Musical Culture

As well as literary fascinations, I found lots of musical entertainment on my visit to Kyiv. In order to visit the lovely Opera House, my sister and I went to a ballet performance of Zorba the Greek. What athleticism and artistic grandeur we experienced! It was fabulous, and as much as I liked the actual ballet, I think what made it really special was how obvious it was that all of the dancers were really enjoying what they were doing. Plus, the 3 encores were a treat. The Opera House is beautiful!

There was also quite a bit of traditonal music to enjoy. I saw a bandura player selling his wares on the grounds of St. Sophia's.

Then we stumbled upon a performance in Taras Shevchenko park on Constitution Day, and the group was so entertaining. I even recognized one of the songs!

I was also lucky enough to be in Kyiv for Canada Day, and we attended the Canadian Embassy's party. How fun! There were a few musical groups there, one a military band which played our anthem and then a few more things throughout the evening. There was a family group playing some folk music to entertain people while they were waiting in the long food line.

And there was a wonderful fusion group, the only Ukrainian-Celtic band around, GhurtYoGhurt (ok, the name is weird, but they were SO much fun to watch. I didn't get a video of them, sadly, but at least I have pics).

And in addition to all that, the weekly What's On Kyiv had an article on a group called Dakha Brakha, which takes Ukrainian music and adds different world influences, including African rhythms. The day after I'd read the article I found a cd, so bought it -- which concludes my muscial tour of Ukraine. Hope you've enjoyed it!