Music from Ukraine

Subject: Music for Ukraine
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Feb 22 - 10:54 AM

I'm parsing this out from the Ukraine discussion in the BS section so it doesn't get lost.

A Minnesota Facebook friend shared this today.

The late Peter Ostroushko was a Ukrainian-American, who grew up in NE Minneapolis, speaking the Ukraine language and singing the songs. There may be more out there to discover.

This is Peter playing Suffering, a song he learned from a Ukranian neighbor. He performed at a 2014 Concert for Ukraine. He shares memories of growing up before the song.

Subject: RE: Music for Ukraine
From: meself
Date: 24 Feb 22 - 01:52 PM

I was just thinking about this, because I'll be playing in a Seniors' home in a couple of hours, and we have a lot of Ukrainians around here. The only Ukrainian tune I know is a waltz called Bandura, so that's what it will be ....

Here's Graham Townsend's version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJg5pWSIBZc

Subject: RE: Music for Ukraine
From: GUEST,Jessica Giddens
Date: 24 Feb 22 - 03:03 PM

Whilst at university in Strabane a Ukrainian girl taught us the lyrics to a Ukrainian folk song called "Chom ty ne pryishov" she told us it was a song about a honeymoon night.

It wasn't until I sang it when I was home the following summer in a local bar I discovered to my embarrassment the translated title is
"Why Didn’t You Come"

Subject: RE: Music for Ukraine
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 24 Feb 22 - 03:42 PM

American historian Matthew Barton's 2020 lecture for the Association for Recorded Sound Collections:

Edmonton to the East Village: Canadian Ukrainian Folk Music on a NY Label

"Although it is best known for releasing Moe Asch’s recordings of Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, and other American folk artists, Stinson Records played a little-known role in promoting Ukrainian folk and classical music in the 1940s and 1950s. Based in Manhattan’s Union Square, only a mile from New York’s large Ukrainian immigrant community in the East Village, they first pursued a general program of releasing music recorded in the USSR that included occasional Ukrainian releases, then started a separate Ukrainian series that grew to more the 220 78rpm discs, including re-releases of earlier commercial discs recorded in the US and new recordings by artists such as Bill Boychuk’s Easy Aces, and violinist Metro Radomsky’s trio, both mainstays of Edmonton’s Ukrainian community. This presentation will draw on unpublished materials in the Stinson Records Collection at the Library of Congress."

Stinson co-founder Irving Prosky was born in Kiev in 1893. Shot by Cossacks in the 1905 revolution. Moved to Detroit... the more it changes.

Subject: RE: Music for Ukraine
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Feb 22 - 04:29 PM

I had to dig around to find the Tiny Desk Concert (NPR) that I remembered hearing years ago.

DakhaBrakha: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert. They blend a lot of stuff, it isn't strictly traditional folk songs.

Subject: RE: Music for Ukraine
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Feb 22 - 04:39 PM

This is a longer video of the Concert for Ukraine.

Skip through to minute 7:47 for the music to start. It's poorly shot and edited, lots of crowd shots, but you have the music in the background.

For those of you who ever listened to A Prairie Home Companion, Peter was a regular, might have been part of the cast. I remember hearing him all of the time there.

Subject: RE: Music for Ukraine
From: robomatic
Date: 24 Feb 22 - 06:33 PM

This is a haunting song that was played frequently during the period of protests and shootings in the Maidan. It is from a soldier who asks his mother who will bury him if he dies in a foreign country. She tells him strangers will bury him. He laments this and she responds that she carried him under her heart, (so of course he is forever connected to her).

Olga Vocal Ensemble

A version with lyrics in English

Mariana Sadovska

Haunting Version

Subject: RE: Music for Ukraine
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 24 Feb 22 - 07:42 PM

We have a Hopak from Ukraine in one of our dance sets for ceilidhs. We also play it as a final blast at the end of any ceilidh after “Auld Lang Syne”. There is a Ukrainian Social Centre in Edinburgh where we played for a ceilidh shortly before lockdown.

Subject: RE: Music for Ukraine
From: GerryM
Date: 24 Feb 22 - 09:46 PM

I can recommend the CD, Michael Alpert and Julian Kytasty, Night Songs from a Neighboring Village; Ballads of the Ukrainian & Yiddish Heartland. Alpert is a klezmer, known from Brave Old World and other bands, and plays violin, guitar, and accordion. Kytasty plays bandura and sopilka. The whole album is up at https://youtu.be/qVcseYAC7iM but why not buy yourself a copy? Oriente RIEN CD 86.

Also, didn't Where Have All The Flowers Gone have a Ukrainian origin, before Pete Seeger brought it to the folk repertoire?

