Yara Arts Group Presents Two Winter Songs From The Carpathians

Yara Arts Group (http://www.brama.com/yara) will offer two different concerts featuring the Koliadnyky, an ensemble of winter song singers from Kryvorivnia (a Ukrainian village in the Hutsul region of the Carpathian Mountains). The first concert will be "Twelve Dishes/Sviat vechir" on December 17 at 8:00 PM at the Ukrainian Institute of America in New York, 2 East 79th Street, on Manhattan's Upper East Side. The second concert will be "Winter Sun: A Celebration of Traditional Music from the Carpathians, Puppets and Rituals" on December 26 at La MaMa Experimental Theater, 66 East Fourth Street, in Manhattan's East Village. The concerts will feature traditional winter songs from the Koliada ritual, featuring the Zelenchuk family of singers and musicians from the Carpathian region. The music of the concerts comes directly from Carpathian winter solstice rituals.

Koliada is a winter ritual that now coincides with Christmas, but is much older in origin and symbolism. The oldest songs are preserved in villages high in the Carpathian Mountains, where the Koliada is considered to be the most important event of the year. Some people believe that Spring and the harvest will not come to the village unless the songs are sung in every household. The songs are incantations that assume the magical power of words: "what is said, will be so."

On Friday December 17 at 8:00 PM, Yara Arts Group will present the Koliadnyky singing traditional winter songs from the villages of Kryvorivnia and Verkhovyna in "Twelve Dishes/Sviat vechir," a special event at the Ukrainian Institute of America in New York, 2 East 79th Street. The evening will include brilliant troista instrumental music from the Charpathian Mountains by Mykola Ilyuk, Vasyl Tymchuk and Ostap Kostyuk. Singer Cecilia Arana, violinist Valerie Zhmud and bandurist Julian Kytasty will join the Koliadnyky for several Christmas for the event in the beautiful Fifth Avenue Mansion. There will also be performances of poetry by Bob Holman, Vasyl Makhno and Olena Jennings. An important component of the winter ritual is a ritual dinner of twelve dishes. Food artist Olesia Lew will present new interpretations of these ritual dishes for the audience to taste. Tickets are $25 and available at the door. For information call The Ukrainian Institute at (212) 288-8660.

On Sunday, December 26 at 2:30 PM and 7:30 PM, Yara Arts Group and a collection of International Artists will perform "Winter Sun: A Celebration of Traditional Music from the Carpathians, Puppets and Rituals" at the Ellen Stewart Theater of La MaMa Experimental Theater Club, located at 66 East Fourth Street. This new show is created by Virlana Tkacz and will feature the Koliadnyky, Yara Arts Group, Aurelia Shrenker, Eva Salina Primack, Julian Kytasty, Nadia Tarnawsky, Kat Yew, Valeriy Zhmud and special guests with winter songs from around the world. The event includes samples of a traditional ritual food - kutia, a wheat berry porridge with honey and nuts. The concert is presented by La MaMa Experimental Theater and Yara Arts Group. Tickets are $25 and available through the La MaMa box office at (212) 475-7710 and www.lamama.org.

The singers and musicians of Koliadnyky are all from the Carpathian Mountains. Ivan Zelenchuk, is the "bereza," lead singer. He comes from an old Kryvorivnia family and is the son of Ivan Zelenchuk, whose handwritten notebook of winter songs has helped to preserve this tradition despite the persecution under the Soviet rule. Now in his fifties, Ivan considers his involvement in The Koliada his personal mission. Mykola Zelenchuk, the son of Ivan, proudly carries on the tradition of his forefathers, both as a winter song singer and the best trembita (mountain long horn) player in the village. He also makes the traditional costumes for the winter song singers. He has taken part in Yara productions and was featured in its "Still the River Flows" at La MaMa (2008). Mykola Ilyuk is a master fiddler and plays on most traditional instruments of the Carpathians, including the trembita (mountain long horn). He is director of the renowned Hutsul instrumental ensemble and has his own museum of musical instruments from the area. Vasyl Tymchuk plays the tsymbaly (hammer dulcimer) and teaches children to play Hutsul instruments. Ostap Kostyuk plays the duda (bagpipes) and various flutes and represents the newest generation that has become expert in this ancient tradition.

Instruments played by the Koliadnyky include the trembita (Carpathian mountain horn), which is made of a hollowed pine tree that has been struck by lightning and wrapped in birch bark. Trembitas are used primarily in the mountain pastures. In the villages they are only used during the koliada and at funerals. Fiddles are played in the Carpathian style. The musicians also play the duda (bagpipes made from a goat), tsymbaly (hammer dulcimer), drumby (jaw harps) and a variety of hand-made Carpathian flutes.

Yara Arts Group began collaborating with traditional artists from the Carpathians in 2003 and has developed performances with them in Kyiv and New York. Products of this collaboration include the theatre pieces "Koliada: Twelve Dishes" and "Still the River Flows" at La MaMa Experimental Theatre in New York. Photographs and video of the koliada ritual in the village of Kryvorivnia have been exhibited at the RA Gallery in Kiev, La Galleria and Ukrainian Institute in New York, Spring Street Gallery in Saratoga Springs and a major art installation at the Ukrainian Museum in New York. This year Yara celebrated its 20th anniversary and presented its newest show, "Scythian Stones," at La MaMa in New York and at international festivals in Kyiv and Kyrgyzstan.

These Koliada events were made possible by Self-Reliance (NY) FCU, public funds from New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and Yara Arts Group's numerous friends and donors. For updates see www.brama.com/yara

WHERE AND WHEN:
December 17, 2010 8:00 PM
"Twelve Dishes/Sviat vechir"
Ukrainian Institute of America, 2 East 79th Street, New York
$25; (212) 288-8660

December 26, 2010 at 2:30 PM and 7:30 PM
"Winter Sun: A Celebration of Traditional Music from the Carpathians, Puppets and Rituals"
La Mama E.T.C. (Ellen Stewart Theater), 66 East 4th Street
$25; (212) 475-7710, www.lamama.org

 

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