Koliada with Koliadnyky

of Kryvorivnia

In December 2013, Koliada Project and Yara Arts Group in collaboration with the Ukrainian Culture Festival present the Koliadnyky of Kryvorivnia in Yara’s theatrical production of “Midwinter Night: Sacred and Profane Rituals”, concert performances of “Koliada and Music from the Carpathians”, and at the opening of a related photo art exhibition in the Toronto area.

Koliada is a winter ritual that now coincides with Christmas but is much older in origin and symbolism. Its 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.” These songs are featured in the first part of the theatre piece Midwinter Night. In the second part, director Virlana Tkacz has adapted and translated a baroque folk Nativity Play. A highlight is the original 18^th century music, as arranged by Julian Kytasty. The third part of the performance offers raucous Goat Songs sung by members of the Lemon Bucket Orkestra.

The singers and musicians featured are the Koliadnyky of Kryvorivnia, a Ukrainian village in the Hutsul Region of the Carpathian Mountains. Ivan Zelenchuk, the bereza or lead singer, comes from an old Kryvorivnia family, whose father’s handwritten notebook of winter songs has helped to preserve the koliada tradition despite persecution under Soviet rule. Mykola Zelenchuk, Ivan’s son, proudly carries on the traditions of his forefathers, as a winter song singer and traditional costume maker, and the best trembita (mountain long horn) player in the village. Mykola Ilyuk is a master fiddler and plays on most of the traditional musical instruments of the Carpathians, including the trembita, directs an ensemble and has his own museum of Hutsul musical instruments. The evening will also include brilliant troista music (trio of traditional instruments) by Mykola Ilyuk on fiddle, Vasyl Tymchuk on tsymbaly (hammer dulcimer) and Ostap Kostyuk on flute.

Midwinter Night: Sacred and Profane Rituals is created and directed by Virlana Tkacz. The set and lights are designed by Watoku Ueno, a recipient of the NEA/TCG Design Fellowship. Costumes are by Keiko Obremski. Projections are by Mikhail Shraga and Volodymyr Klyuzko, who were nominated for a New York Innovative Theatre Award for their work with Yara. Featured Yara artists in the production include: bandurist Julian Kytasty, vocalists Marika, Alina and Teryn Kuzma and actress Romana Soutus.

In Midwinter Night, the traditional Goat Songs celebrate the passing of the Old Year and its rebirth as the New Year. A goat dances, dies, and is brought back to life because people believed “where the goat will dance, that’s where wheat will grow.” These songs are performed by the explosive Lemon Bucket Orkestra with lead Mark Marczyk, Alexandra Baczynskyj, Tamar Ilana and Stephanie Woloshyn, who also perform with Yara in the Nativity section.

Since its founding in 1990, Yara Arts Group has created 28 original theatre pieces based on materials from the East. Already acclaimed by New York critics, Yara began its performance collaboration with traditional artists from the Carpathians in 2003, and has developed theatre pieces Koliada: Twelve Dishes, Still the River Flows, Winter Sun and Midwinter Night at the world renowned La MaMa Experimental Theatre in New York City. Photographs and video of the koliada ritual in the village of Kryvorivnia have been exhibited at: RA Gallery in Kyiv; La Galleria, Ukrainian Institute; and as a major art installation at the Ukrainian Museum in New York City.

The Koliada Project events in Toronto are made possible by funds from the Shevchenko Foundation and the Ukrainian Credit Union. Yara Arts Group’s participation is made possible by the Coca-Cola Company and the friends of Yara Arts Group. For other related koliada events in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, see New Pathway Calendar of Events below.