DATELINE NEW YORK: Midsummer merriment in East Village, Central Park (07/15/01)

DATELINE NEW YORK: Midsummer merriment in East Village, Central Park

by Helen Smindak

With the magical time of midsummer now upon us, the sacred customs of the pagan festival of Ivan Kupalo have been noted for weeks around the East Village, not always in actual fact, but certainly in music, songs and rituals. They turned up at a two-day La Mama workshop of ritual folk songs featuring the enchanting songstress Mariana Sadovska and at a recital of plaintive chants sung by bandurist Lavrentia Turkewicz at the Mayana Gallery.

They were very much in evidence at two colorful festivities presented by the Yara Arts Group: a Kupalo concert at La Mama Experimental Theater Company on June 23, in helping with the new (Gregorian) calendar and a Kupalo outdoor celebration at the Community Garden at Sixth Street and Avenue B on July 6, in accordance with the old-style (Julian) calendar.

Yara's fanciful productions, staged by company members and a galaxy of outstanding guest artists, centered around songs indigenous to the Kupalo festival, which marks the end of the summer solstice and the beginning of the harvest (midsummer). Kupalo was believed to be the god of love, harvest and the personification of the earth's fertility. Helping to convey these age-old fantasies of Ukraine to crowds of bemused local residents were traditional Kupalo rituals of wreath-weaving and fortune-telling, together with exuberant dancing to madcap music done by a quartet of folk musicians.

Missing only were the old customs of bathing in water (an act of purification) and leaping over bonfires - a relic of the pagan custom of bringing sacrifice - a time for unmarried young men and women to gather outside the village in a forest or near a stream or pond to perform ritual dances around the fire and sing ritual (often erotic) songs. For the bonfire customs, substitute the outrageous antics of Eugene Hutz and his popular ethno-avant-garde Gogol Bordello band in Central Park's wooded wonderland on July 7, and you have the basic elements of a typical Ivan Kupalo fest -young people singing and dancing in a forest setting.

A community Kupalo

Fireflies flickered in the balmy night, the fragrance of mint, thyme and sweet blossoms drifted through the air, and a tiny brook babbled nearby. As a full moon smiled down on the Community Garden in the East Village, men, women and children strolled from one candle-lit area to another, marveling at the sights and sounds produced by the Yara Arts Group at its second outdoor Kupalo festival.

In a leafy bower at one side of the garden, Julian Kytasty, Michael Andrec and Jurij Fedynsky of the Experimental Bandura Trio plucked the strings of their banduras, producing a bewitching stream of music. At the other side, the Budmo Musical Group held sway in a small glade as violinist Valeryi Zhmud led fellow musicians George Cheremoch (violin), Roman Galynsky (accordion) and Petro Gorganyuk (tsymbaly) through a riot of toe-tapping dance melodies. Folk harpist Odarka Polanskyj Stockert performed Kupalo songs near a bevy of women weaving flowers and fragrant-scented herbs into wreaths under the direction of Roksolana Luchkan. Award-winning actress Shona Tucker read visitors' palms and revealed their fortunes.

From a brightly lighted stage adorned with leafy branches, boisterous Kupalo songs about Sviatyi Ian (St. John) and St. Peter's feast, about planting roses and lighting fires, pierced the night air. Ms. Sadovska and Alla Kutsevych, prompting spectators to raise their voices and clap their hands, joined vocalists Iryna Hrechko, Zabryna Guevara and Meredith Wright in providing the lyrics. Jina Oh brought a Scandinavian touch with a Norwegian cow-calling song. The dusky voice of Canadian singer/producer Alexis Kochan, the Winnipeg-born artist whose CDs were seminal to the new movement of Ukrainian folk music on this continent, added two quiet heart-felt solos to the melange of songs and bandura music.

There was dancing, of course, impromptu folk dancing by spinning couples and barefoot young girls with wreaths on their heads. When they grew tired, groups of bystanders joined hands and moved in circle dances to the Budmo musicians' seductive refrains.

