It can hardly get any better...

 

Volodymyr Kushpet
Ukrainian minstrel tradition
between the 18th - the early 20th centuries
Instruments: Kobza, Lira, Torban, Bandura

2002

Tracks:

CD1

01. Dudochka (The Pipe), Kozak-valets (dances) – kobza
02. Kyselyk (dance) – kobza
03. Duma about Khvedir bezrodnyi (a cossack psalm) – acc. – kobza
04. Rozpynanie Khrysta (The crucifixion of Christ (psalm) – acc. – lira
05. Mlynok (The Mill) / Savradym / Molodychka (A young women) (dances) – bandura
06. Georgiu (chant) – acc. – lira
07. Podorozh Vaclava Rzhevus'koho (A jorney of Vaclav Rzevusski – acc. – torban
08. Vidortova pisnya (Vidort's song) – acc. – torban
09. Spiv Revukhi (Revukha's singing) – acc. – torban

CD2

01. Pobratavsya sokil (Falcon fraternized) (according to the authentic kobzar's genre definition – "street" song) – acc. – bandura
02. Bida (A trouble) (authentic definition – "shtuchka") – acc. – bandura
03. Pro Savu Chaloho (a cossack song) – acc. – bandura
04. Potop (The Flood) (psalm) – acc. – lira
05. Kaperush (dance) – acc. – lira
06. Khhrystu na khresti (To Christ on the cross) (psalm) – acc. – kobza
07. Duma pro udovu i tryokh syniv (Duma about a widow and three sons) – acc. – kobza
08. Hey hook, maty, hook (18th century cossack song) – acc. – kobza
09. Khloptsi-molodsi (Cheerful fellows) (by S. Rudansky) – acc. – kobza
10. Oy, jihune [gigolo] (19th century humoristic song) – acc. – kobza

♫☆`*♥¸¸.•*¨*•♫☆`*♥¸¸.•*¨*•☆♫

.ღ•:*´♥`*:•ღ. 

♫☆`*♥¸¸.•*¨*•☆♫`*♥¸¸.•*¨*•☆♫

 

   "To save a monument of your nation's life from oblivion - that is a truly heroic deed, which even now bears its full value in the eyes of every educated human being".

 P. Kulish.

  

   

Volodymyr Kushpet (born 1948) is an influential Ukrainian baritone singer, and player on torban, kobza, bandura and lira, he is noted for reconstruction of traditional playing techniques on these instruments. He is the author of a primer for these instruments and an in-depth study of the institution of Kobzar Guilds, associations of itinerary blind singers in Ukraine.

Volodymyr Kushpet studied bandura initially under Andriy Omelchenko and then later completed his studies at the Kiev Conservatory under Serhiy Bashtan. Along with Kost Novytsky he was one of the founding members of the KOBZA pop group and played an electrified bandura in the ensemble.

Later Kushpet performed in a duo with Novytsky playing instrumental primarily classical transcriptions on the bandura. Kushpet became extremely interested in the authentic bandura and particularly the kobza as played by Ostap Veresai, after being introduced to Heorhy Tkachenko. From the transcriptions made by M. Lysenko in the 1870s Kushpet has managed to restore most of the repertoire performed by Veresai.

Kushpet teaches as the kobzar school in Strytivka near Kiev and at one time at the Kharkiv Musical-Drama Institute. Recently he has also taught the torban for a short period of time at the Kiev Conservatory.

 wiki

 Traditional culture as a whole, and music culture in particular, is always a subject of changes. In order to comprehend the essence of such changes, that have influenced its development, we would have to distinctly separate the artificial processes from the natural ones.

The absence of the Ukrainian state has forced out the ancient customs into the conservative countryside environment. It is there, in those songs and rhymes, ballads and legends, the spiritual testament of our ancestors was being preserved.

One of the reveals of ethno-cultural self-expression could be traced in the music sphere. Apart from very popular in Ukraine collective singing, the individual performance, accompanied by kobza, lira, torban and bandura have also developed. The blooming era of this genre would be the period between the 15th-18th centuries. But from the late 18th cent, in the city music culture the national music priorities yield to the european. The demand for the secular minstrels dissapears, and the traditional folk set of instruments (except torban) remains only in the hands of blind travelling old men. Each period of this genre's existance requires a detailed analysis.

Claiming that all previous minstrels were "kobzars" would've been a rather unfair statement. The reconstruction of instruments and the methods of using them, and finally - covering the authentic new material - this is the only way to make correct solutions in practice.

The comparative analysis of different music samples from the "kobzars", "torbanists", "lirnyks", "bandurists" of the 18th - the early 20th centuries shows the existance of genre and performance differences within traditions, that have emerged owing to different tasks (secular, spiritual, social, political, etc.), that minstrels had to confront throughout different historic periods. These recordings are an attempt to bring social attention to the processes of reconstruction of traditional performance, which nowadays is a working model of Ukrainian historic music culture.

