Tag Archives: Ukrainian polyphony

KOLIADA: Ukrainian Community Carolling Group

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Koliada is nearly upon us! 

Not unlike the needs of so many people & cultures at this time of year, when the weather gets cold and the nights so long, KOLIADA is an occasion to come together, connect, and make the darkened cold season pass quickly trough celebration and song.

With less than 2 weeks left, our Koliada rehearsals are now closed. Over the past 3 weeks we have accumulated a great group of singers but now we now have to fine tune our style and learn the last set of songs.

Starting Dec 27, we are unable to accommodate guests into our rehearsals.

We are, however, still accepting invitations to visit houses for January 7th – so if you would like Kosa Kolektiv’s Koliada carollers to visit your home, please contact kosa.kolektiv@gmail.com.

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WORKSHOPS, REHEARSALS & CAROLLING

WORKSHOP SUNDAY DEC 11 2:30 – 4:30 PM

LOCATION CHANGE: the Belarus Orthodox Church, 524 St Clarens Ave. By donation. Suggested $20-30. Follow the link above to get to the FB event.
PLEASE REGISTER VIA kosa.kolektiv@gmail.com.

REHEARSALS!!!

WEDNESADYS 7-9 PM

BELARUS ORTHODOX CHURCH,

524 St Clarens Ave, just over a block north of Bloor and one block east of Lansdowne. Closest TTC is Lansdowne station.

CAROLLING JANUARY 7

The big carolling event is on January 7, Orthodox Christmas. We will be traveling in different groups, by car, visiting homes around the GTA. Make sure to book this day off for koliada!

There will likely be more opportunities to perform in December and January, and possibly additional rehearsals when needed to accommodate the needs of the group and individual singers.

REPERTOIRE, RESOURCES & PRACTICE

Here is our KOSA KOLIADA REPERTOIRE google doc for 2022-2023!!

You will find lyrics in Ukrainian, with transliterations, rough translations and audio file references. So, you can start listening and practicing immediately!! Also note that we will be updating the doc and adding more sound files and/or songs.

Some of the audio references even have sing-a-long files. Please use HEADPHONES with the singalong files. The RIGHT CHANNEL features a solo voice and the LEFT CHANNEL all the other voices. To learn, just listen to the RIGHT CHANNEL. To practice, just listen to the LEFT CHANNEL and add your own voice into the mix. Please also be aware, these files are very rough sketches to help learn the song & it’s highly recommended to practice/study from the original sound files as well.

NOTE: it is important that singers are able to sing harmonies and not just the main melody or top voice. The musical director and other seasoned singers will help develop the group’s harmony-singing skills, as well the authentic Ukrainian singing quality known as ridnyj holos. And for those who are not Ukrainian-speaking, don’t worry, we will also help with pronunciation. If you have any questions about your interest and desire to participate, please reach out to us through the contact form below.

OTHERS ROLES

Not a harmony singer but still want to take part? There are other ways you can volunteer. Please reach out to us using the form below.

CONTACT US ABOUT KOLIADA!





Learn UKRAINIAN songs

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SONGS – lyrics, audio, sing-along files

SONG LYRICSSAMPLE AUDIOLEARNING RESOURCES: e.g., lyric practice, sing-a-long files (see note below)

Oj U Kievi (hrayje more) || Kalendar || Sing-along-Files – use headphones
Oj Rodyno
 || Kalendar || Sing-Along Files – use headphones
Oj Na Hori / Shuryata || Рожаниця || Sing-along-Files – use headphones
Siohodni Ivana Kupala || Рожаниця || to be updated soon
Tuman Yarom || Youtube || Sing-Along Files – use headphones
Herasym || Bozychi || Sing Along files – use headphones
Mnohaya lita || unknown || to be updated soon
Georgian Dance Song || Ori Shalva || partial score in the song-lyrics Link
Oj Kupalo Rozkupalo||Kosa||to be updated soon

NOTE: Use HEADPHONES with the singalong files. The RIGHT CHANNEL features a solo voice and the LEFT CHANNEL all the other voices. To learn, just listen to the RIGHT CHANNEL. To practice, just listen to the LEFT CHANNEL and add your own voice into the mix. Please also be aware, these files are very rough sketches to help learn the song & it’s highly recommended to practice/study from the original sound files as well.

SING WITH US!

Thursday June 2 ~ 7:00 – 8:30 PM @ Shevchenko Museum – workshopom

Friday June 3 ~ 7:00 – 8:30 PM @ MusiCamp Garden

Saturday June 4 ~ 2:30 pm & 4:45 pm @ THE DO WEST FEST, the community stage

Saturday Jun 25 ~ early afternoon 1:00 – 2:30 PM @ MusiCamp Garden

Canada Day July 1 ~ 11 am meet at 1879 Bloor Street West / 12 pm performance for Canada Day picnic

OUTDOOR WORKSHOPS are at MusiCamp’s home at 11 Cobourg Ave (just behind Dufferin mall). For outdoor workshops, please remember to bring a sun hat if you need it! 

