SADOVSKA ARCHIVE is an archive of Mariana Sadovska's expeditionary files containing audio, video, and photo materials about outstanding folk singers of Ukraine.
The materials were recorded in 1993-2016 and cover:
- POLISSIA: Lisove, Zelene, Svarytsevychi, Horodyshche, Stepanhorod, Lytvytsia, Perebrody, Richytsia, Stari Koni, Lykholitky, Nosivka, Snovsk;
- POLTAVA: Kriachkivka, Liutenka, Vepryk, Lysivka, Sary;
- PODILLIA: Mykhailivtsi, Medzhybizh, Byrlivka, Bershad, etc;
- DONETSK: Volnovakha, Dmytrivka, Kalynove, Yehorivka, Zlatoustivka, Khlibodarivka, Oleksandro-Kalynove and Greeks from Mariupol;
- HUTSULS, LEMKOS, POKUTIA: Utoropy, Potichok, etc.
- SLOBOZHANSHCHYNA: Komyshi, Lebedyn.
AUDIO
The media for this archive consist of 24 cassettes (recordings from 1993-1999), 40 mini-discs (recordings from 2000-2009), and digital recordings (2010-2016) - a total of 1690 audio files with a general duration of almost 4 days.
Audio files on the mini-discs has been recorded and preserved in high quality - and it is our common good fortune to have field recordings of authentic performers singing in the early 2000s in digital form.
In addition to the songs, you can also hear some failed singing attempts and most of the performers' conversations and dialogues - it is very valuable to hear how these people communicate and live.
All audio recordings are uploaded to a google drive, you can listen to them online from the google drive or download - as individual songs or folders, or in blocks (Polissia, Poltavshchyna, etc.) or download the entire archive at once. All recordings are in mp3 320kbps format.
VIDEO
There are more than 40 videos on the archive's YouTube channel. Each new video of the singers of that time is priceless, get acquainted and enjoy.
PHOTOS, LYRICS, SHEET MUSIC
The archive includes 300 photos - most of them were taken by Andre Erlen, as well as by Przemysław Sieraczynski, Ioanna Wichowska, Bernd Fingas, Carlo Goeschel, Paul Allain, and Mariana Sadovska.
We thank the photographers for capturing the beauty and integrity of authentic talents and their lives so well.
In the future, we hope to add lyrics and sheet music of selected songs from Mariana Sadovska's archive.
RIGHTS OF USE
Free private use of all posted materials is welcome.
Any form of public use of the archive materials is possible only after approval, under the condition that the origin of the recordings, the source of the material and the link to the Archive page are indicated.
If you have any suggestions, comments or other inquiries, please write to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Introduction by Mariana Sadovska
The expeditions during which these recordings were made took place in 1993-2016 in the villages of Polissia, Poltavshchyna, Hutsulshchyna, Boikivshchyna, Lemkivshchyna, Podillia, Slobozhanshchyna, and Donechchyna.
I organised and conducted some of the expeditions in collaboration with the women's vocal ensemble KITKA (Berkeley), the YARA Art Group (New York), and the Gardzienice Theatre (Lublin).
‘NO MATTER WHAT YOU SAY, THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WORLD IS LOVE’ - these words I heard from the singer from Kriachkivka, Hanna Levada, when I first visited this legendary village in Poltava region.
Hanna Levada
(Kriachkivka, Poltava region)
photo: A. Erlen
These words became my guiding light. Halyna Popko has been singing to me ‘all her life’, so I am happy that I can finally share this treasure with you.
Halyna Yakymivna Popko
(Kriachkivka, Poltava region)
photo: A. Erlen
I hope that this archive will become a source of inspiration and pleasure for you, and will help you learn, sing, work out, arrange, compose and create. A song will live as long as it is sung. It is especially important for us to preserve these unique treasures today, when the russian empire is once again trying to wipe us off the face of the earth.
And may these songs-amulets protect us! May they give us strength and guide us. Let them remind us that ‘the most important thing in the world is love’.
This is not a scientific archive - it is a document of time and my travels in Ukraine. We leave everything out - with conversations between singing, with pictures of landscapes, etc.
For many years, I watched with anxiety how my cassettes, mini-discs and other media gathered dust. That's why I am incredibly grateful to Jurij Josyfovych for his great work in digitising, organising and arranging of all the materials.
The creation of the Archive was made possible thanks to the support of the #TakeHeart Residenzförderung and the design of Svitlana Panchuk.
Mariana Sadovska
Cologne 31.07.2023
Svarytsevychi, 2004
Polissia| Poltavshchyna| Podillia| Donechchyna| Carpathians| Slobozhanshchyna| Bessarabia