- from the booklet 

read some more about the music here

and some more here

and maybe buy from here 

 

Tradition and Tragedy - Ukraine's Kobzar Minstrels

 

Listen closely and the Ukrainian wind may still carry an ancient song sung by blind minstrels, a song that tells a spellbinding tale of Cossack courage and their heroic quest for Ukraine’s freedom. Traveling from village to village as ox-drawn carts stumbled across muddy roads leading into dark forests, Ukraine’s minstrels once trudged past Baroque churches with Greek domes and mosaic Virgins pieced together from crimson, turquoise and emerald fragments and wandered freely across the Ukrainian steppe. Indeed, Ukraine’s blind minstrels, called kobzari, are special in the country’s history, in part, because of their traditional customs as well as their tragic ending.

Playing the kobza, a precursor to the bandura, these trained musicians plucked and strummed the instrument similar to European and Eastern lutes by touch. As far back as the nineteenth century, the kobzari formed “guilds” to apprentice boys and girls as young as five or six to master musicians. Not all apprentices passed the initiation test, however, and in an effort to offer a future to a child without sight, the kobzari guilds sanctioned beggars allowed to perform some of the songs namely the “begging song” and the “song of thanks.” The repertoire of the kobzari masters emphasized religious and epic tales, called the duma, performed outside churches and monasteries, village fairs and festivals. Guided by a sighted child, a povodyr, who worked for food, clothing and a small wage.

Kobzari, like other peasant villagers married and created families. Only blind children were allowed to be minstrels however, and other minstrel children became farmers. Absorbed into the culture and history of the country, the kobzari were welcomed by the villagers as their songs brought good luck for the soul until Stalin’s rise to power in 1939. 

Threatened by any demonstration of “national art”, Stalin considered the kobzari and their guilds an example of counterrevolutionary activity. Determined to exterminate the blind minstrels, Stalin tricked the guilds into coming to a “convention” of kobzari. “Life is better, life is merrier,” Stalin wickedly declared. Minstrels eagerly traveled to the convention from all over Ukraine, coming from tiny, forgotten villages, to celebrate their talent and history. A living history gathered only to be met with a barrel of a gun when Stalin’s henchmen assassinated nearly all of the existing kobzari.

Decades later, the songs of the kobzari have been resurrected from the annals of history. Many receive conservatory training rather than being apprentices to masters, and many more musicians are sighted. Traditions endure, however, and Pavlo Stepanovych Suprun, a contemporary blind kobzari, continues to sing surviving epic songs and composes his own material in the traditional vein of the Ukrainian kobzari. History may be occasionally silenced, but often, history refuses to be ignored. 

source

some more to read

This record is one of these rare 10 out of 10 records.

That is what my ears and my heart tells me.

Thank you for listening!

 ♥

Music of the meadows...

   

Melodies of Carpathian Valleys

Traditional Music of Carpathian Shepherds
2008

Tracks:

01. Vykhid v polonynu (trembita)
02. Muzyka polonyny (kalatala ta dzvinochky koriv)
03. Zabavna melodija (fujarka, kalatala ta dzvinochky koriv)
04. Nahravannja na drymbi
05. Kolys‘ roky dobri buly... (fujarka, spiv)
06. Davnja polonyns‘ka melodija (dovha fujarka z hudinnjam)
07. Syhnal do polonyns‘koho khodu (volovyy rih)
08. Hirs‘ka melodija (fujarka, spiv ptakhiv)
09. Polonyns‘ka melodija (dzholomiha)
10. Hra na trembiti
11. Davnja polonyns‘ka melodija (korotka fujarka z hudinnjam)
12. Hovkannja pastukhiv v polonyni (hovkannja, kalatala ta dzvinochky koriv)
13. Z vysokoji polonynky buynyy viter vije... (fujarka, spiv)
14. Brumbyna polonyns‘ka melodija (dzholomiha)
15. Nahravannja na drymbi
16. Smerekova melodija (fujarka, kalatala ta dzvinochky koriv, spiv ptakhiv)
17. Z vysokoji polonynky potichok churkoche (zvuky potichka)
18. Dovha polonyns‘ka melodija (dovha fujarka)
19. Nahravannja na telentsi
20. Polonyns‘ka melodija (fujarka, kalatala ta dzvinochky koriv, spiv ptakhiv)
21. Hra na dentsivtsi
22. Playova melodija (fujarka, spiv ptakhiv)
23. Oy pidu ja v Zavojely (fujarka)
24. Muzyka polonyny (kalatala ta dzvinochky koriv)
25. Nahravannja na drymbi
26. Karpats‘ka melodija (fujarka, kalatala ta dzvinochky koriv, spiv ptakhiv)
27. Polonyns‘ka melodija (fujarka)
28. Muzyka polonyny (kalatala ta dzvinochky koriv)
29. Oy ja pidu v polonynku (spiv, kalatala ta dzvinochky koriv)

 Artists:

(1,7,10,15, 27) Nicholas Slovak: trembita, ox-like horn, jaw harp, fuyarka
(3, 8, 16, 20, 22, 26) Vladimir Hromeychuk: fuyarka
(4, 9, 14, 19, 21) Bogdan Kostiuk: guimbarde, telenka, dzholomiha, dentsivka
(5, 13) Basil Siredzhuk: fuyarka, fuyarka with buzzing, singing
(6, 11, 18) Nicholas Vartsab'yuk: fuyarka, fuyarka with hum
(23) Peter Mohnatchuk: fuyarka
(25) Nicholas Mosoruk: drymba
(29) Basil Gaborak: singing

The recording was made in the Carpathian region in the meadow "Cram" (Verhovinsky district, Ivano-Frankivsk region) in the meadow "Ledeskul Kosmatsky" villages Kosmach and Shepit (Kosovo district, Ivano-Frankivsk region).

