka now has, they put it to the judges of Tansti Zirkamy

Festivals hampered by Political Situation

Just a little over a week ago I had to make a tough decision, but in retrospect it was the right one. I had been negotiating with a well known jazzman of Ukrainian heritage to participate in what was to be the 10th International Forum “Music of Youth” Festival of Contemporary Young Performers for little over six months - together with my partner and others involved we had to make a decision. A contract was to be signed in a few days!

Due to the current political situation we decided that we would not run the festival, and that it was time to let those involved know. We did and they were extremely understanding.

Yesterday, while having a drink with a new friend after work my business partner called. "We did the right thing by calling off the festival. I just saw a report on ICTV where there was in interview with one of the organizers of the Horowitz International Piano Competition. He said it was impossible for the competitors at the Philharmonic to concentrate with all the noise coming in from outside on European Square!" He then told me that this year's competition was being put off until a later date.

Today, there was one more confirmation of our proper decision when I had read that Oleh Skrypka said that they would be postponing the Rock Sich Festival to be held in May.

Some more thoughts on the problems of contemporary Ukrainian culture

Earlier on I posted two different posts dealing with the problems both abroad and internally within Ukrainian contemporary culture. Most recently with the selection of Verka Serduchka to represent Ukraine in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest is another example of what ails the system.

One of the elements which has created problems in the formation of contemporary Ukrainian culture was the awarding of people with titles such as Merited Artist of Ukraine and other such titles. This carry over from Soviet times has created a group of haves and have nots in the Ukrainian cultural scene, and as a result has ghettoized Ukrainian culture, while promoting the tastes of those who are truly dinosaurs and who should have long ago become extinct. Another problem which this has promoted is the favourtism and benefits that these artists receive. This contributes to a disbalanced playing field for those who are truly talented and deserve government support and those who either purchased their titles, or simply were able to lobby to obtain it.

Shortly after Yushchenko's ascent to power as President of Ukraine there were a few healthy signs that were witnessed in the Ukrainian music industry, with the most mentionable was the refusal of Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, lead man of Okean Elzy, of receiving the title of Merited Artist of Ukraine. At that time there was still a glimmer of hope in the industry. But that glimmer of hope in the industry also faded as President Yushchenko failed to carry out the sweeping changes he had promised on Maydan. The process of cleaning out all that was rotten in the system not only did not take place politically, it didn't take place culturally. Nor was a strategy developed to develop Ukraine's cultural industry. Well a strategy was developed, but unfortunately there has no political will to push the strategy forth. It was developed by a friend of mine and the grandson of composer Kyrylo Stetsenko who carries his grandfather's name, and even though Kyrylo sits on the Advisory Council on Culture to the President, little has been done, in my opinion to carry this strategy forward. I have seen the document, nearly 200 pages, which outlines the steps for developing a cultural strategy for Ukraine. It is based on international experience, but as the old saying goes in Ukrainian:”Who are you to tell me what to do and how to do it!”

As a result we have a situation which is beginning to put Ukrainian contemporary culture in a ghetto. Music TV station M1 and event channels like 1+1 seem to be headed by individuals who have no, or little understanding of the promotion of national interests of an industry continue to minimize and mock Ukrainian culture in the following ways, but those who are being used as pawns seem to have little understanding of what is going on. For example, M1 will play some Ukrainian music as a token gesture, while 1+1 has been running one of the most retrograde shows called Dancing with Stars, where it has even invited individuals like Oleh Skrypka to participate. What to hell was Oleh thinking about by participating in such a piece of trash.

So needless to say, there is a long battle to be fought in the cultural arena in Ukraine. I hope that the diaspora understands that Ukraine has to not only undergo mass reforms politically but also culturally – Ukraine has to understand how to protect its interests in this sphere and start to doing so based on international experience and by putting forth its best foot. How it will do so will seriously involved a revolution, and the death of the dinosaurs who have been growing their pocketbooks while ignoring developments on the world stage.