Ukraine - The West

 Ukraine has obviously entered the international conscience in the last few years due to the ongoing war.  Whilst I set out this blog to try and maintain neutrality, it is clear for everyone to see that this "Special Military Operation" is a war of aggression, and is therefore unjustified, but being a pacifist, I can't justify any war.  

As on this blog I have decided to format the music into countries, which already doesn't work with many fusions across borders, and borders are never and have never been static but change all the time, I have then the task of deciding where I draw the borders for the purpose of this blog.  I have decided to go along with the pre 2014 borders to define Ukraine, which are still recognised by the majority of UN nations.  

So, to continue our journey due south from Minsk in Belarus on our last stop, ignoring any tensions between these 2 countries, we hop across the border to the northern Ukrainian village of Nedilyshche, where legendary folk singer Nina Matviienko was born in 1947.  Starting off as a copyist, then a crane operator she went on to study philology then entering the Ukrainian State Folk Choir.  She then became something of a national treasure as she carved out a solo career championing women's rights and the folk music of her country.  Sadly she passed away in October of this year.  There doesn't seem to be much of her music available to western listeners, but here is a 2020 performance on the World Folk Vision Festival:

The Volyn State Academic Folk Choir was established in 1978 in the western city of Lutsk and is a large all singing and dancing ensemble with some 80 active members, 24 of them being dancers.  Apparently they have released CDs of their music, but I can't find them, nor do they appear to have an active website.  However there are a number of videos on YouTube of their dance performances and here is a fun one called The Enchanted Hat:

Next stop is the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.  Now if you were born in this city before World War I and are still alive today and have never left, you would have lived in Austro-Hungary, Germany, Poland, the Soviet-Union and Ukraine during your lifetime.  This part of the world has changed hands more often then some people change their underwear!  

Anyway moving on with the musical theme, composer and singer Mariana Sadovska was born here in 1972.  She is considered a pioneer of blending Ukrainian folk with contemporary avant-garde elements.  Nowadays she lives in Cologne in Germany.  Here's a song from her 2010 album Just Not Forever (Re-released in 2022) called Zozulya:

Also from Lviv, and I feel I should mention her, is Ruslana Stepanivna Lyzhychko, or simply Ruslana, who won the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest.  As you may have figured out by now, I'm not a fan of that glorified schmalzfest, but Ruslana appears to be quite a talented musician and dancer, whose talent may be wasted in the commercialised world of pop, as well as having a sexy figure, which always goes down well with the voting public.  After her success she got involved in politics and even served in government for a while as a cultural advisor and was voted one of the world's most influential women by Forbes Magazine.  She still is active as a campaigner, particularly relating to the current war.  So here is a quite a moving video, presumably to boost the morale of the troops. 

The Hudaki Village Band is a troupe of 9 musicians from the Ukrainian Carpathians region on the border with Hungary and Romania known as Maramorosh and were established in 2001.  Being from a mountainous border area the regional influences are multi-faceted and include Slavic vocal traditions, Romanian melodies, Jewish rhythms and Roma temperament.  This is all delivered with panache and a great deal of humour.  Here are a couple of songs from their 2018 album Yo! called Let's Drink Boys and Mariko Do You Hear Me:

During lockdown the members of indie-pop band Tik Tu from Ternopil in western Ukraine were getting a bit restless.  Browsing around YouTube they found the joyful Malawian duo the Madalitso Band, 2 guys that had been busking on the streets of Lilongwe on battered old guitars to keep their heads above water, but came to international attention around 2017 when they performed at the Zanzibar music festival.  So the Ukrainians sent them an e-mail about how they admired their music and would they like to collaborate, remotely obviously during those days, which resulted in a single called Sitimamenya complete with accompanying video and here it is:

That's it from western Ukraine for the time being, next stop is the capital Kyiv.  In the meantime you can follow my virtual ramblings on my Tripline map.

Belarus

 We arrive in Belarus, another country I haven't visited and I don't know a great deal about, apart from the fact that it is governed by a pretty repressive dictatorship, a fact I don't think is too controversial internationally.  The national language is Belarussian, but Russian is spoken widely.  As far as the music is concerned, the government stipulates that 75% of music played on the radio has to be Belarussian, whether it be in the Belarussian or Russian languages, and presumably voices critical of the regime don't get a look in.