NOTE: we do recommend participants have some experience with singing harmonies.

MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT

In at attempt to recognize the breadth of Ukrainian culture, this project is a hopeful start to popularize traditional Ukrainian songs and create a larger caring singing community of Ukrainian songs in Toronto. Check out our workshops dates below. Wondering what we’ll be learning, have a look at our song document and listen the embedded links for each song.

The project is an extension of Sing with Ukraine, which is a grassroots effort by Toronto-based Eastern European artists, started after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24th 2022. Click the links to learn more about Sing with Ukraine and Artists With Ukraine.

UKRAINIAN singing workshops

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Visit our SONG LEARNING PAGE for updated resources and info about our events/workshops

WORKSHOPS

All are welcome, pay-what-you-can, no one will be turned away who cannot pay. Money raised for the deeply discounted venue costs and humanitarian aid for Ukraine.

Thursday May 12 ~ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm @ Shevchenko Museum

Saturday May 14 ~ 3:00 pm- 4:30 pm @ MusiCamp’s garden

Thursday May 19 ~ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm @ Shevchenko Museum

Saturday May 21 ~ 3:00 pm- 4:30 pm @ MusiCamp’s garden

Thursday May 26 ~ 7 pm – 8:30 pm @ Shevchenko Museum

Saturday May 28 ~ 10:30 am – 12:00 pm @ MusiCamp garden

Thursday June 2 ~ 7:00 – 8:30 PM @ Shevchenko Museum

INDOOR WORKSHOPS are at The Shevchenko Museum 1604 Bloor St W (a few blocks west of Dundas West Station). OUTDOOR WORKSHOPS are at MusiCamp’s home at 11 Cobourg Ave (just behind Dufferin mall). For outdoor workshops, please remember to bring a sun hat if you need it! NOTE: we do recommend participants have some experience with singing harmonies.

SONGS – AUDIO – RESOURCES

UKRAINIAN SINGING WORKSHOP DOC:

We will keep updating our resources to include other songs and tools to help learn songs, including audio of the individual song parts. In the meantime please check out the google doc below, which has all the lyrics and links to audio or video of the songs.

PERFORMANCES

SATURDAY JUNE 4 ~ 2:30 pm & 4:45 pm @ THE DO WEST FEST, the community stage

CANADA DAY JULY 1 ~ time tbd @ Parkdale-High Park MP Canada Day picnic in High Park

MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT

In at attempt to recognize the breadth of Ukrainian culture, this project is a hopeful start to popularize traditional Ukrainian songs and create a larger caring singing community of Ukrainian songs in Toronto. Check out our workshops dates below. Wondering what we’ll be learning, have a look at our song document and listen the embedded links for each song.

The project is an extension of Sing with Ukraine, which is a grassroots effort by Toronto-based Eastern European artists, started after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24th 2022. Click the links to learn more about Sing with Ukraine and Artists With Ukraine.

Below are some videos from a Ukrainian singing workshop at Afro Latino Dance as part of Dance Together Festival to raise funds for humanitarian aid in Ukraine.

EGGPLANT STEW: A Worldly Feast of Savoury Sounds…

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EGGPLANT STEW:
A Worldly Feast of Savoury Sounds and Melodious Morcels.
8 PM Friday September 16
at CLAY & PAPER’s NEW STUDIO (on Dupont)


Eggplant Stew is a collaborative fundraising event featuring a feast of musical influences, with individual flavours from Georgia, Ukraine, Baghdad, Poland, Finland, Brittany, the Balkans and the Americas but also melding and fusing into melodious savoury morsels. And like a good stew, the event (and the events it is to fundraiser for) is hearty for the soul and nourishes our musical wellbeing. This event is to help raise funds for two members of Toronto’s traditional polyphonic singing community to perform, present papers and study at an international conference on traditional polyphony in Sakartvelo (otherwise known as the mountainous Georgia in the Caucasus).

THE LINE UP IN BRIEF (more details follow)

Mark & Marichka Marczyk of Lemon Bucket Orkestra!
Performing the soul-strenghtening polyphony from Urkaine.

ZARI (Shalva Makharashvili, Andrea Kuzmich and Reid Robins)
Stirring traditional vocal polyphony from the plains & mountains in the Caucasus.

DOULA (Maryem Hassan Tollar and Roula Said)
Ancient Arabic music with new world spirit.

Vlesie (Ewelina Ferenc, Cassie Norton and Matti Palonen)
Forest inspired European folk fusion.

Moskitto BAR (Ahmed Salah Moneka, Yura Rafalui& Tangi Ropars)
Music & improvisation inspired by the road form Baghdad to Brittany.