  

♫☆`*♥¸¸.•*¨*•♫☆`*♥¸¸.•*¨*•☆♫

.ღ•:*´♥`*:•ღ.

♫☆`*♥¸¸.•*¨*•☆♫`*♥¸¸.•*¨*•☆

  

 This album – as well as, actually, the album "Wedding at Kosmach", which has been released simultaneously with it – is the result of wanders and labor of Gennady Melnyk, better known as Hector Mukomol. But Hector Mukomol means music in the styles of ambient and new age, and in this case the issue is a bit different. However, some characteristic features have been preserved – but not that much in sounding as in the attitude towards the sounding. What do we mean? The name of this disc should be perceived absolutely literally – and it is for this reason that the disc differs from other recording of this sort. Due to his previous explorations and experiments with music of spaces and states, Gennady Melnyk is able to look at the sound picture at a somewhat different angle. His eyes aim not at cutting off the superfluous, but, the other way round, at absorbing everything that sounds – and to intertwine it into the general canvas. That is why most recordings were made right under the open-skies, not in the special studio conditions. That is why it is possible to hear here such unusual things, for example, as sounding of cows’ bells ringing – and do not be surprised when you hear real music in that. It is there indeed – though not as obvious as in the joint singing of fuyarka and forest birds, or in the dialog of human singing and cows’ bells, to say nothing about ancient Huzul melodies. But – and that is the common feature for creativity by Hector Mukomol – in order to hear and feel this music, it is necessary to forget about music. One needs the position of contemplation and immersion, non-evaluation. The one who will manage to listen so will be able to discover a new living space – the space of Carpathian boundlessness. To discover – and to enter...

source

   

 Attentive listeners will certainly feel that the music of the Carpathian shepherds - the music of contemplation, which is essentially like meditative music east. This is not surprising, as the source of inspiration for the shepherd is the sky, the sun, endless expanses and the surrounding mountains. Therefore, the origins of this music has its origins in the invisible worlds. Shepherd plays fuyarka that can not play because, in the words of one of the shepherds, "polonynka without fuyarka not Fine."

Suffice it to listen as similar to each other is fuyarka melodies and singing birds, to feel that this "conversation of lovers." Sounds weird musical instrument infused with chirping birds and bells ringing chimes that hang around the neck cattle to determine the sound its seat. All of this together creates a charming and distinctive music valleys.

read it all here - you might have to translate it like I did... : )

and here

and also here 

  

 *♥*♥*♥*

A Moonlit Night...

Dmytro Hnatiuk

A Moonlit Night

Tracks:

 

01. Ніч така місячна
02. У сусіда хата біла
03. Ой, зійди, зійди, ти, зіронько, та вечірняя
04. Їхав козак за Дунай
05. Якби мені не тиночки
06. Гандзя
07. Ой, ти, дівчино, зарученая
08. Мав я раз дівчиноньку
09. Ой, зелена полонина
10. З сиром пироги
11. Ой, знати, знати
12. Сховалося сонце за горою
13. Пою коні при Дунаю
14. Заграй ми, цигане старий
15. Ой не шуми, луже
16. Чом дуб не зелений
17. Гаю, гаю, зелен розмаю
18. Така її доля
19. Ой, ішов я вулицею раз
20. Гомін, гомін по діброві
21. Пожену я сірі воли
22. Ой, кряче, кряче

♫☆`*♥¸¸.•*¨*•♫☆`*♥¸¸.•*¨*•☆♫

.ღ•:*´♥`*:•ღ.

♫☆`*♥¸¸.•*¨*•☆♫`*♥¸¸.•*¨*•☆♫

 Excellent collection of folk songs performed by the great Ukrainian singer Dmitry Hnatiuk. Most songs contain bandura accompaniment.

Recordings from the archives of the Ukrainian Radio.