Subject: RE: Music for Ukraine
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 25 Feb 22 - 08:07 AM

????????? ????????? (Zirvalasya khurtovyna)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Po-hC-taQk

A blizzard rose up
And flattened the grain in the field,
The mother sent her son
To a bloody war.
“Go, son, my child,
To that cruel, fierce battle –
Liberate our native Ukraine,
Defend her people.
(Go, my son, to war)
When you return, son, I will adorn
Your cross with viburnums;
If you don't come back - I'll cry softly,
So that no one sees the tears.”
“Oh I will return, my mother,
When the viburnums bloom,
I'll bring to your house
The sun of golden freedom!"

“My son, my child, why do you go to war?”

(Disclaimer--I'm at the top left corner of the risers, singing as part of the chorus)
Arrangement of a Ukrainian song by Alex Kuzma, who conducts this, and whose parents were Ukrainian refugees who settled in Connecticut.

--Charlie Baum

Subject: RE: Music for Ukraine
From: GUEST,Dave Hanson
Date: 25 Feb 22 - 08:21 AM

As far as I remember it was originally called, ' The Silent Don ' I think was either Ukrainian or Russian, Pete Seeger turned it into ' Where have All The Flowers Gone ' very poingnant song.

Dave H

Subject: RE: Music for Ukraine
From: maeve
Date: 25 Feb 22 - 09:00 AM

https://www.polyphonyproject.com/en
"The mission of the Polyphony Project is to explore, preserve and present the living musical folklore of Ukrainian villages. In addition to recording the intangible cultural treasures of the Ukrainian peasantry using state-of-the-art technology, our priority is to make this heritage of unparalleled value accessible to contemporary society."

Subject: RE: Music for Ukraine
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 25 Feb 22 - 09:13 AM

And to quote from “Where have all the flowers gone?”…….
“When will they ever learn?”

Subject: RE: Music from Ukraine
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Feb 22 - 11:55 AM

Kiev Waltz, an instrumental from Brave Combo in 2010.

There are several versions of it on YouTube.

Subject: RE: Music from Ukraine
From: GUEST,MsJoC the Filk
Date: 25 Feb 22 - 05:44 PM

Dave Hansen> As far as I remember it was originally called, ' The Silent Don '

A verse from an old song, quoted by Mikhail Sholokhov in "And Quiet Flows the Don":

Where are the geese? They've gone to the reeds.
And where are the reeds? They've been gathered by the girls.
And where are the girls? They've taken husbands.
And where are the Cossacks? They've gone to war.

Subject: RE: Music from Ukraine
From: rich-joy
Date: 25 Feb 22 - 09:40 PM

This version is beautiful too :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuOK4mkbv4c

LELÉKA - ????? ???? (Plyve kacha) (c.2017)


Cheers, R-J

Subject: RE: Music from Ukraine
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 26 Feb 22 - 04:42 AM

I see Putin has cyberattacked the main Mudcat site in retaliation for this thread!
RtS

Subject: RE: Music from Ukraine
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Feb 22 - 10:09 AM

A note on pronunciation of the capital city: Kyiv not Kiev

Subject: RE: Music from Ukraine
From: Felipa
Date: 27 Feb 22 - 12:02 PM

Paul Anderson, an esteemed Scottish fiddle player, has recorded the anthem "Ukraine's Glory Has Not Yet Perished"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxV9maYN9U8

Subject: RE: Music from Ukraine
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 28 Feb 22 - 09:15 AM

Here is me doing my little bit!

From my Faceache post -

For obvious reasons Ukraine has been on my mind and I realised I can actually play the Ukrainian folk song "Oi ne khody, Hrytsju". (In English, Oh don't go, Hrytsju (A name I guess. Can anyone help?))
I have posted it before and many of you will know it by a different name but here it is again anyway. If you want to join in, it is in Dm and the chords are Dm, A, F and C7
Interesting fact from Wiki - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes,_My_Darling_Daughter
"Israeli musicologist Yakov Soroker posited the end of the first melodic phrase of "Oi ne khody Hrytsiu" contains a "signature" melody common in Ukrainian songs in general which he calls the "Hryts sequence" and gives a list of hundreds of Ukrainian folk songs from the Carpathians to the Kuban that contain this particular sequence"
Anyway. Hope you enjoy it :-)

Oi ne khody, Hrytsju

Subject: RE: Music from Ukraine
From: Felipa
Date: 04 Mar 22 - 06:00 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O648FaimMtk

Tvoye Imya (excerpt of the concert "The Night Is Just Beginning“)
Composed and performed by Mariana Sadovska
Live at National Sawdust, New York, 2018
Lyrics - Serhiy Zhadan
Translation - Virlana Tkacz
"Here is Mariana's haunting interpretation of a text by Ukrainian poet Serhij Zhadan from her prophetic performance piece, The Night is Just Beginning, written as a response to the occupation of Ukraine's Donbas region eight years ago." ("Kitka" newsletter)

Subject: RE: Music from Ukraine
From: rich-joy
Date: 04 Mar 22 - 09:19 PM

My YT Algos just tossed this little gem to me :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKLQiWlXaRo

"Moon's in the Heavens" sung by an un-named man, playing his bandura, outside the Trinity Monastery of St Jonas, in Kyiv.