AND JUST ANNOUNCED!!!
MEDEN GLAS – led by the esteemed Irene Markoff – will also perform!
Grassroots music from the Balkans and beyond.
&
BrouLALA – A cappella, improvising, roots-jazz fusion

LOCATION
Clay & Paper Theatre’s NEW STUDIO
1485 Dupont Street, just west of Dufferin
Suggested donation $20 (includes a beer or wine!)
Seating Limited – For more info or RSVP MusiCampTO@gmail.com
Note Regarding Accessibility: the building’s elevator is not working and the studio is on the 2nd floor. We apologize in advance for this inconvenience.

The idea of Eggplant Stew comes from a Georgian dish called “adjapsandeli”. It’s can be compared to rataouille, though it has many versions. Adjapsandeli also references what seem to be hundreds of different flavourful salads Georgians make with eggplant – and sometimes the word is used colloquially to mean a mixing or a mishmash.

THE PERFORMERS:

Mark and Marichka Marczykmark-marchyk
Mark and Marichka are lead members of Toronto’s famous and award-winning Lemon Bucket Orkestra and the authors/creators of the folk guerrilla opera Counting Sheep, which just returned from an exceptional run (winning multiple awards) at the Edinburgh festival in Scotland.

DOULA
doulaDoula performs ancient Arabic music with a new world spirit. Multiple Juno-Award winning vocalist, Maryem Tollar, whose voice is heard on the theme music to “Little Mosque on the Prairie” and multi-instrumentalist and dancer, Roula Said, will take you on a journey into the heart of the Muwashah tradition, where devotional poetry is set to exquisite melodies and hypnotic rhythms. Doula also performs folk songs that are often performed alongside the Muwashahat.

ZARI

At its core, ZARI is a trio of professional singer/instrumentalists who are profoundly moved by Georgian polyphony. Based in Toronto, ZARI formed in 2003 and has performed from the very eastern tip of Canada to the 2008 fall-out of Gori, the Georgian town that was the epicentre of Russian bombing in the summer of that year. Consistent over all this time, over the many miles travelled and the many venues played, is ZARI’s dedication to studying, understanding and feeling the music. To that end, when ZARI performs, they embrace the profundity of Georgia culture: its roots deeply embedded in ancient times, its strength and courage to survive, and its excessively generous and inspiring hospitality.
Official Website: https://zaritrio.com/
Soundcloud : https://soundcloud.com/singinkuz/sets/zari

VLESIEvlesie
They are VLESIE, which in Polish means “in the woods”. And this is how they met – playing music in the woods. From the Canadian woods they want to take you on a musical journey to Eastern European villages, Southern European wineries and Northern European rivers, lakes and forests.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vlesieband/
Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R4NkzqFjJY

MOSKITTO BAR

Composed of Ahmed Moneka from Baghdad, Iraq on drum and voice, Yura Rafaluik from Lviv, Ukraine on cimbalom, and Tangi Ropars from Brittany, France on bouton accordion, Moksitto Bar’s energized music and improvisations takes you on a voyage throuth Celtic, Middle Eastern, Balkan and Ukrainian soundscapes.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moskittobar/

MEDEN GLAS

Composed of Irene Markoff (voice, accordion, tambura, and bağlama), Ekaterina Pyatkova (voice and hand drums), Nadia Younan (voice and alto saxophone), Mario Morello (voice and hand drums), and Jamieson Eakin (voice and guitar) Meden Glas studies and performs grassroots music from the Balkans (Bulgaria, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Greece, and Turkey) in addition to peripheral musical cultures (Italian, Russian, Kurdish, and Romani [gypsy]).
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/medenglas

Trio From Canada…

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attends the 8th International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony

MusiCamp director, Andrea Kuzmich, along with her son and friend, Mario Morello (fellow singer, ethnomusicologist and regular MusiCamp student of Georgian polyphony) are going to Georgia to take part in the 8th International Symposium on Traditional Polyphony.
Morello and Kuzmich are both presenting papers and all three will also be performing at a large international community of scholars and singers of traditional polyphony.

Kuzmich’s paper discusses the creation of “urban folk culture” in Toronto by Kosa Kolektiv’s use of traditional Ukrainian polyphony. Kuzmich has been an active member of Kosa Kolektiv symposium-2016community since 2013 and has even reported on their work, specifically their spring festival Haivky, in MusiCamp’s news posts. Morello’s paper discusses his research on the multi-part singing tradition of Salento, Italy.  To read up on both Kuzmich’s and Morello’s abstracts (p33 and 36 respectfully), follow the link to the symposium’s electronic booklet.

 

For those of you in Toronto, come and see them off at a special collaborativeeggplant-stew_colour_sml fundraising event called Eggplant Stew! They will make a few short and sweet cameo appearances amongst a smorgasbord of other excellent world-music musicians – on Friday September 16, 8pm at Clay & Paper Theatre‘s new studio!
Visit the Facebook event for more info.