  

   

It has somehow turned out to be that since childhood I have liked the song “The Moonlit Night” (track 01) very much. That’s why I prefer it to be performed in the best possible way. In this particular case Dmytro Hnatyuk performs it really in the best way. Personally I like it very much. Still one may say the same about this album in general – I like the songs recorded at it, as well as the way they sound, though generally I listen to somewhat different music. May be the music itself, that is, the choice of musical instruments, is not the main thing here. I think, the main thing here is the voice of Dmytro Hnatyuk. There is something in it, some transparent depth, which does not leave you indifferent, so that you feel that the song is performed not formally, as it happens sometimes, but it comes from inside. That’s the reason why it sounds somehow intimately – as if this person himself once composed this song and still remembers why and how it happened. Though, if you take comic songs, here it is quite the other way round. They are sliding somewhere by themselves. This is the impression I’ve got from this disc. At least, for tonight. May be, it is because of the evening, which is quiet and transparent tonight.

Anton Jozhik Lejba (Hedgehog)

  

Dmytro Hnatyuk

  (Ukrainian: Дмитро́ Миха́йлович Гнатю́к) (born 28 March 1925) is a famous Ukrainian baritone opera singer, and a member of The Supreme Council of Ukraine.

Biography

Dmytro Hnatyuk was born on March 28, 1925 in the village of Mamayivtsi, Chernivtsi Oblast (province), Ukraine. He graduated from the Kiev Conservatory in 1951 as an opera and chamber singer.

He was a singer at the Kiev opera and ballet theatre appearing as a soloist in many songs. In 1979, Hnatyuk graduated from the State Institute and of Theatrical Arts as a Director (rezhyser). From 1951 to 1988, he worked as an opera singer and from 1975 also as a director of the State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet as well working as a trainer of the National Academic Theatre. In 1988, he became the director of the State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet. Dmytro sang in many operas by Ukrainian and worldwide composers.

Dmytro was also a member of the Ukrainian Parliament from 1998 to 2002. He had been a member of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (8th–10th sessions, 1972–1984). Dmytro Hnatyuk was elected the head of the Musical Society of Ukraine, as the head of the Kiyvan Theatrical Society, as a member of the Committee of State Shevchenko Prizes, the Committee of Defense and Peace and others. Member of the Board of the All Ukrainian Fund of Recreating Memorials of the Historical-Architectural Heritage in the name of O. Honchar, a member of the Board of the Fund of Influence of Development of Arts; the Committee “Ukraine-Europe”.

Awards

Hnatyuk is a Peoples' Artist of Ukraine, was a People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR, an "Academic" of the Academy of Arts of Ukraine, and a professor of the Tchaikovsky Music Academy. Most recently, he was awarded with the Hero of Ukraine, the highest decoration of the Ukrainian state.

wiki

  

~♥~

Ox, Fox, Bear and Goat...

  

Slavic Folk Carols
2006

  

Tracks:

01. Ай, калядачки, наши нежачки
02. Го-го-го, коза
03. Коляда, бегла коледко
04. Прыйшла каледа увечара
05. Ой, ты, бабочко, стара галочко
06. А у заенки тры домухны
07. Ой, стоить явар, тонки, высоки
08. И далина-долинушка
09. В Рожество Христово
10. Добры вечар табе, пане-гаспадару
11. Раждество твае, Хрысте Божа
12. Ой учора з вечора
13. Радуйся, Марыя
14. Ой Божае нарождене
15. По конец стола седить Микола
16. Божа благодати, Варварыная мати
17. Ой рано-рано куры попели
18. А у лузи, у лузи
19. Запеймо песню славуному пану
20. А талды, талды, заради, Божа
21. Ходило-блудило сэмсот молойцев
22. Да на Дунаечку
23. Сьяты вечор, сьяты Василек
24. За горою каменою
25. Малады Женечка хвалиуся канем
26. А у пана Алега вумная Жана
27. Ое дай, Божа, нам коляд даждать

  

♫☆`*♥¸¸.•*¨*•♫☆`*♥¸¸.•*¨*•☆♫

        

.ღ•:*´♥`*:•ღ.

        

♫☆`*♥¸¸.•*¨*•☆♫`*♥¸¸.•*¨*•☆♫

  

  

 Ethno-trip. The collection of ethnic music. Volume 11

 

From the manufacturer:

Unique records from personal files, collected in different provinces, in the Slavic villages, these Slavic traditions. They are not forgotten!

The word "Christmas carol" or "carol" has as its root the Latin word "Kalenda", which is the first of the month or the first of the year, from which in European languages, and there was the word "calendar".

With the birth of Christ associated the concept of establishing a new era that has long calculate the "before and after the birth of Christ." Singing carols was the glorification of this great event, "the first era."

Carols - common Christian songs that have appeared yet in the days of the birth of Christianity, but only among the Slavic peoples, they retained their title. "Kolyadovat" - it means to sing under the windows on the eve of Christmas songs called carols. To him who carols, always throw in a bag owner or the owner of the sausage or bread, or a copper penny, than the wealthy. "Costumed go!" - Shout owner of the window. So, now starts the song-dance. Kalyada!

(translation google)

  

  

Kolyada

 

Christmas in Russia is associated with a number of other practices, which represent a blend of tradition from Russia's Christian and pre-Christian past. It was once common practice, on Christmas Eve, for groups of people masquerading as manger animals to travel from house to house singing songs known as kolyadki. Some kolyadki were pastoral carols to the baby Jesus, while others were homages to the ancient solar goddess Kolyada, who brings the lengthening days of sunlight through the winter. In return for their songs, the singers were offered food and coins, which they gladly accepted before moving on to the next home...