Cheers,
R-J


PS   one Commenter suggested his name was "Old Jurko Bohun"

Elijah Smith
1 month ago
SONG NAME: Moon's in the heavens

LYRICS:
Moon's in the heavens, sparkle the stars above,
Quietly on the sea there floats a boat.
In the boat's a maiden, a song she does sing there,
A Kozak does hear it - his dearheart dies.

The song's beloved, the song is so loved,
All about loving, all about love
How we have loved, and had broken up,
Now come together forever again.

My eyes, my eyes, eyes of a maiden,
Dark, like the night, bright, like the day!
You oh dear eyes have taught me to cry and weep,
Where have you learned - to mislead people ?

Subject: RE: Music from Ukraine
From: Monique
Date: 16 Mar 22 - 12:41 PM

The Ukrainian lyrics above should display as...

МІСЯЦЬ НА НЕБІ

Місяць на небі, зіроньки сяють,
Тихо по морю човен пливе.
В човні дівчина пісню співає,
А козак чує — серденько мре.'

Пісня та мила, пісня та люба
Все про кохання, все про любов.
Як ми любились та й розійшлися,
Тепер навіки зійшлися знов.

Ой очі, очі, очі дівочі,
Темні, як нічка, ясні, як день!
Ви ж мені, очі, вік вкоротили,
Де ж ви навчились зводить людей?

Subject: RE: Music from Ukraine
From: Monique
Date: 16 Mar 22 - 05:36 PM

Here is the transliteration. If you want to know what it really sounds like, copy the Ukrainian lyrics, paste them into Google translate and click on the "sound" icon. The text is first said at normal speed and if you click again, it's said more slowly. Sorry if I sound like a 1st grade teacher, old habits die hard!

MISYATS' NA NEBI

Misyats' na nebi, ziron'ky syayut',
Tykho po moryu choven plyve.
V chovni divchyna pisnyu spivaye,
A kozak chuye — serden'ko mre.'

Pisnya ta myla, pisnya ta lyuba
Vse pro kokhannya, vse pro lyubov.
Yak my lyubylys' ta y roziyshlysya,
Teper naviky ziyshlysya znov.

Oy ochi, ochi, ochi divochi,
Temni, yak nichka, yasni, yak den'!
Vy zh meni, ochi, vik vkorotyly,
De zh vy navchylys' zvodyt' lyudey?

YouTube page for this Ukrainian song

Subject: RE: Music from Ukraine
From: Felipa
Date: 17 Mar 22 - 06:02 AM

Hop! Mayne Homentashn, a humourous Yiddish song for Purim was written by a Jewish Ukranian poet and set to the air of a Ukranian folk melody, another humourous song, "Pishla maty na selo" (Mother Went to the Village). Both titles are given here as transliterations. For the lyrics and links to recordings o=of the Yiddish song, see
. https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=171117

For Pishla Maty Na Selo see https://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=5520. I propose to give the song its own Mudcat thread later.

Subject: RE: Music from Ukraine
From: Felipa
Date: 11 Apr 22 - 10:51 AM

if you do a search for "Ukranian folksong" at https://lyricstranslate.com, you will come up with several examples/

Subject: RE: Music from Ukraine
From: Felipa
Date: 13 Apr 22 - 06:24 AM

a new song, "The Town of Maripol" by John Murphy
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=171127

Subject: Lyr. add: Pishla maty na selo - Hrechanyky
From: Felipa
Date: 18 Apr 22 - 08:42 PM

I should have posted this song for Mardi Gras aka Pancake Tuesday (or indeed for the winter solstice, N. hemisphere, see notes below the lyrics), rather than during Easter week, but anyway, here is a Ukrainan song "Mother Went to the Village",Pishla maty na selo, also known as also known as Hrechanyky "Buckwheat Pancakes" (Blinis)

source https://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=5520

TRANSLITERATION (from Google)

Pishla maty na selo
Grechnu muku dobuvaty,
Hrechanyky uchynyaty,
Svoyikh ditok hoduvaty.

Pryspiv:
Hop, moyi hrechanyky,
Hop, moyi bili,
Chohos' moyi hrechanyky
Na skoryni sily.
Hop, moyi hrechanyky,
Hop, moyi smachni,
Chohos' moyi hrechanyky
Ne vdalysya vdachni.

Molov bat'ko, ne viyavshy,
Pekla maty, ne siyavshy,
Z pomyynytsi vodu brala,
Hrechanyky uchynyala.