The festivities, which opened with a Joel Schlemowitz film installation and poetry by Wanda Phipps, included the breaking of a large papier-mache zubr (bison), which spilled out brightly wrapped candies over the stage for children and adults to gather up and enjoy. The pinata take-off - the idea and creation of food artist Olesia Lew, with decorative painting by Lynne Brown - illustrated the symbolic roasting and pulling apart of a large animal during Kupalo celebrations.

Virlana Tkacz, founding director of the Yara Arts Group, a resident company of La Mama E.T.C., produced the imaginative event with the assistance of Mo-Yain Tham, Dzvinka Dobriansky and Nestor Budyk.

Kupalo in concert

Raising the roof at La Mama's Galleria on East First Street, Kupalo songs with their expressive calling, yodeling, chanting and droning sounds were presented by vocalists Mariana Sadovska, Alla Kutsevych and Iryna Hrechko, the Experimental Bandura Trio, the Budmo Musical Group and Yara artists Laura Biagi, Marina Celander, Akiko Hiroshima, Allison Hiroto, Matt Moran and Meredith Wright. An SRO audience, absorbing the exciting blend of voices, banduras, flutes and other instruments, was inspired to whistle, cheer and clap along in rhythm to the music.

Interspersed among such Kupalo tunes as "Hoya, Diun dia Hoya" from the Rusyn-Ukrainian area of Slovakia and "Yo, Teper Kupala, Kupalyna" from the Polissia region were Swedish and Norwegian midsummer songs and a traditional lullaby from Campania, Italy. Odarka Polanskyj-Stockert, who studied folk harp in Ireland and won prizes at the O'Carolin and Grandard Harp Festivals, played Kupalo songs on her harp. The Gogol Bordello band, fronted by Eugene Hutz capering in a tight black suit, red shirt and feather-adorned fedora, infused its inimitable punk cabaret sound and style into the proceedings with the famous punk-rock composition "I can't find my mind."

Sprigs of aromatic herbs and wild flowers were distributed to guests before the performance. At program's end, female performers in Ukrainian garb paid deference to Kupalo food rituals by handing out poppyseed cake and a shot of Soomska Vodka (co-sponsor of the event with the Veselka Restaurant) to each concert-goer.

Among listeners who stayed around to hobnob with performers were John Rublowsky of Brooklyn and his brother Stan from New Jersey, who said the performance inspired them to recall boyhood days when their parents' home in the East Village was "constantly filled with musicians, who would sit there all night long playing Ukrainian folk melodies." Their father, Peter Rublowsky, was a self-taught folk fiddler whose love of music carried over to his sons: Stan became an artist and repertoire man who produced recordings for Columbia Records; John, who played violin with symphony orchestras, provided accompaniment for recordings by such big-name artists as Frank Sinatra and Barbara Streisand.

Kupalo in workshops

Lviv-born Mariana Sadovska, who studied classical piano at the Liudkevych Music School and worked with the Kurbas Young Theatre in Lviv, has devoted her time and boundless energy since 1991 to collecting folk songs and documenting rituals during expeditions to villages in Poltava and Polissia and the Lemko and Hutsul regions. She has brought her findings to the United States and is passing along her intense love of Ukrainian folk songs to elated students at a series of workshops sponsored by La Mama Theatre.

From professional singers to persons who cannot read music or don't know Ukrainian, students have no difficulty learning traditional harmony singing from an enthusiastic teacher with an inborn desire to communicate. Ms. Sadovska's teaching instinct was undoubtedly fostered by years of work with the Gardzenice Experimental Theatre in Poland. Her latest workshops focused on ritual Kupalo songs, while upcoming workshops will concentrate on harvest songs.

Performing strong melodies with whipping trills with the Yara Arts Group and in other public appearances, Ms. Sadovska exudes a charming radiance and vitality as she accompanies herself on the harmonium, an organlike keyboard instrument with small metal reeds and a pair of bellows operated by the player. The folk singer and her harmonium are heard on the CD "Mariana Sadovska: Songs I learned in Ukraine" (18 tracks of wedding, lullaby and spring calling songs) recently released by Global Village Music of New York. In the program notes, Ms. Sadovska states: "Each song I sing was given to me by a specific woman I met. I heard the story of the song. I learned the way it should be sung. And then I understood that a song can be the way - the map that guides you through life."

