Twenty-six years ago, on August 31, 1991, the musical group Hrono from Ukraine, with frontman Taras Petrynenko, entertained more than 2,000 people at the Soyuzivka Heritage Center during the Labor Day weekend festivities. It was the first time the band had performed since Ukraine declared independence, just a few days earlier on August 24.
“I don’t know whose soul will be tapped by what I do, but my people are awakening from a deep slumber and I must help them in some way,” Mr. Petrynenko said. “I’m not sure if Ukrainians here, the Ukrainian American youth understand all my lyrics, but the music speaks to them. Music is somehow intertwined with our people, with our history, with our future.”
The stage show, complete with fireworks, smoke and a light show, featured songs written by Mr. Petrynenko, including “The Chornobyl Zone,” “The Popular Movement,” “Left Bank, Right Bank,” and the memorable hit “Ukraino,” which became a veritable anthem.
“Hrono, which means cluster, was Taras’ group in the mid-1970s. When he returned to Ukraine [from Moscow], I suggested that he also revive the old name, but that this new group be called Taras Petrynenko and Hrono, for Taras is someone musicians can cluster around,” noted Valeriy Smahliy, the band’s manager.
At the time of the performance, Hrono included Serhiy Kolomiyets (drums), Andriy Solodenko and Oleksa Kerekesha (keyboards) and, since 1986, Ihor Shablovsky (guitar) and Tatiana Horobets (vocals).
“Music, song is the most democratic form of music,” said Mr. Petrynenko. “No opera, no symphony can get the kind of reaction that a song can inspire in a person, no matter what kind of song it is – rock, pop or ballad. If one of my songs can spark something in a person, then I have achieved my purpose.”
Music has been a feature of each of Ukraine’s major democratic events in recent history since independence, during the 2004 Orange Revolution and the 2014 Revolution of Dignity. Music continues to play a role in the shaping of national identity in Ukraine since independence, with Ukrainian language usage on the rise and the demand for music sung in Ukrainian, as well as other broadcast programming and services in Ukrainian.
Source: “Soyuzivka guests celebrate Ukraine’s independence,” by Marta Kolomayets, The Ukrainian Weekly, September 8, 1991.