Ukraine's performers participate in first Days of Ukrainian Culture in Moscow (11/09/97)

Ukraine's performers participate in first Days of Ukrainian Culture in Moscow

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

MOSCOW - Ukrainian music resounded in the concert halls of Moscow on October 24-29 as the first annual Days of Ukrainian Culture in Russia took place, with the appearance of many of Ukraine's musical and dance stars.

The festival included traditional Ukrainian folk music and dance as well as opera, ballet and pop music performances, and even appearances by renowned Ukrainian humorists.

The series of concerts and an international symposium was a tangible result of the "big treaty" on friendship and cooperation signed by the presidents of Russia and Ukraine in May, which included stipulations for cultural exchanges.

Yevhen Kushniarov, head of the administration of Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma, said on October 29 in Kyiv that the five-day series of programs was a success. "There are many Ukrainians in Russia, and the Days of Ukrainian Culture is a great propaganda tool for Ukraine," explained Mr. Kushniarov. "We must support the cultural needs of the Ukrainians who live in Russia."

The effort, co-sponsored by the ministries of culture of both countries, was not the first such affair in Moscow. During Soviet times there were days dedicated to celebrations of ethnic cultures of the Soviet Union, including Ukrainian, explained Oleksander Semchenko of Ukraine's Ministry of Culture offices in Moscow. He said that in addition, after perestroika the Ukrainian Youth Club, an organization of Ukrainian students studying in Moscow, of which he was a member, organized Ukrainian cultural festivals on a twice-yearly basis. He said those efforts died with the economic downturn that developed in Russia after 1991 and the organization's demise.

"But this is the first time that it has occurred on an intergovernmental level between independent Ukraine and Russia," said Mr. Semchenko.

Although hailed as an artistic success by Moscow's music reviewers, according to Ukrainian Television News, problems occurred with promotion, mainly because there was little, if any.

There were no banners or placards announcing the concerts outside the halls in which they were to be held, and little newspaper advertising other than official Russian government publications, which are read less widely than in Ukraine.

However, as often is the case, the best advertising became word of mouth. As people became aware of the events, more attended. For the final concert held in the Kremlin State Palace on October 29, tickets were sold out before the doors opened.

The initial concert at the concert hall "Rosia," located on a hill on the shore of the Moscow River and overlooking the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral, was less than a sellout, although about 5,000 attended the extravaganza, which tried to give Muscovites a little sampling of the various forms of Ukrainian music and dance, as well as to present Ukrainian masters across the spectrum of Ukrainian entertainment.

Not everybody was satisfied. A reporter for Ukrainian Television News said the show lacked continuity, that it was disjointed, tried to present too much and gave the audience nothing to grab onto. A delegate to the Congress of Ukrainians in Russia commented the next day: "If I wanted to hear Italian music, I would have gone to an Italian opera. For Russian music, I could have gone almost anywhere else. I came for Ukrainian music, and there was too little of that."

Also criticized was Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister Valerii Smolii for blurring distinctions between Russian and Ukrainian culture and calling them "virtually one" in his remarks before the concert began. During intermission Natalia Fedoriv of Moscow said, "He should be ashamed of himself. The point of this concert is to show the uniqueness of Ukrainian culture."

The concert was in fact a grab bag of various forms of music, from Ukrainian folk, to Russian pop to classic Italian opera. For dance aficionados there was Ukrainian folk dance, of course, along with ballet and modern dance.

There were superb moments, regardless of what criticisms were appropriate: Nina Matvienko singing in her unique style; a dynamic rendition of Liszt's Etude No. 3 by 14-year-old Kyivan Julia Shved of the Mykola Lysenko Special Middle School for Music; performances by the Veriovka National Choir and Dance Ensemble; a modern dance interpretation of Ravelle's "Bolero" by the Theater of Modern Choreography "Suzirya"; the Ukrainian National Symphony performing Lysenko's "Overture" to the opera "Taras Bulba"; the comic team of Danylets and Moisienko, commonly referred to as "Krolyky"; and ending with the Veriovka Choir singing Shevchenko's "Reve Ta Stohne Dnipr Shyrokiy" followed by Bortniansky's "Mnohaya Lita."

Other shows took place at the Palace of Youth, at which stars of Ukrainian popular music performed; at the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory, and in the historic city of Volodymyr located north of Moscow.

Days of Russian Culture are slated for Kyiv in May 1998 in the second part of the cultural exchange.

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