A musical dialog between cultures was staged by the members of Drevo, a Ukrainian folk group, and Dzham, a group of Iranian musicians; the premiere of the choral oratorio Barbikivska Koliada by Hanna Havrylets, a well-known composer, was also performed by the Dumka choir. These events were united by the general theme of folk traditions of Christmas caroling. But the concerts were as different as a documentary and a feature film.
A unique opportunity presented itself to compare two contrasting methods of working with our people’s heritage. Drevo showed how nontrivial and exciting a scientific reconstruction of authentic music can be, and what interesting fruits a meeting of two musical traditions can bear. The Dumka National Academic Choir, led by Yevhen Savchuk, presented folk carols and Christmas songs processed with an academic style — a product worthy of governmental concert programs and foreign concert tours.
ETHNO-VIRTUOSOS
During Drevo’s concert the audience met with that unexpected, penetrating sound of the Homeland, which is practically unknown in today’s cities. It is this sound full of brazen and silvery overtones that inspired Hohol to write: “our Ukraine is ringing with songs.” But now the sound of an authentic manner of singing is generally surprising for unprepared listeners. Authentic singing is not popular among the establishment, because it is associated with the uncomfortable world of the modern Ukrainian countryside, old age and death. Keepers of the Ukrainian folk singing tradition are mostly over sixty now. The sources of the most ancient, pre-Christian ritual tunes — Polissia to the north of Kyiv and Volhynia — suffered from an ecological disaster. Inhabitants were resettled, and the magic of folk singing died, because it was impossible to converse with ancestors’ spirits in cities where there are no graves of kin, and the land itself, wherever you look, belongs to strangers.
Yevhen Yefremov always managed to involve unconventional performers in Drevo, including Alla Zahaikevych (author of the soundtrack to Mamay, and initiator of the festival and facilitator of annual projects of electro-acoustical music and media-art “Em-Vision”), Mykola Kovalinas and Petro Tovstukha (well-known composers, the latter is also famous for his performances with Oleksandr Nesterov and Serhii Lietov; now a conductor), and Olena Shevchuk (an internationally recognized researcher of ancient song manuscripts). Now the group comprises Hanna and Serhii Okhrimchuk, the latter being a virtuoso violinist, well-known to a wide circle of listeners for his appearances with Oleh Skrypka and Sviatoslav Vakarchuk.
During the concert at the National Philharmonic Drevo appeared on stage with Iranian musicians from Dzham, which was set up in Kyiv about seven years ago. It is composed of Iranian students from different higher educational institutions in our capital. The cast of the group is continuously renewed. Now its creative director is Amin Ahay Kukhi, a student of the history and theory faculty of the National Musical Academy of Ukraine. Apart from him, the concert’s participants were Ali Kazemi (a student of the architecture faculty of Kyiv’s Civil Engineering Institute, who sings and plays the Persian stringed musical instruments by plucking, the thar and the oud), and Ali Zamanpur (a student of the linguistics faculty of the Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University, who captivated the audience with his mastery of the percussion instruments – the daf and the tonbakh). Against the background of the stage scenery imitating the setting of a hut, the dialog between Ukrainian and Iranian musicians turned into an allegory of Christmas night — when the Three Wise Men of Persia came to a village crib in veneration. A conversation between the group leaders, free of any bombast, emphasized the cordial atmosphere.
THE CHIMES AND THE APPLAUSE
The contrasting radiant, noisily joyous atmosphere of Barbikivska Koliada at the end of the Christmas season was seen as foreshadowing the Shrove Tuesday celebrations. The premiere of Hanna Havrylets’ oratorio created a collective, symbolical picture of folk singing — painfully habitual, known to all and therefore moving the audience to tears. Apart from the traditional characters — Koza and Malanka — the music alluded to Leontovych’s Dudaryk (op. 3 “Merry Christmas”), and Oksana Nykytiuk’s solo in the manner of Nina Matviienko.
Dumka appeared on stage to the sounds of chimes and applause. Other choral groups — the Great Children’s Choir of the National Radio Company and the Dzvinochok Choir — also moved very skillfully and noiselessly, adding to the general elegance of the concert’s events. Each opus was rewarded with applause. Judging by Yevhen Savchuk’s reaction, they were not only awaited, but longed-for. As a result, the oratorio turned into a collection of detached opuses, and the presentation of a new musical composition became a recital for the eminent choral group. The Barbikivska Koliada was perfectly suited to this purpose. It synthesized the key achievements of the Ukrainian choral school: both Leontovych’s traditions and spiritual motets, and the experience of opera choral writing by Ukrainian classicists. And Ukrainian folklore occupied a fitting place — close to the icons in the sanctum.
