Krachkyvka Village Band
The Krachkyvka Village Band is a recent musical project, formed in early 2019. The idea centers around Kryachkivka, a small derelict village, in the heart of the Poltava region. The core repertoire of the ensemble, is comprised of local songs and dances. As a result of modernization and Soviet policy on Ukrainian musical traditions, most musical and dance folklore has been lost. But luckily, in Kryachkivka, the traditions have been preserved by the local elder singers. The Krachkyvka Village Band consists of ethnomusicologists, traditional singers and dancers from Kryachkivka, Poltava, Kyiv, and the Ukrainian diaspora (Raleigh, USA). The members conduct year round camps, festivals, and performance-masterclasses mostly in Kryachkivka. The ensemble also travels around Ukraine, and abroad, sharing the local Kryachkivka music and dance traditions with the world.
The core ensemble is made up of four musician-ethnomusicologists, Oleh and Oksana But, and Jurij and Mariya Fedynskyj. Often the group is joined by Nadiya Rozdabara and Nina Reva, elders of the village, for nearby concerts and events. Also, Victor Chuprjna often joins the ensemble for teaching dances, as well as technical, sound, and administrative support.
Nadiya Rozdabara and Nina Reva are the leaders of the group "Drevo", probably the most well known of all Ukrainian traditional folk ensembles. For almost sixty years, the group has toured throughout Ukraine and the world. Countless ensembles perform the repertoire of Drevo. Countless ethnomusicologists have traveled to the village to preserve and study their unique polyphonic singing. Presently, the elders of Drevo have decided to limit their travels abroad, due to health and age. But in the village of Kryachkivka, they are constantly working to educate others, helping conduct workshops, and traveling to schools in the region.
Oleh and Oksana But are leaders of the Kyiv group "Buttya". For the past twenty some years they have conducted ethnomusicological expeditions across Ukraine, preserving nearly lost songs and dances from the last of the traditional musicians. From material collected, they have mastered their personal performance techniques, to share that wealth of material to the public. Buttya is one of the few examples of traditional "troyista" music ensembles in Ukraine today. They are also one of the few ensembles that focus of group folk dancing
Jurij and Mariya Fedynskyj are former soloists of the group "Kryachkivske Drevo". They also work together, singing Renaissance and Baroque music to the accompaniment of the torban and "bassolya-da-gamba". Jurij formerly worked to create and develop the Kyiv ensembles "Karpatiany" and "Khoreya Kozatska". After relocating to Kryachkivka, he has worked for the past ten years to create "Kobzarskiy Tabir", an educational institution dedicated to reviving the nearly lost, Eastern Ukrainian musical traditions. Jurij frequently travels abroad, similar to the Ukrainian "kobzars" or bards, sharing his research of the kobza, bandura, and torban.
The repertoire of the Kryachkivka Village Band is centered on village singing, dance music, and dancing. Aside from singing, instruments such as the violin, tsymbaly, bassolya, bubon, and sopilka can be heard. The repertoire also includes solo kobzar repertoire to the accompaniment of the kobza and bandura, as well as music of the torban. The less known genre of the Kozak Baroque is also included in the group's program.