DATELINE NEW YORK: Marching to a folk beat (11/29/98)

DATELINE NEW YORK: Marching to a folk beat

by Helen Smindak

Andriy Milavsky has been surrounded by Ukrainian folk music all his life. He grew up hearing it played by his grandfather's band at weddings and family functions in his native village of Bibrky outside Lviv, in Ukraine. At the age of 5 he was initiated into the band as a regular member; standing on a chair to offset his pre-school height, he played the drum. After his grandfather's death, he and his brother Levko continued to perform at weddings, carrying on the family tradition.

He went on to earn a master's degree in music from the Kyiv State Conservatory, became an accomplished clarinetist and toured Western and Eastern Europe with state orchestras, performing classical and folk repertoire at major venues. For a time, he also played clarinet with the Kyiv band headed by the famous folk musician known as the Ukrainian nightingale, Vasyl Popadiuk. Yet he never forgot the rousing, exuberant beat of the folk music of his boyhood.

That love of village music drew the handsome young man to a variety of native woodwinds, which he learned to play on his own, and eventually led him to form a Ukrainian folk ensemble that would preserve the folk traditions, songs and melodies of the Ukrainian people, especially the folk music of the Carpathian mountains.

The Cheres ensemble was born in Kyiv in September 1990, with six musicians - all folk virtuosos in their own right - dressed in the colorful, hand-embroidered garments worn by the mountain people. The group took its name from the metal-studded wide leather belt worn in ancient times by Carpathian warriors and now by shepherds and travelers.

Transferring with Mr. Milavsky to New York in 1992, Cheres has become a popular performing group on the East Coast, appearing before SRO audiences in New York nightclubs like the Knitting Factory and electrifying crowds at festivals and international fairs and concerts.

The ensemble has performed at a cultural celebration sponsored by the International Cultures Mission of the United Nations, given a concert at the Charles Sumner School, Museum and Archive in Washington and appeared on a weekend edition of NBC's "Today" show in a live broadcast from the New York Botanical Garden. In October 1997 Cheres arranged three new dances for Philadelphia's Voloshky Dance Company and provided live accompaniment for the troupe's 25th anniversary celebration.

Last year Mr. Milavsky and his ensemble recorded two fine discs: "UnBloc(k)ed," a three-CD compilation of Eastern European music, released by Ellipsis Arts, and "The World In Our Backyard," highlighting ethnic music from the neighborhoods of New York, on the Chubby Dragon Productions label.

Just a few months ago Cheres came out with its first solo CD, "Cheres: From the Mountains to the Steppe," featuring instrumentals and songs that range from Ukraine's Carpathian mountain region in the west to its central steppes. The new CD relies heavily on a wide array of traditional woodwind instruments played by Mr. Milavsky - wooden pipes, soprano and tenor pipes, double horn, the 12-foot-long trembita (shepherd's horn), tylynka (long metal pipe), panpipe, bagpipe and ocarina (also called the sweet potato). All the instruments were hand-made by masters in the Carpathian mountains.

Other instruments, such as the violin and tsymbaly (hammered dulcimer) are currently in the hands of Ihor Makar and Oleksa Fedoriuk, with vocals handled by Tanya Vilkha.

The exciting new CD, available at the Surma shop in New York's East Village and by catalogue from the Yevshan Corp. (1-800-265-9858) opens with the sound of the trembita that was used by mountain shepherds to communicate from one hilltop to another. It continues with the entrancing "Legend of the Opryshky," a homage to the 18th century Carpathian Robin Hood, Oleksa Dovbush, and his brigade; a wedding processional sung by a sweet-voiced maiden of the Bukovyna region; and a lively, festive polka from the verdant foothills of the Carpathian mountains.

The spirited music centers on the turbulent but harmonious melodies of "troista muzyka" - the traditional trio of violin, flute and tsymbaly - a vital village trademark that calls forth an impromptu dance or a village celebration. Fiery instrumentals include the traditional circle dance-song "Kolomyiky" from the Hutsul town of Kolomyia (literally, "wheel-washing place"), performed on the double flute, and interspersed with romantic ballads and a gentle lullaby from eastern Ukraine.

Though the instrumentals are tumultuous and rapid, they are clear and precise, a tribute to the excellent techniques and skills of the musicians, who articulate each note. Much of Cheres' success can be credited to Mr. Milavsky, who says, "I gained the feeling of the music while beating the drum, not from books."

Folk-genre authorities who have been taking notice of the folk orchestra and its CD include Joseph Hickerson, former head of the Archive of Folk Culture at the Library of Congress, who declared, "Cheres is simply the best purveyor of authentic Ukrainian folk music in the United States today."

Mr. Milavsky and his vivacious wife, Lilia Dlaboha, a photo editor at Everett Collections and a published poet who appears with Cheres as a vocalist and drummer, told me during an interview that Cheres has received more attention from American audiences and folk-music fans than from Ukrainians. Like her husband, Ms. Dlaboha has an affinity for folk music. "It's in her genes," Mr. Milavsky notes. "I'm very happy to have met Lilia; she's very helpful and puts in a lot of time working on Cheres' publicity."

The couple said they plan to do a CD spotlighting the melodies and songs of the Lemko region. Mr. Milavsky added: "While my brother Levko is in town, after touring as a clarinetist with the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Choir, we would like to record a CD clarinet quartet of classical music, too."

Since moving to New York, the versatile founder of Cheres has appeared with the Amato and Riverside operas, performed solo works on clarinet and wooden flute for Lydia Krushelnytsky's staging of the Lesia Ukrainka drama "Lisova Pisnia" and served as music director for a Yara Arts Group production at the La Mama Theater. He wrote the sound logo for the Ukrainian Broadcasting Network that brings television programs from Ukraine to the U.S. and has taught clarinet and piano students at the Ukrainian Music Institute and the Westchester Music School. Yet he still finds time to direct the choir each Sunday morning at All Saints Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Manhattan.

Currently, Mr. Milavsky is preparing to direct a December workshop on Eastern European folk music and songs at an Upper East Side music school. There is a good chance he will be working with Mark Morris and the Philadelphia Ballet on a coming production of "A Night on Bald Mountain," if grants come through. And he'll be heading for Connecticut with the Cheres ensemble in the near future to present a one-hour concert in New Haven. It's all part of living with folk music.

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