edited by Arve Hansen (Music 781.63 Han)
It’s difficult to find books specifically about the musical history of Ukraine, simply because in modern history the country has been part of Imperial Russia and then the Soviet Union, where the country’s unique musical traditions were instead considered as part of a greater tapestry of Russian music history, sort of like if Ukraine were a state in the US. There is also historical evidence of Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union deliberately trying to suppress musical and greater cultural history of Ukraine, first through the 1876 Ems Ukaz decree, and later through the mass murder of Ukrainian kobzars and destruction of their instruments in the mid-1930s. But Ukraine has continued to rebuild their cultural heritage, and the traditions that were passed along by kobzars, frequently blind musicians who traveled from town sharing dumas, epic poetry and song that carried the history of Ukraine, have been re-established. So too has the bandura, a harp-like instrument once played by kobzars that’s unique to the country. In fact the bandura itself was refined into ever larger and more sophisticated versions during the 20th century, to make it a more flexible and modern instrument, and many youth are trained to perform on it in modern Ukraine.
In more recent history, tensions between Ukraine, which became independent in 1991, and Russia have flared on several occasions, including the current invasion of Ukraine by Russia which started in February of 2022. In Ukraine, this is considered only the latest development in the Russo-Ukranian War that has been active since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. Interestingly, there are some musical elements to this story that took place just before Crimea, which are covered in the book A War of Songs: Popular Music and Recent Russia-Ukraine Relations. It’s a fascinating read about the very recent musical history of the country that sheds new light on the role of protest music in modern-day eastern Europe.
This is an academic book by nature, and technically part of a journal series of book-format publications called “Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society.” However, the four in-depth essays found here make for a riveting read, especially in light of what’s happening in Ukraine right now. The focus here is on the time period surrounding the Euromaidan protests or the “Maidan Revolution” in 2013 and 2014 in Kyiv, and how both pro-Ukraine and pro-Russian messages went from the streets to the airwaves and the internet in various musical forms. Broadly speaking, I had several takeaways from spending some time with this book: of course it’s a look at the same tensions and struggles that we’re seeing play out in the Russian invasion of Ukraine right now, but it’s also a unique look at the role of protest music in modern life, something we don’t have a direct comparison to since the 1960s in the US. From the protest music perspective, some things remain the same, while others have clearly been affected by evolving technology and differing conditions in Europe.
The first essay is called “Pop Rock, Ethno-Chaos, Battle Drums and a Requiem: The Soundtrack of the Ukrainian Revolution.” This serves as a kind of introductory essay, tracking activities in Ukraine from November of 2013 to February of 2014. There is a brief introduction to the general history of protests and protest music in modern Ukraine, in which we learn that public demonstrations and accompanying music have long been a part of Ukrainian life, made more common publicly in recent history since the 1989 Soviet Glasnost reforms of Gorbachev. The music performed has included “bard music,” a kind of Soviet-era singer/songwriter folk music form known for social and political critique, along with traditional Ukrainian patriotic songs and modern pop music forms. Since the early 21st century, mass protests have been common in Ukraine, and building stages for musicians to perform at these protests is also common.
Like many protests, musical accompaniment was a part of the 2013-14 series of protests collectively called Euromaidan (or “The Revolution of Dignity” within Ukraine), and as the tenor of the protests shifted, so did the music. Through interviews with musicians and protesters, the authors divide this short span of time into five phases, each of which had its own activities and musical themes. To some extent, each phase had an identifiable musical “theme,” but because these protests happened in such a compressed timeframe that shifted from optimistic to defiant to mournful, the music mostly remained a product of the moment. One exception is the traditional tune “Plyve Kacha,” whose mournful tone has come to represent the deaths of many protesters in February of 2014. Many versions have been recorded in the ensuing years.
Ultimately, Russia took over Crimea shortly after the Euromaidan protests, and the second essay addresses music exchanges in this time period. These took the form of various “answer” or “response” songs, sometimes done in the format of parody songs, putting new words to familiar tunes. Again we find a bit of contextual history of the answer song tradition in Europe, which goes back at least to the troubadours of the Middle Ages. In the case of the post-Crimea answer songs, music was tossed about in both Ukrainian and Russian language songs among four groups: Ukrainian pro- and anti-separatists, and non-Ukrainian pro- and anti-separatists. Unlike the music covered in the first essay, which was enjoyed both in person and through online videos, these answer songs were mostly exchanged among the quarreling factions via YouTube. Some songs started life as poetry, such as Anastasiia Dmytruk’s poem “We Will Never Be Brothers” which she posted in March of 2014. Music inspired by the poem in turn inspired over 100 response song videos in just the two months following its publication. While many of these songs became quite popular, gaining millions of views each on YouTube, it’s noteworthy that these songs seemed to arise quickly out of passion, rather than attempts at musical fame.
The third essay drills even further into the idea of parody songs, specifically parodies of the Russia National Anthem. Russia passed a fascinating law in 2016 protecting their anthem in the same manner as the national flag and coat of arms, meaning that disrespectful parodies could be considered a crime punishable by a year in prison and substantial fines. The law avoids interpretive concerns as to whether different lyrics for their anthem might be intended as supportive by simply requiring for no deviations from the official lyrics. Here, we get a history lesson about the Russian national anthem, how it was performed under Soviet rule (both 1943 and 1977 versions), and how it was altered to be the Anthem of the Russian Federation in 2000. Then we look at a series of parodies, ending with the 2015 “Sebastopol incident,” in which the lyrics of a 2013 parody were projected on a large screen at the first meeting of the council of the governor in Sebastopol, Crimea. Whether accidental or intentional, this is what led to the new Russian law.
The final essay looks at musical battles between Ukraine and Russia on the larger European stage. While we don’t hear a lot about this in the United States, the Eurovision Song Contest has been an important musical event in Europe since the mid-1950s, and the broadcast of Eurovision is one of the world’s longest-running programs. In 1993, Ukraine and Russia joined the European Broadcasting Union, giving singers and songwriters from their countries access to Eurovision, followed by the former Soviet state of Georgia in 2005. In this essay, we learn about a few years of Eurovision during which political messages seemed to be exchanged between Ukraine, Georgia and Russia between 2005 and 2017. I found this section of the book full of new information for this Midwestern reader: here we find Georgian acts refusing to tone down political lyrics and dropping out of the contest, Russian groups featuring Ukrainian singers trying to soften their image, and all kinds of tensions building when the contest was held in Kyiv in 2017. For a “show without politics,” I knew nothing of the drama around Eurovision presented here, and it’s remarkable how these tensions have continued to be aired in the public square throughout Europe at any opportunity.
If you’re interested in learning more about the lead-up to the current war in Ukraine, or learning more about the unique ways that music has been involved in the fight on both sides, A War of Songs is a fantastic resource.
(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Wild music: Sound and Sovereignty in Ukraine by Maria Sonevytsky, A History of Russian Music: From Kamarinskaya to Babi Yar by Francis Maes or Music of the Repressed Russian Avant-Garde, 1900-1929 by Larry Sitsky.)
( official Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society web site )
Recommended
by Scott S.
Polley Music Library
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