Polissia| Poltavshchyna| Podillia| Donechchyna| Carpathians| Slobozhanshchyna| Bessarabia
I had heard a lot about the legendary Kriachkivka from the singers of the Kyiv ethnomusicology ensemble Drevo. And so, in 1993, the director from England, Paul Allain, and I went on our first trip to prepare for the future expedition with the Gardzienice Theatre and in Kriachkivka we ‘accidentally’ met Nadia Rozdabara on the street. We start asking her about the singers. I will never forget how, hearing her speak, Paul asked if he should take out the recorder wondering if she was already singing.
Like many people in Ukraine, the singers from Kriachkivka became my teachers. It was there that I realised that I was taking from them not only songs, lyrics, notes, and the way of singing, but something that is difficult to name and cannot be kept for myself, because it is life itself and ‘the most important thing’ - as grandma Hanna Levada said - is love.
Halyna Yakymivna Popko once remarked that she ‘sang her whole life to me’.
Fedir Rozdabara repeated that you have to love a song, you have to carry it in your heart for so long that you will know how to sing it. Because these are the songs of our great-grandfathers, and we perceive them with all our hearts, souls, and our whole being.
Follow this link to listen online or download from Google Drive (in parts or separate folders).
Follow this link to view or download all the photos from the region.
Polissia| Poltavshchyna| Podillia| Donechchyna| Carpathians| Slobozhanshchyna| Bessarabia