"Idy, staryy, do krynytsi,
Idy za vodoyu,
A my zvarym obidaty
Udvokh iz kumoyu".

Zaraz kashu bez pshona,
Bez soli zvaryla,
I bez khliba tatusen'ka
Yisty posadyla.

Sydyt' tato v kintsi stola,
Opustyvshy vukha,–
Usyakomu tak buvaye,
A khto zhinok slukha.

TRANSLATION by Lisa Yannucci

Mother went to the village
To get buckwheat flour,
To make buckwheat pancakes
To feed her babies.

(Chorus)
Hop, my pancakes
Hop, my white ones,
I don't know why
My pancakes won't rise.
Hop, my pancakes
Hop, my delicious ones
I don't know why
My pancakes aren't good.

My father was grinding, without thinking,
My mother was baking, without sowing,
She was taking water from the fountain
To cook pancakes.

(Chorus)

"Go old man, to the well,
Go get water
And we'll cook dinner
Together with the missus."

(Chorus)

I prepared the porridge without wheat
Cooked without salt,
And I set up my father
To eat, without bread.

(Chorus)

Dad's sitting at the end of the table
Lowering his head*
It happens to everyone
Who listens to women.

(Chorus)

Notes: According to Wikipedia, "Blinis were considered by early Slavic people in pre-Christian times to be a symbol of the sun, due to their round form. They were traditionally prepared at the end of winter to honor the rebirth of the new sun (Butter Week, or Maslenitsa, also called "butter week" or "pancake week"). This tradition was adopted by the Orthodox church and is carried on to the present day. Drochena, a kind of blini, was also served at wakes to commemorate the recently deceased."

If you look at the lyrics of the Ukranian Yiddish song Hop, Mayne Homentaschn https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=171117, you will see how closely if was adapted (not translated) from the Ukranian language song.

RECORDINGS (links from Mama Lisa website)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JmVWGH4zCk&t=18s singing and dancing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0SZouw-pT8&t=20s choral presentation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbacQKb4YSI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2a5GqJ5Fic Ukranian lyrics in the comments

Subject: RE: Music from Ukraine
From: Monique
Date: 19 Apr 22 - 02:02 AM

Here are the Ukrainian lyrics in Cyrillic:

ПІШЛА МАТИ НА СЕЛО

Пішла мати на село
Гречну муку добувати,
Гречаники учиняти,
Своїх діток годувати.

Приспів:

Гоп, мой гречаники,
Гоп, мої білі,
Чогось мої гречаники
На скорині сіли.
Гоп, мої гречаники,
Гоп, мої смачні,
Чогось мої гречаники
Не вдалися вдачні.

Молов батько, не віявши,
Пекла мати, не сіявши,
З помийниці воду брала,
Гречаники учиняла.

Приспів.

Іди, старий, до криниці,
Іди за водою
А ми зварим обідати
Удвох із кумою.

Приспів.

Зараз кашу без пшона,
Без солі зварила
І без хліба татусенька
їсти посадила.

Приспів.

Сидить тато в кінці стола,
Опустивши вуха,
Усякому так буває,
А хто жінок слуха.

Приспів.

Subject: RE: Music from Ukraine
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Apr 22 - 12:51 AM

I got an email today from a group called Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online (SUCHO), This seems to be a very worthwhile and interesting project.
https://www.sucho.org/

Subject: RE: Music from Ukraine
From: Felipa
Date: 24 Apr 22 - 12:31 PM

after I saw Joe's message I looked at the list of archives, https://www.sucho.org/archives

One that caught my eye was Lviv Interactive        https://lia.lvivcenter.org/#!/map/        Interactive map of Lviv
I had a rather horrid thought that we need good pictorial maps with background formation for cities like Mariupol which have undergone fierce bombardment, to show what the city was like before the present war.

btw, there is an "old town" in Warsaw, Poland a large part of which consists of buildings which are not that old but are a faithful reconstruction of buildings which were destroyed in WW2. Part of the old town section of Gdansk is likewise a postwar reconstruction.

Subject: Yiddish songs of Ukraine online workshop 26 Jun 22
From: Felipa
Date: 17 Jun 22 - 07:39 PM

Yiddish Songs from, about, and for Ukraine with Sasha Lurje
Co-presented BY KlezCalifornia and The Jewish Folk Chorus of San Francisco;
Sunday, June 26
11:00am - 12:45pm
on Zoom
$18 (Minimum Suggested Donation)
https://klezcalifornia.org/events/yiddish-songs-about-ukraine/

co-presentation of Kitka, KlezCalifornia and The Jewish Folk Chorus of San Francisco

Subject: RE: Music from Ukraine
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 26 Jun 22 - 08:16 AM

Andriy Khlyvnyuk sings in the streets of Kyiv

Oi u luzi chervona kalyna [wiki]