Kupalo at Mayana

Since she learned to play the bandura in 1974, New Yorker Lavrentia Turkewicz has been imbued with a desire to learn what she calls true Ukrainian folk music - not the melodies normally considered folk music, such as the popular ditty "Oi, ne Khody Hrytsiu" - but the "forgotten songs of the villages." To that end, she has applied herself intensively to finding unknown Ukrainian folk songs in ethnographic collections.

Ms. Turkewicz demonstrated some of her finds in a recital of Kupalo and Rusalka songs at the Mayana Gallery on July 6. During the concert, a presentation of the Ukrainian Art and Literary Club, she accompanied herself on the bandura as she gave voice to melancholy songs about ancient water sprites from the Feast of Rosalia (also known as Rusalia or Zeleni Sviata) and lively summer-solstice airs connected with Kupalo festivities.

Ms. Turkewicz, who has given performances in Chicago and Philadelphia, as well as New York, took part in the 1991 Chervona Ruta rock festival in Zaporizhia, performing songs of the Zaporizska Sich and a Lemko-dialect song about Lemko immigrants. A Hunter College graduate, she assists her mother, Slava Gerulak, director of the Ukrainian Art and Literary Club and the Mayana Gallery, in researching and mounting art exhibitions.

The gallery's recent exhibits included an exhibition featuring original artwork and reproductions that reflected rite of spring themes (including Ivan Trush's "Hahilky" of 1905 and Ms. Gerulak's unique ceramic sculptures). An exhibit of photo reproductions of Ukrainian bracelet jewelry from the Kyivan Rus' period, depicting ancient ritual celebrations, closed last weekend.

Central Park shenanigans

As Eugene Hutz and his guitar came out on stage with the Gogol Bordello band on July 7, the sea of humanity in Central Park's Rumsey Playfield burst into a frenzy of wild cheers and applause. Seven thousand young people reacted with delirium to a group that has been bringing a new brand of pop-cultural action to the music scene, playing Ukrainian, Gypsy, Rai, Russian and Flamenco music in surrealistic punk cabaret style with a special twist - the flamboyant gyrations of its lead singer, Ukraine-born Mr. Hutz. Another 4,000 listeners lolled around the perimeter of the fenced-in field, taking in the music by ear.

During the hourlong concert of music and slapstick, Gogol Bordello delivered songs of war, love and backyard barbecues with Stalin, including most of the numbers from its "The Voi-La Intruder" CD - "Passport," "Mussolini vs. Stalin," "Darling," "Janie's Lesbian" and others.

Performing with Mr. Hutz were Sergei Ryabtsev (violin), Oren Kaplan (guitar), Yuri Lemeshev (accordion), Eliot Ferguson (drums) and Ori Kaplan (saxophone).

The Gypsy dancer known as Piroshka, in a flamboyant Gypsy dress, and two performers in bright yellow costumes with marching drums and cymbals joined the group for several numbers, heightening the pitch of public excitement.

The center of attention throughout the performance was lead singer and lyricist Mr. Hutz, who whipped himself up into a fury of passion and a lather of perspiration as he hopped, stomped and bounced around the huge outdoor stage while he sang and played his guitar, discarding his hat and stripping off his T-shirt along the way.

The Central Park outing was part of Summerstage, a project of free concerts, performances and readings from mid-June to mid-August presented by the City Parks Foundation in cooperation with the City of New York/Parks & Recreation.

In a telephone interview the day after the show, Mr. Hutz, 28, said he started in show biz "as soon as I was born" and attended a music school for drums in Kyiv. He comes from a family of Hutsul, Gypsy and Russian background. In New York just a few years, the lean guy with the handlebar mustache does modeling jobs for fashion designers Katherine Hammett and Uji Yamamoto and photographers Max Vadukal and Terry Richardson and often appears in productions with the Yara Arts collective. Saturday nights are reserved for d.j. stints at the Bulgarian Bar on Broadway (near Canal); the rest of his time is devoted to Gogol Bordello.

Helen Smindak's e-mail address is [email protected].

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