Kolyada or koleda (Cyrillic: коляда, коледа, колада, коледе) is an ancient Slavic winter ritual celebrating the "old" New Year.

wiki

☆

 

Ha! Ha! Ho! Ho! 

..all because of Calender confusion the party never ends... 

...almost :-) 

♥

We Go to Carol!

  

Jdem koljaduvaty! 

Children Sing
2006
       
Tracks:

01. Svjatyj Mykolaj (dytjachyj hor "Medunyci")
02. Oj, hto, hto Mykolaja ljubyt' (dytjachyj hor "Medunyci")
03. Sydyt' Mykolaj (fol'k. ans. "Javoryna")
04. Jdem koljaduvaty (dytjachyj hor "Medunyci")
05. Boh sja rozhdaje
06. Diva Marija horu kopala (fol'k. ans. "Javoryna")
07. Po vs'omu svitu stala novyna (fol'k. ans. "Javoryna")
08. Bihla telychka, bih kozelec', oj, u pechi okrip bizhyt' (dytjachyj hor "Medunyci")
9. Vodinnja kozy (Children folklore ensemble "Tsviten'")
10. Hoj daj Bozhe (Children folklore ensemble "Tsviten'")
11. Z novym vas, ljudy, rokom (dytjachyj hor "Medunyci")
12. Jak siv Isus Hrystos ta vecherjaty (fol'k. ans. "Javoryna")
13. Dobryj vechir, pane-hospodarju (Children folklore ensemble "Tsviten'")
14. Schadryj, schadryj, schadryvochka (Children folklore ensemble "Tsviten'")
15. Zakuvala syva zozulen'ka (velykyj dytjachyj hor Ukr. radio)
16. V poli, v poli pluzhok hodyt' (vok. ans. divchatok horu "Zirnycja")
17. Schedryk (velykyj dytjachyj hor Ukr. radio)
18. Schedrivky (Hor junakiv ta hlopchykiv pry Derzh. chol. hor. kapeli im. Revuc'koho)
19. Schedryk (velykyj dytjachyj hor Ukr. radio)

   

♫☆`*♥¸¸.•*¨*•♫☆`*♥¸¸.•*¨*•♫

        

.ღ•:*´♥`*:•ღ.

        

♫☆`*♥¸¸.•*¨*•☆♫`*♥¸¸.•*¨*•♫

   

I think that everyone who during the holiday has been visited by children who came to sing songs and receive a gift knows – there is great pleasure and joy in these songs. Especially if they are sung not “hit or miss”, but well – otherwise the celebratory mood may be spoilt a bit. As to this disk, you need not doubt – here, everything is sung either well, or very well. We have already repeatedly spoken about how rich funds of the National Radio Company of Ukraine are. The mentioned riches have demonstrated themselves to their best this time as well – each song is a new pleasure. Just in case, I warn you – in some songs, the raise is performed not by children, but by adults. But even in such cases children's chorus sounds all the same. However, to tell you the truth, if you start listening attentively – you pay attention to some other details. First of all, probably, sincerity of performance – and everything is ok here with it. Owing to this, one very quickly joins the celebratory space – and feels cozy there.

  

source and the place to order this and other cd's

source

  

Carols originated, of course, in a form that had nothing to do with Christmas, or even with Christ. The old French carole, a ring dance with song, may derive from the Greek choros, a circling dance associated with fertility rites and celebration. Like so many other traditions, the carol was appropriated by the church for its nativity festival. Fa-la-la-la-la la-la-la-la! Or, if you prefer, Gloria in excelsis Deo!

  

 source

...to say that Virgin Mary had a baby is blasphemy to say the least... Of cource she was not a virgin since she had fantastic sex with the father of little Jesus and not just that they were in love :)

And that's what it's all about...

  

~♥~

Maria Prymachenko

Maria Prymachenko

Maria Prymachenko (Ukrainian: Примаченко Марія Оксентіївна) (1908–1997) was a renowned Ukrainian village folk art painter, representative of naïve art. The artist was involved with drawing, embroidery and painting оn ceramics.

  

Maria was a peasant woman. She was born and spent all her life in the village of Bolotnya in the Kiev Oblast, situated only 30 km (19 mi) from Chernobyl.

Іn her childhood Maria was taken ill with polio, and this painful disease influenced the girl's life. By reports of her relatives, Maria grew а thoughtful and considerate person, having compassion for nature and every living thing.

Her way in art began, by her own words, like this: "Once, as a young girl, I was tending a gaggle of geese. When I got with them to a sandy beach, on the bank of the river, after crossing a field dotted with wild flowers, I began to draw real and imaginary flowers with a stick on the sand… Later, I decided to paint the walls of my house using natural pigments. After that I’ve never stopped drawing and painting."

