Ukraine's hot new musical talent is alternative, plus a mix of much else (02/03/02)

Ukraine's hot new musical talent is alternative, plus a mix of much else

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

DYMNA SUMISH

If it weren't for the likes of Sviatoslav Vakarchuk of Okean Elzy and Oleh Skrypka of Vopli Vodopliasova, Dymna Sumish (Smoky Mix) may not have been part of this series on pop/rock acts. However, the two leading Ukrainian artists, along with Fozzy of Tanok Na Maydani Tango, kept mentioning the new act as one of the best and most original groups to come around in a long while.

Their first album is not due until a bit later this year, but Dymna Sumish has begun to play the Kyiv club circuit, appearing to a packed house at Buddy Guy's, one of the better known nightspots here, during the first week of January. And, while they still do not have a music video, they already have an extensive following.

As their name implies, their music is a great mixture of influences, not the least of which is hip-hop and punk with a smattering of rhythm and blues.

"We create a mix from all that we enjoy," explained the band's front man and vocalist, Pruzhyna, also known as Sashko and more formally Oleksander.

To say that their music is a mixture is not to mean that it sounds like everything and everybody. If that were the case, they could have called themselves Dymna Ghoulash and few would care. What makes listening to them so interesting is that you recognize different influences, musical and artistic, at different moments and in different songs. And while it seems you have heard that beat or this guitar riff before, you can never quite pin down where or by whom.

Dymna Sumish's sound is a unique combination of various popular music styles and they move freely among several genres, but they are unerringly grounded in hip-hop and rap. That is where their music begins and to the point which it returns.

During the course of their interview with The Weekly, the two and a half (as they explained) present members of the four-and-a-half-person band - lead singer Pruzhyna, along with drummer Oleksander, or Sashko, who also goes by the acronym G-Al, as well as the group's half member (because he doesn't make the music), break dancer Kostia, a.k.a. Co-style - kept adding additional bands and musicians to the list of acts that have influenced them. What started with The Fugees, Lauryn Hill, System of a Dog and Portishead, soon also included the Doors and the Sex Pistols, and then "you have to add Nirvana, yes, they were one of the best," finally, "grunge, punk, heavy metal and hard core" and "from another perspective, jazz."

They are brash and self-assured as most young acts tend to be and, whether accurate or not, they have a definite vision of who they are and where they are going. Pruzhyna and G-Al said that before they are through the group hoped to "make albums, make video clips, become super popular and earn a few million, and to be able to create in our own way in a Ukrainian style."

They regard themselves as pioneers on the Ukrainian music scene and consider the smoky mix they play inventive. They tend to a version of hip hop, laced with alternative music sounds and do not agree with comparisons to Tanok Na Maydani Kongo, currently the most popular hip-hop act in Kyiv.

"We were at their last concert and decided that they are something completely different," explained G-Al.

"They call their style Ukra-hop, and that is not us," added Pruzhyna.

But like TNMK, Dymna Sumish members believe that writing good music in the Russian language is very difficult. Also much like TNMK they have an aversion to nearly all music recorded in Moscow (as well as in all the countries of the CIS, including Ukraine, to be quite honest). They believe the post-Soviet music scene is stale and uninteresting. Given a choice, they would perform in Europe. Their ultimate show would be an appearance at the annual alternative rock showcase, the Dynamo Open Air Festival in Holland.

Dymna Sumish hails from Chernihiv, where group members were on the brink of calling it quits after three years of work and performances at several musical competitions did not bring forth instantaneous acclaim. At what they had decided would be their final competition, however, they were "discovered" by their current production company and invited to work in Kyiv.

"We had already played several competitions, including Chervona Ruta," explained Pruzhyna, "and decided we had nothing more to prove. We knew we were the best."

Few others did, however, and probably would not have to this day if the highly regarded sound producer, Yevhen Stupka, had not been in the crowd that day searching for new talent. He immediately asked the band to make the move to Kyiv.

Dymna Sumish achieved its first semblance of fame about a year earlier, using a different variation of their current name. At the Chervona Ruta Music Festival, where they took second place (and no one was awarded first place) for best act in the 1999 Dnipropetrovsk show, they were billed as Dyvna Sumish (Strange Mix), but changed their name about the time they got to Kyiv. In Chernihiv the band had originally started out as Torba (Bag).

Whether as bagmen, or in a strange or smoky mix, today the group is not shy about its abilities and the quality of the music they make.

"Today we are the best band in Kyiv," explained Pruzhyna bluntly and matter-of-factly.

Such blatant self-promotion would leave them open to much criticism if it weren't for the fact that many who should know and might differ seem to agree.

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