COMMENTARIES
Volodymyr ZUBYTSKY, composer (Ukraine-Italy):
“Literally on the eve of Drevo’s concert I read a stunning article by one historian from Moscow: ‘Kyiv, the mother of Turkish cities,’ where the author proved that such cities as Kyiv and Novgorod were modeled on ones that had existed in Syria, Iran etc. This ‘absolutely crazy idea,’ strangely enough, was realized in the concert of Drevo and Dzham. The music of such distant, diametrically opposite peoples was stunning. Obviously, we do have some common roots, something in the temperament, something in the modulation, in the emotionality of presentation, in the philosophical comprehension of this music — popular, ancient, but ever-living. I would like to thank Yevhen Yefremov who preserves our ancient culture and revitalizes it with the help of young performers, and also to thank the Iranian group that has made a very good impression on me with its professionalism. All the guys are exquisitely musical and incredibly refined in their technical mastership. This music is stunningly professional! I particularly liked Ali Zamanpur, whose percussion instruments managed to show a wide emotional amplitude: from mournful to festive. Without accelerating the tempo, he gradually moved from one rhythmical combination to another — an incredibly difficult thing to do. If you put it into the musical notation, it will make an extremely interesting and difficult symphonic score. Therefore I am glad to have been at this concert, although I got there absolutely by chance, and it gave me great pleasure.”
Oleksii BOSENKO, Ph.D., senior staff scientist at the Institute of Modern Art at the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine:
“The idea to rally two groups — Drevo and Dzham — turned out to be just brilliant. It was nice to have seen an improvisation at such a unique concert. Had the participants planed absolutely everything between themselves beforehand, it would not be that interesting, either for them, or for the audience. Personally, I was impressed by the little girl who was on the stage throughout the concert — Serhii and Hanna Okhrimchuk’s daughter. This musical child revitalized the action, emphasizing the special atmosphere of trust and ease. They moved me to tears. Recently I got to a concert where an authentic folk group from Polissia appeared — ladies (you cannot call them old) of almost 80 years did sing better than young performers who were diligently trying to imitate the modulation and timbres. Folk traditions are no longer as successful anymore as it was before, even under Soviet rule. Today they do not sing that way anymore. And it is already impossible to imitate that singing and those musical processes. No matter how bitter and distressing it is, this has to be taken into account. As far as Drevo and its leader, Yevhen Yefremov, are concerned, ‘he is a genius, nothing more to that’ (Roman Coffman described the first violin of his orchestra). His training is just excellent. For instance, Olha Chernyshova, a young soloist from the group, does count for something! Although ‘old’ participants were also excellent, the same Petro Tovstukha, Vitalii Protasov and others, not to mention Yefremov himself, who was always stunning me with his wonderful universality, his ability to sing in any style of any region, and to any authentic music, not only Ukrainian one. I remember when the perestroika thing started, and there was that general rush of independence (in particular, from culture as well), some hot nationalistic heads did not allow Yefremov to sing folklore, because his family name has the Russian suffix ‘-ov’ — Yefremov. People did not understand, and they still don’t, that national folklore and national culture are never formed by ministerial or presidential orders and do not conform to paragraphs. Likewise, if a phenomenon was predestined to die, no decree will be able to stop its death, even if large-scale reanimation measures were taken.
“Generally, in my opinion, this country is being turned into a big branch of the institute of culture, or ‘cul-de-sac’ as its popular name goes. We are dominated by ‘Poplavskism,’ and it is not the matter of personality, but of an approach based on principles and deliberate bad taste. Real folk art is gradually dying, and I am not thrilled about it; moreover, I understand that it is an inevitable process, which depersonalized such countries as France, Italy, Germany and Austria (the US is not there yet — that country is generally deprived of culture, where even very clever people are turned into blithering idiots, which awaits us as well; moreover, the hackneyed thesis of ‘developed countries’ is very doubtful, and a whole different subject).
“However, there are many folk groups, which are trying to ‘milk’ the ‘national idea’ turned into ‘brand,’ arranging a helluva concoction on the principle of Tuvin groups where there is not a single Tuvinian; they play Japanese music and sing in English, but for some reason they are a tremendous success throughout Europe. However, these surrogates inevitably fill empty spaces and gaps, because ‘nature abhors vacuum.’ And it is not worth consoling ourselves that, say, the ancient Greek language died. Schumer-Acadian and classical Latin disappeared, and there is nothing to regret. We do not know what we have lost, but we know instead what we are losing now, and it is happening right in front of our eyes. So let the downfall be brought about later or, which is better, never.”