Creative works

Mysterious and emotionally charged, the works of Maria Prymachenko, a folk master of Ukrainian decorative painting, seem to absorb the age-old traditions of many generations of Ukrainian master-craftsmen who, from the depths of the centuries, have brought forth their understanding of good and evil, of ugliness and beauty.

Images often had арреаred to the artist in dreams and later materialized in her compositions. Maria Prymachenko's art works depict fabulous mythological beasts and take their roots іn folk legends and fairy-tales, nourished bу real life and culture of the Ukrainian реорlе.

The works of Prymachenko can be subdivided into thematic, symbolic and ornamental pieces. All compositions are characterized by a subtle and fluent rhythmical arrangement. There is a maxim: "Style makes man." As for Prymachenko, one can state this in reverse: man makes style, for Maria Prymachenko has developed a style of her own. In this evolution one can discern traces of constructivism (1930s); the victory of harmony (1960s- 1970s); and the decorative approach (1980s). Her latest works impress one by their daring decorativeness of form. Prymachenko gravitates to the world of fairy-tale and mystery: her birds, beasts and plants interact on her pictures just as harmoniously and easily as they do in natural surroundings. Philosophy of the good animates the content of her works. The good embodied in the images of 'kind' beasts and birds (lions, bears, hares, storks, swallows) is juxtaposed against the evil, this mighty force which is sometimes difficult to identify with certain living things. The artist often resorts to her favoured device of personification: she depicts fabulous animals with large eyes surrounded with a trim of eye-lashes.

Thematic compositions occupy a special place in Prymachenko's creative legacy as far as the complexity of compositional arrangement and harmonious balance are concerned. Raw actuality and fairy-tale become blended in her compositions into one single whole, triumphantly demonstrating the unity of Nature. People depicted in these compositions are composed and full of dignity and self-respect. Her early compositions were executed against a white background, associated with the whitewashed walls of peasant cottages. But in the 1970s-1980s the artist turned to coloured backgrounds. It seems that colour itself creates the effect of colour-bearing space. There are no professional secrets in her arsenal: she paints on Whatman paper with factory-manufactured brushes and uses gouache and water colours. She prefers gouache which gives a bright and thick decorative base with graphic contours. Apart from searches in colour scheme, the artist strives to achieve expressive outlines and an effective rhythmical arrangement. Another salient feature of Prymachenko's art is a keen sense of composition, which is especially evident in her choice of format. Horizontal formats are most suitable for topical and multifigured compositions depicting subsequent scenes of the narration, while the vertical format is used for representative decorative compositions.

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so, now you know where the new header comes from : )

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Hutsul music from the village of Kosmach

  

The Kosmach Musicians

2004 

Tracks:

MOUNTAIN MEADOW SONGS

1 Signal of the ascent into the mountain meadows on trembita and horn Play
2 Shepherd melodies on the jaw harp
3 "Arkan", dance of the shepherds and the opryshky, or mountain bandits, on trembita
4 "Arkan" on tsymbali, fiddle, double flute and drum. Play
5 Entrance into the mountain meadows on trembita with fanfare
6 "Oh i will go up into Mountain Meadows", a rhyming song
7 Shepherd melodies on telenka
8 Shepherd melodies on double flute
9 Mountain meadow melody
10 Medley of Hutsul melodies

WEDDING SONGS

11 Beginning of the wedding
a. On the way to the house
b. The parents come out of the house c. The Welcoming of the musicians
d. Accompaniment for singing
e. The musicians for singing
f. "Oh, Lord may This Be a Good Time"
12 "The Hutsul Girl", a fast dance tune
13 "Oh, the Green Evergreens", a wedding incantation by the matchmakers
14 "Oh, Lord May This Be a Good Time" as a march for the bridal couple Play
15 "At the table" music for singing
16 a. Fiddle and double flute duet
b. Tsymbaly and double flute duet
17 Accompaniment to wedding incantation
18 Fiddle solo
19 "Hopak", a dance tune
20 "The Blue Cornflower", a dance tune
21 Dance Medley
22 Accompaniment for the bridal couple
23 Wedding drinking song
24 "The Dove", a dance tune
25 "Mykyta"

WINTER SONGS

26 "The Winter Song Singers Are Coming" on trembita and horn
27 "Behind the Pen in the Yard", a winter song Play
28 Well-wishing
29 Trembita as the winter song singers leave

  

