The band gathered two full houses in Surgut, Russia’s oil capital, West Siberian largest city with the Far-North-like climate. This trip to Siberia made the musicians recall their personal discovery of Canada a few months ago: beautiful landscapes, vast open spaces, and generous nature rich in “black gold.” Besides, the frosts are severe, over 30 C below zero, and the city is shrouded in a white mist as the sun hangs low, so it starts getting dark at 1 p.m. The squares in Surgut are now decorated with snow castles and ice sculptures.
“It’s a severe land, and the people are open-hearted and considerate. We noticed that it is also the land of ethnic and cultural diversity, inhabited by Azerbaijanis, Tatars, Russians, and Ukrainians. There are no curious strangers there; everyone is working in the oil and gas industry. When you go up in a plane and see the vast area strewn with the lights from burning gas rigs, it gives you an unforgettable feeling. You realize that Russia’s power is based on such cities built on oil and gas fields and the work of such people,” said Volodymyr Sherstiuk of HAIDAMAKY.
Lots of Ukrainians are now living and working in Surgut. They came here over the last century under various historical circumstances, but mostly in the 1960s when huge gas and oil fields were discovered in Siberia. Yugra’s Ukrainian community comprises 300,000 people, but it is rather inactive in Surgut. Unlike the diaspora in Poland or Canada, the second generation of Ukrainians there is already assimilated. People consider themselves to be Russian, and only the older ones remember their native language and their roots and invite Ukrainian performers, extend a warm welcome to them, and arrange for concerts professionally.
HAIDAMAKY’s audience was very polite and quiet, like in a philharmonic. Later, people would admit that they had never heard anything like this before... After the concerts the band gained crowds of fans who were buying the albums, which the guys had brought along. By the way, the band is soon to present new songs to their fans. Some of the compositions were played in the program on their Surgut tour.
