Detroit-based Ukrainian Bandura Chorus plays in Ukraine
ast and immerse themselves in their adopted culture with no intention of ever returning to the land they left behind. That’s not the case with a troupe of ethnic Ukrainians who have been promoting the musical traditions of their homeland for more than five decades while living half a world away.
Ever since independence, the Detroit-based Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus has periodically brought the music of the bandura back to Ukraine through a series of concerts designed to entertain and enlighten.
“In 1991 and 1994 we brought Ukrainian music from the diaspora back to Ukraine, and the people were amazed,” said chorus president Anatoly Murha.
For more than 50 years, the 55-member all-male Bandurist Chorus has been performing around the world, playing both traditional and modern compositions. The chorus has packed concert halls in the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia and has been praised for both the quality and energy of its performances, Murha said.
In 1992, the chorus received the prestigious Taras Shevchenko state prize in Ukraine, honoring organizations and individuals for excellence in the arts.
A cross between a lute and a harp, the bandura has between 20 and 65 strings. It is capable of emulating the delicacy of a harpsichord but with a wider range of dynamics and tonal control.
The chorus has come a long way since its forced flight abroad in 1949.
“It is amazing how this chorus is still intact, considering how much it has endured,” said E. Morgan Williams, director of Arts Ukraine Information Service, a Web site dedicated to promoting Ukrainian arts and culture.
Indeed, the history of the chorus reads much like a novel.
It first formed in Lviv in 1918 by Hnat Khotkevycha, a writer, composer, theater director best known for his literary works, “The Prodigal Son” and the highly acclaimed play “Bohdan Khemelnytsky.”
A railway engineer by profession, Khotkevycha fled from Kharkiv after leading a workers’ strike in 1905. In western Ukraine, he embraced Ukrainian culture and absorbed himself in writing about it, while perfecting the art of the bandura.
Dubbed the “Voice of Ukraine,” the instrument became the symbol of Ukrainian art, and nationalism – especially after the Soviet authorities banned the bandura in the 1930s.
Moscow took such a negative view of the bandura that authorities took to persecuting players, and Khotkevycha was executed in 1938.
But his Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus survived.
After enduring both Soviet and Nazi oppression, the chorus, led by its conductor Hryhory Kytasty, made the journey to the United States via Germany with the help of Allied forces. Kytasty set up shop in Detroit and the chorus continued playing in exile.
Some of the players, like Murha, are the progeny of the original group and grew up playing the bandura. His father, Volodymyr, was born to Ukrainian parents in Germany during World War II and later learned to play the bandura by Kytasty after the family moved to the United States.
When the chorus came to Ukraine for the first time following the country’s independence in 1991, people were in a state of euphoria. But that elation eventually dimmed as political and economic turmoil gripped the country. The hard times were difficult for the chorus to deal with at first.
“This time around, we understand the struggles that a growing nation must go through,” Murha said.
Unlike many Ukrainians who never left the nation, the chorus has a positive impression of the country.
“We feel that it’s an amazing time to be in Ukraine.”
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The Concert of the Third World Forum of Ukrainians will be held Aug. 18 at 6 p.m. at Ukraina Palace. A second concert is planned for Aug. 20 but the location has not been set. For updated information e-mail [email protected] or visit the Web site www.bandura.com.