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Kosmach - is the heart of Hutsul. Perhaps the greatest and real pearl of the village not only Region, but also in Ukraine.
32 priselke with poetic names: Mel, Dil, deterioration, Rushir, Preluki, Pochosy, Zavoyely - like sunlight adorn the mountains to the village center.
Kosmach - "Sun Valley", "Sun Bowl" - here a special cosmos, cosmic forces, sunny colors of the Carpathian nature kindled in the hearts of God kosmachan that spark that has for centuries burning unquenchable creative flame. Here in every house living artists: weave, embroider, rizblyat, painted Easter eggs of rare beauty, maystruyut musical instruments played.
Kosmatsky traditional clothing and embroidery win all the colors of the sun. Space characters sky, sun, stars - at Kosmatsky pysanka. Vohnystyy temperament Kosmatsky musicians bare beauty of the natural environment ... When a rocky Gregor which make the thunder, the mountains ring with turbulent flows and violent wind wins fir their eternal melody, while the giant meadow Chuhayster gets in his mad dance - this time born in Kosmachi music.
Some magnetic force attracted to Kosmach many Ukrainian poets, writers, musicians, artists: Alex Nowakowski, Michael Frost, Gregory Smolsky, Filaret and Mykola Kolessa, Stanislaus Lyudkevych, Ostap Lysenko, Irene Wilde, Lina Kostenko, Ivan Svitlychny, John Mykolaychuka Ivasiuk ... You can name many more famous names of those who sought to Kosmachi inspiration. Kosmachany as a precious treasure, retain their ancient customs and musical tradition. Glory of Kosmatsky folk music has long moved beyond the Carpathians and the Ukraine. In the village by this time there are many instrumental wedding chapel. Folklore from ancient recorded and exploring musical authenticity Kosmach, here in the last 150 years found more than 100 musicians, wedding chapel. Even in times of Austro-Hungary showed Kosmatsky wedding in Vienna, Lviv. Hutsul Chapel with the U.S. running Dmitry Tkachuk performed many songs and wedding music from Kosmach. In the television movie "Carpathian Resources", "Kosmach" fixed tradition Kosmatsky wedding ceremony.
In 2001 one of the choirs were invited to the Third World Theatrical Olympiad. Chapel, organized cymbalist virtuoso Michael Rybchuk, performed with great success in the program which was music of the mountains and valleys - from the Carpathians to Tibet, and on Moscow television.
In this CD can be divided into 3 cycles of ritual music that accompany the rite of spring - "Get On the mountain," the summer - "Wedding" and winter - "Koliada."
We hope that students of this disc will discover an interesting page original culture of Hutsul.
Lesia Turianska

 

translation as usual: google 

   

  

 

Kosmach is village in the heart of the Hutsul region of the Carpathian Mountains. it is one of the largest and most enchanting villages in Ukraine. Very talented people have preserved the traditional rituals, customs, crafts and music here. It seems that every house has its own musicians that play on traditional instruments made by Kosmach master craftsmen. Fiddles, tsymbali (hammer dulcimers), and flutes make up the traditional wedding band. The trembita, or mountain horn, accompanies the winter song singers at Christmastime, and also calls mourners to funerals, and shepherds to the mountain meadows in the spring.

 

  

There exist Tibetan monks in this world who travel, relate, show – and perform their Tibetan music. By any chance, have you ever heard them performing? If you have, probably you will be surprised with this recording, since the distance between the Tibet and the Carpathian Mountains is so big, but still the music of these regions has something in common, even something allied. The question is – where from? Yet, on the other hand, both are mountains, and it means that they are closer to the sky. As you know, in the sky the roots grow and communicate according to their own laws, which are not at all earthly. That is why all that is not surprising. Quite different things should be surprising – why people can seldom find a common language. Immediately one of the answers appears – since when you communicate with the help of words, practically always there is something fallacious and incomplete present in this communication. It happens because every person has his or her personal thesaurus in his or her head. And one of the decisions may be heard right now – because music is nearly the most universal language among all human and non-human languages. This is not even a theorem; it is simply a fact, and frankly speaking, a joyful fact. Its joy lies not in the hope for a possible harmonious communication, but in the fact that this communication exists now and keeps on existing. You should only see it. Or, to be exact, to hear. To feel.

Anton Jozhik Lejba (Hedgehog)

 

       

  

Trembita (see track 01)

  

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Actually, in the Carpathian Mountains trembita is still used in a practical way. As in many places highly in mountains there is no phone connection than different melodies of this instrument can tell all the important massages that can be heard at a distance of 10 km. Traditionally trembita is used by mountain dwellers. With the help of this instrument is given a signal about the biggest spring holiday in Hutsul Land, when the shepherds are going to the mountain meadows, and, of cause, when they go back in autumn. Besides, the sounds of trembita can tell about danger or about somebody’s death. There is an old tradition to meet guests with the sounds of trembita.

 

read some more : )

 

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Üdvözöljük a Técsői Banda!

