You can hear the sounds of Shchedryk and hurdy-gurdy. A male choir, surrounded by children, is getting ready for the performance in the open air. The first festival of Ukrainian classical music “Smalta” took place on the territory of Sophia of Kyiv Preserve. The event was organized by the employees of the national preserve and its council of guardians with the assistance of the Shevchenkivsky District State Administration and the non-commercial organization JoyFest.
Mykola Lysenko, Dmytro Bortniansky, Mykola Leontovych, Kyrylo Stetsenko, Reinhold Gliere, Mykhailo Verbytsky – the program featured a many-colored mosaic of names of Ukrainian composers of the 17th-20th centuries. Their works are currently “widely known in narrow circles,” and the organizers of Smalta were trying to improve the situation. At the festival ensembles from Kyiv and Cherkasy performed the Ukrainian classics for everyone who came to the preserve. Skillful dancers performed historical dances and held various master classes. It was supposed to rain heavily, according to the forecasts, but on the first day of Smalta the weather was sunny and cool. On Sunday, it was raining though, so the concert moved to the Khlibnia gallery.
THE FESTIVAL WON’T DO ANY HARM TO SOPHIA
“There is a war, tensions, and a terrible crisis in the country, and all of this is detrimental for culture. In such a sacral and historical place as Sophia of Kyiv we must revive the vanishing culture streams. Ukrainian classical singing is being forgotten today. If we don’t promote this genre, it will decay completely. We must attract young people, so that they learned these things,” says the head of the civic association “Guardian Council of the Sophia of Kyiv National Preserve” Fedir Zernetsky. “The policy of the administration of the preserve and our guardian council is aimed at uniting people. There is no better mechanism to overcome human conflicts than classical art.”
Zernetsky emphasizes that Smalta cannot do any harm to the St. Sophia Cathedral, because the festival takes place not inside of the monument, but on the territory of the preserve. The cathedral is guarded and being preserved. According to Zernetsky, the building has been restored and reinforced, so there is no threat of damage. The bell tower, where the cornices have been damaged by rains, risks being ruined. But the works on restoring the building have begun.
Before the festival the lawn came down on the territory of the preserve. “I was born and grew up close to Sophia. Over the past 40 years, something has been collapsing here from time to time,” Zernetsky comments. “There is an unexplored system of caves near the preserve. Soviet scientists were digging the place before 1962. But the funding was cut in the 1960s and all digging works were frozen. The passages made by archeologists still collapse, especially because of heavy raining. All the more so, there is a fitness center Sofiivsky with a pool and underground parking lot nearby. These buildings block the natural movement of the subsoil waters. The level of the subsoil waters goes up, the passages get soaked, and the soil gets depressed. We cannot stop this process. I support the idea of finding sponsors in the near future to hold a thorough digging of the caves near the preserve. I think there will be some sensational findings.”
WHAT INSTRUMENTS DID UKRAINIAN ARISTOCRATS PLAY?
A hurdy-gurdy, torban, various kinds of kobza – only a few people can recognize these authentic Ukrainian instruments today. At the festival Smalta, a craftsman who makes music instruments, Vadym Viksnin presented his works, in particular, a precise copy of torban that belonged to Ivan Mazepa (the original disappeared during the World War II). “Ukrainians see this instrument every day,” Vadym Viksnin points at the copy of Mazepa’s torban, “It is depicted on the 10 hryvnia banknote. But the picture has several gross mistakes. Actually, I have seen two pictures of Mazepa’s torban, and they show two different instruments, which were, however, made by the same master. I assume that Mazepa had a workshop where torbans were made. Since it was a secular noble instrument, it could be given as an award for certain achievements.”
MARIA VIKSNINA PLAYS TORBAN. SHE MAY BE THE WORLD’S ONLY MUSICIAN WHO CAN PLAY THE INSTRUMENT IN A CLASSICAL MANNER
Torban is a string music instrument, similar to bandura, which is played by plucking. Viksnin says that it used to be popular on the territory of the Russian empire, but later the czar power started to destroy it. “Torban is Ukrainian baroque. That has been cut out and forgotten. Many Russian classical writers, like Tolstoy, Ryleyev, Saltykov-Schedrin, mention torban in their works,” Viksnin says. Currently only a few people in Ukraine can play torban. And probably only the craftsman’s daughter Maria Viksnina can play the instrument in a classical manner.
“SO MUCH MUSIC – TRY TO SING EVERYTHING!”
The audience of the festival was innumerous, but those who came, purposefully or accidentally, were satisfied with it. Smalta was opened by the Revutsky Municipal Male Choir. The artistic director of the ensemble, Merited Worker of Art of Ukraine Volodymyr Kurach is sure: “Any festival of Ukrainian classical music is needed here. We have sung the works by Stetsenko, Leontovych, and Bortniansky. This is Ukrainian classics. Russians consider Bortniansky their composer, but he comes from Hlukhiv. Russians think that Vedel is their composer, but he’s from Hlukhiv, too. Russians consider Berezovsky their composer, but he’s from Hlukhiv as well. No country has the heritage Ukraine has. We also have carols and schedrivkas, vesniankas, recruit and Easter songs. There is so much music – try to sing everything!”
The organizers of Smalta are planning to develop their idea. They want the festival to embrace also painting, icon painting, and various crafts. But they need governmental support. “The festivals like Smalta are held all over the world. In England, France, Germany the budgets envisage funding of such events, preserving of culture roots. In our country, the events like this festival are organized for private money, and this is outrageous,” Zernetsky contemplates, “The nation needs self-identification. So that not only we wore embroidered shirts, but also knew our songs, in particular, the classical ones. Because this is the culture written in centuries. And with this our state will feel equal to the existing European cultures.” Zernetsky promised that probably in spring this festival will be held for the second time. Before that we have an opportunity to learn the works of Ukrainian composers, choose our favorite ones, and wait for the next music feast with anticipation.