First stop is the western city of Lida, where multi-instrumentalist Ivan Kirchuk was born.  He specialises in the ethnology and folklore of his homeland and plays rare and ancient instruments such as the ocarina, domra and bagpipes, as well as singing songs.  He is a larger than life character with a beard to match his personality, who now teaches at Minsk university.  Here is a song from his 1999 album Heritage of the Lost Villages called Oy, ishli-prayshli da try yangali:

Accordionist Aliaksandr Yasinski was born in the city Baranavichy in western Belarus in 1989, but now resides in Prague.  He draws on Belarussian and Balkan music as well as tango and jazz in a unique and dramatic style.  Here is the title track to his first 2022 solo album Hlybini (Depths):

Instrumental trio Port Mone were established in 2006 in the capital Minsk.  They have forged their own roots style with influences from minimalism, jazz and ambient music.  In 2012 they got together with the inimitable DakhaBrakha from neighbouring Ukraine to form the Khmeleva Project.  Here is a track from the resulting album called Єлена (Elena):

The Camerata Vocal Group were established in 1992 in Minsk and appear to be quite proudly state sponsored, which isn't to say they are not talented.  The seven or so members give their own orchestral accompaniment to their songs with their voices, using both electronic enhancement and at times techniques like beat-box.  Here is a song from their 2000 album Angels called Сокол (Falcon), complete with snowy backdrop and (bizarrely) fighting knights:

Ethno-musicologist and multi-instrumentalist Zisl Slepovitch is a native of Minsk, but now resides in New York, where he lectures on Eastern European Jewish music and culture and klezmer, in which he holds a PHD.  He has released 2 albums recreating songs remembered and described by Holocaust survivors.  Whilst this sounds like a heavy subject matter, most of the songs are surprisingly resilient, even satirical, a testament of the power of music in adversity.  The lyrics are in Yiddish, French and Polish and are sung by Latvian singer Sasha Lurje.  Here's a song from the 2021 album Cry My Heart, Cry! Songs from Testimonies Vol. II called Kidush Hashem:

Early music folk band Stary Olsa was established in 1999 playing Medieval and renaissance music on from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, of which Belarus was once a part of. To keep it interesting though they also play covers of classic rock songs on the same instruments.   Here's their 2021 single Балада пра Цмока (Ballad of the Dragon):

Finally spare a thought for the members of Tor Band whose protest songs about the regime in Belarus got them into trouble with the government and were sentenced to up to 9 years in prison in October this year for inciting hatred, creating an extremist group, discrediting Belarus and insulting the president.  Their song не народец (Not a Nation) has become an anthem for the anti-government protest movement:

That's it from Belarus, next stop is Ukraine, where we linger a little longer.  In the meantime you can follow my virtual musical journey on my Tripline map as usual.

Lithuania

Next on our virtual trip is Lithuania, which like the other Baltic states has it's own distinct traditions and language.  I have never been, but it has suffered a similar fate to its neighbours in history of being overrun alternately by the Germans and the Russians.  Now it is a prosperous country, proud of its traditions and looking forward at the same time.  Unlike Latvia its culture seems to be less centralised and we will go on a whistlestop tour around the country.

Our first stop in the north of the country and just over the border with Latvia is the town of Joniškis, where singer and self-declared song-keeper Laurita Peleniūtė was born.  She is trying to preserve ancient Lithuanian folk songs and performs in various guises including collaborating with musicians from around the world.  One of her projects is the duo Maros Rijos together with Tadas Dešukas, who accompanies her pure voice gently on violin, mandolin and guitar, whilst she is on a shruti box for a gentle drone.  Here's a song from their 2021 album Ilgių Dainos called Oi Eisiu Eisiu:

Another project Laurita is involved in is MaLituanie, a collaboration between musicians from Mali and Lithuania to find common ground between their respective musical traditions.  The Malian contingent of the collaboration includes ngoni player Baba Sissoko and guitarist Victor Diawara and the Lithuanian half is completed by multi-instrumentalist Saulius Petreikis and singer and Baltic psaltery player Indrė Jurgelevičiūtė as well as Laurita on ocarina and percussion.  Here's a track from their 2013 album called Tres Jolie:

And talking about the above mentioned multi-instrumentalist Saulius Petreikis, he was born in the north-western town of Barstyčiai near the port city of Klaipeda in 1984. He has a collection of 50 odd wind instruments from all over the world and is known as the only professional musician who can play a wide range of ancient Lithuanian/Baltic wind instruments.  He has recorded 11 solo albums and has taken part in some 50 national and international collaborations.  He combines his traditional folk roots with other experimental world music genres.  His latest 2023 album Sapnų Vartai (The Gate of Dreams) was inspired by the lullabies his mother sang to him when he was the kid and that he now sings to his own children.  Here is track from the album called Naktį lyja (At night it rains) with some beautiful art work in the video:

Next we are heading to the eastern city of Tauragė, where accordionist Martynas Levickis was born in 1990.  The classically trained musician calls his instrument his box of tricks and he has been hailed as "amazingly talented [...] single-handedly reinventing the accordion" by the Independent.  He first emerged onto the scene as the winner of the Lithuania's Got Talent competition in 2010.  His repertoire is mostly his interpretations of classical pieces, but he also incorporates Lithuanian folk tunes, such as in this piece from his latest 2013 album Autograph called The Dawn Is Breaking / Beauštanti aušrelė:

Folk rock band Atalyja (The Rain is Coming) debuted in 1998 in Kaunas, the second city of Lithuania.  The focus on the popularisation of traditional Lithuanian folk songs, in particular polyphonic Sutartinės.  They combine those with contemporary rock, funk and blues elements, using both traditional instruments and modern electric guitar, bass and drums.  Here is the title track from their 2009 album Saula riduolėla:

Folk band Sutaras started off in 1988 in the capital Vilnius playing and singing traditional Lithuanian village folk and have since performed over 6200 concerts in Lithuania and all over the world.  Whilst much of their instrumentation is traditional including the daudytes (wooden horns), the ragiliai (reed horns) or the skudučiai (panpipes) and their songs are formed as Sutartinės, they are not afraid of experimentation and throwing a bit of jazz into their compositions.  Here's a song from their 2011 album Ubagų karalystės monai called UBAGŲ SALA (Isle of Beggars):

Folk-fusion trio Merope consist of Lithuanian kanklės (Lithuanian zither) player and singer Indrė Jurgelevičiūtė, Belgian Bert Cools on guitar and synthesizer and Frenchman Jean Christophe Bonnafous on bansuri, a south-Asian side-blown flute.  Their material is based on Lithuanian folk songs, but with the unusual instrumentation and international influences have created their own style.  Here is the title track from their 2022 album Naktės:

And that's it from Lithuania, next stop Belarus.  As usual, you can follow my virtual journey on my Tripline map. 

Latvia

 

Photo credit: By Saeima - Dziesmu un deju svētku pasākumi 2018, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71031165

I've been to Latvia once very briefly about 3 years ago on an overnight stop in Riga on the way back from Stockholm staying with a friend of a friend.  It was getting dark and started snowing heavily as we arrived, so never took any pictures, but we are planning a return visit sometime soon.  We did get to eat a traditional pickled herring and beetroot salad in a cosy restaurant on the outskirts of town though. 

Apparently a third of Latvia's population lives in Riga, so on our musical journey it's the only place we'll be stopping.  First up is all female Ethno-pop band Tautumeitas, who started life in 2015.  The 6 women sing beautifully in harmony accompanied by violins, accordion and percussion.  Here's a bewitching song from their 2018 self-titled debut album called Raganu Nakts (Witch Nights):

Folk fusion band Auļi was founded in 2003 consisting of 6(!) bagpipe players, 3 drummers and an electric cello.  That's enough to put the fear of God into anyone and their performances seem to be a rumbunctious party.  They call their genre Ethno-trance with elements of Latvian folk, rock and other influences.  The pipes they are playing are of course not Scottish, but the native Latvian dūdas, which has a history going back to the 15th century and even appeared on a Latvia postage stamp:

Here's the opening track from their 2022 album Ķekatās called Čigāniņi, pagāniņi (Gypsies, pagans):

Folk band Iļģi was founded in 1981 by Ilga Reizniece and are still going strong.  Initially they concentrated on original Latvian folk with traditional instruments, but gradually transformed into what they call post folk, taking in influences from other world and contemporary music styles.  They have numerous awards to their name and are still touring.  Here's the opening track from their 2011 album Tur Saulite Perties Gaja called Pirts Kurinasara:

The core of contemporary folk band Lata Donga is made up of members of the Rancane family - including Asnate and Aurelia who are also members of Tautumeitas - who have been playing music for at least 3 generations.  Their music is dream-like, using traditional and classical instrumentation.  Here is a song from their 2019 album Variacijas called Vysi Kūceņi, which according to Google Translate means You Bastards:

All female traditional singing group Saucējas was established in 2003 in Riga at the Latvian Academy of Culture.  They are very much sticking to authentic Latvian polyphonic traditions gleaned from archive recordings and by meeting older musicians in the field.  The theme of many of their songs is nature and in nature those women like to be to record their songs, complete with the ambient noises of birdsong and chickens clucking.  Here's a song from their 2021 album Dabā called Aiz Daugavas melni meži, which is a Latvian spring time song from Selonia:

Nature and tradition is also at the heart of the music of folk band Saule I Tuvāk with a dash of mysticism.  I don't know an awful lot about them, but here is a song from their 2022 debut album Aiz Ezera called Raganiņa, which means witch apparently.  Seems to be a bit of a theme in Latvia:

The electro-folk duo ZeMe brings together the queen of the kokle, the traditional Latvian zither, Laima Jansone with elctronic DJ Monsta aka Uldis Zirulis, both born in Riga.  They are inspired by Mother Earth, which Zeme literally means in Latvian mythology, to come up with innovative improvisations.  Laima at times plays the kokle like a guitar Jimi Hendrix style.  Here is the title song to their 2019 album Visuma Vizošā Tumsa - The Glimmering Universe:

3 of the 5 members of ImantaDimanti un draugi hail from the Latvian diaspora abroad and were brought up in Australia, the USA and Germany respectively.  However they formed the band in Riga playing joyful traditional Latvian folk songs, sometimes with a hint of bluegrass, displaying their international influence.  Here's the title song from their 2017 album Izauga mātei brīnuma meita:

And that's it from Latvia for the time being, folks.  Next stop is the last of the Baltic republics, Lithuania, until then you can follow my virtual travels on my tripline map.