  

Técsői Banda

Ruszin Népzene
Rusin Folk Music from the upper Tisza region
2002

Tracks:

01. A vofelybot diszitese... (1'52")
02. A fiuk kiprobaljak... (4'00")
03. Mars (4'06")
04. Roman dallamok... (2'59")
05. Menet a lakodalmas... (1'17")
06. Kalácstánc a lakodalmas... (2'13")
07. Kárpáti kolomejkák (2'49")
08. Bucsu a legenysegtol (2'12")
09. Kolomejka... (10'13")
10. Menyasszonytanc (3'25")
11. Vendegbucsu (2'52")
12. Asztalozo (0'39")
13. Asztalozo... (1'34")
14. Szkarani (román ugrós) (1'56")
15. Roman ciganytanc (1'27")
16. Ciganycsardas (2'20")
17. 'Baj van, baj van...' (2'33")
18. Havasi kurt utanzasa hegedun (2'13")
19. Huculka (2'01")
20. Regi olah tanc (1'19")
21. Nyila (1'31")
22. Koljatka - koszonto (2'18")
23. Roman tancok (4'22")
24. Hucul tanc (7'43")

Duration (70'52")

Técsői Banda:

Joszip Csernavec Georgijovics „Jóska” (1945) – bajan
Mihailo Csernavec Jurijovics „Misu” (1947) – little cimbalom
Jurij Csernavec Olexandrovics „Júra” (1951) – drum, plonka, Jew’s harp, voice
Ivan Popovics Mikolajovics „Iván” (1958) – violin
Petro Babics Sztyepanovics (1952) – violin, voice

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"The Técső Band – playing the traditional Ukrainian-Rusin music of the Máramarosians – is one of the best-known bands of the crown town, which lies on the upper part of the river Tisza. The accordionist Jóska Csernavec and his brothers are the descendants of a reputed gypsy dynasty, but the band’s violinists are not family members. Somehow playing violin was not inherited within the family. All of them learnt the musical style from their ancestors. Their diverse repertoire – because of the strong interethnic influence – features local Romanian, Gypsy, Jewish, Russian and Hungarian songs. I made my first recordings with them at the beginning of the 70’s. At that time, the legendary father Jura Csernavec “Manyo” played the violin.

Unfortunately, his virtuoso performance survived only on a single cassette in bad quality. The band often performs on weddings, on funerals, on Christmas and on the fest of “Misána” (sheep clipping). Their instrument kit includes violin, neckwear cimbalom, bajan (that is an accordion with buttons) and drum equipped with cymbal. The drummer uses a plastic sheet called plonka. He operates this by pressing it between his lower denture and his gum, playing tunes or sometimes playing only to enhance the rhythm of the dance.

Present recordings were made on two occasions with two different primates. On the first part of the album, we can hear wedding music on the second part dance music. During the editorial work, my ambition was to have the band record the most interesting pieces in our studio. I was hoping that many others would love the music of the “unknown land” as much as I love them."

says recording editor Ferenc Kiss.

 

Coming from the village of Tyachiv  (Técső in Hungarian) in the far western Ukraine, the Técső Band is one of the last full time professional traditional ensembles which makes its living playing for village weddings and events in the Hutsul region of the Carpathian mountains. This is an area with a very mixed ethnic composition, and to be successful a band needs to master the specific repertoires of a multitude of ethnic groups.  Accordionist Yoshka Cherniavets are the son, and drummer Yuryy arethe cousinof the late Manyo Cherniavets, a renowned fiddler and band leader who was the Gypsy musician called to play for Jewish weddings in the region. Along with tsymbaly player Misha Cherniavets, the Técső Band continued the tradition of playing a rich multiethnic repertoire encompassing Hutsul Ukrainian, Romanian, Jewish Klezmer, Gypsy, Slovak, Russian, and
Hungarian music in a single performance. Fiddler Ivan Popovych took over as lead fiddler with the death of Manyo. Sadly, tsymbaly player Misha died in 2006. His replacement,the virtuosic Vassilyy Hudak, is the music teacher at the localschool. Since 2010, tsymbaly player of the band is the young Mikhaylo Magula, has a superb understanding and feeling for the musical style of this mountainous region.

 

 

Técsői Banda: The Last Kolomejka

I've know the guys from the Técsői Band for almost a decade, ever since Kiss Feri from Etnofone Records started bringing this amazing Hutsul band to Hungary for festivals. One of the last functioning traditional bands in the region - in the sense that playing their traditional repetoire in their community as a full time job - the Técsői Banda hail from the western Ukraine, just across the border from Hungary in the multi-ethnic village of Tjaciv, known in Hungarian as Técső (there is a large Hungarian speaking minority, and most of the band can speak Hungarian alongside Ruthenian, Ukrainian, Russian, and Romani.) Truly a band of brothers (with one in-law, Ivan) the Técsői band are the sons of Manyo Csernovec, a Gypsy fiddler and and leader who was reknowned in the western Ukraine as the preferred musician for local Jewish and Hungarian events, alongside Hutsul music. A couple of years ago some Hungarian film makers started working with them on a documentary, and this week the end result saw its premier at the Urania Film Museum in Budapest: The Last Kolomeyke. The filmakers followed the band around in Budapest as well as in their home village of Tjaciv, focusing on the friendships that grew between Imre Keszthelyi - their local host and manager - Sue Foy (our own amcsi friend and dance ethnographer of central European dance styles) and me - I recorded a few cuts with Técső for our forthcoming new CD, and the studio session is included in the film. As is usual with these projects, the documenting went on and on and on... but then in 2006 the tsymbaly player, Misha Csernovec, suddenly passed away.

Posted by dumneazu

 

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