Krayina Mriy world music festival to take place in Kyiv, featuring 50 musicians and bands from 15 countries
For the third time already, the Krayina Mriy (Dream Country) festival will take place at Kyiv’s Spivoche Pole – a big open-air concert area by the Lavra during July 7-9. Last year, this world music festival – inspired and founded by legendary Ukrainian musician Oleh Skrypka – was a great success: it was a real folk party for audiences of all ages. Attendees, many of whom wore traditional costumes, came to the festival as if it were a picnic – they sat on the grass and enjoyed great concerts and performances, while kids ran around and took part in some special activities at the playground.
However, judging from the new schedule, the upcoming Krayina Mriy will either repeat or even exceed the success of last year’s fest. Again, the festival grounds will accommodate a number of different stages – a stage by the Lavra, the Green Meadow stage, a dance workshop, the Kobzar stage, the Theater stage and the main Big Stage for the festival’s headliners. A path leading to Spivoche Pole will again turn into a “masters’ alley,” filled with all sorts of craftsmen – some of whom you’ll be able to see at work, others who’ll merely be offering their products to the public. Those who want to visit the festival wearing a traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirt, but don’t yet own one, can just buy it there.
One thing that demonstrates most distinctly that the festival keeps on improving is the range of this year’s participants that includes 50 musicians and bands from 15 countries. Among them are Natacha Atlas as the headliner, British and Germans playing hurdy-gurdy instruments, a Japanese monk on bamboo flute, Fins singing in Laplander, as well as traditional Persian music from Iranians – there will be something for everyone, and even if you don’t exactly consider yourself a folk fan, you should still stop by, if only out of curiosity. After all, judging from the two previous festivals, it seems almost impossible not to have a good time at Krayina Mriy.
The absolute star of this year’s festival is certainly Natacha Atlas – one of the biggest world music stars with outstanding vocals, who performs on the first day of the festival – July 7 at 9 p.m. A singer with Arabic roots, Natacha Atlas grew up in the Moroccan suburb of Brussels, and later worked as a belly dancer and was the lead singer of several bands, including the famous group Transglobal Undergound. Presently, Natacha Atlas performs solo, mainly singing in Arabic and French, combining traditional Arabian and North African music with her passion for salsa and reggae.
French modern folk gang Red Cardell will perform at the festival for the second time. Their visit last year to Ukraine impressed the musicians so greatly that they teamed up with the Ukrainian ethnic music band Hurtopravtsi to record the album “Naire” in Kyiv, fusing their trademark Breton folk with Ukrainian ethnic music, which they will finally present at the festival on July 8 at 9 p.m.
Guests from Britain Cliff Stapleton and Jonathan Shorland of the band Primaeval will perform as a duo accompanied by the local band Run, playing Celtic music. Cliff Stapleton specializes in playing hurdy-gurdy – an ancient European string instrument that resembles a lyre, while Bagpiper and flutist Jonathan Shorland plays various instruments, designing some of them himself.
Though the group Vilddas is from Finland, don’t expect them to be anything similar to H.I.M., Apocalytpica or Lordi. Instead, find some traditional Laplander singing, supplemented by some ambient and electronic sounds in to give it a modern touch.
The band Altanka from Belarus plays a combination of old Belarusian songs and melodic and rock-blues, using such instruments as guitar, double-bass-domra, balalaika and vocals.
Baba Zula of Turkey is famous for their unique sound, which blends live performances and modern acoustics with electronic instruments, and working with such guest musicians as reggae legends Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespear, Aleksander Hake of Einsturzende Neubaten, Canadian vocalist Brenna McKrimmon and others.
Bulgaria will be represented by Ivo Papasov, the legendary clarinetist-virtuoso, who helped open Balkan music to the world and practically created a new musical style known as the “music of wedding orchestras.” Romano Drom from Hungary is one of the most interesting gypsy bands, whose music features traditional gypsy singing, modern instruments such as guitar, accordion and double-bass as well as pots and pans. The name of the Iranian band Djam is translated from Farsi as “Holy Grail” and symbolizes a special mystical state a person plunges into while listening to the music.
Modern folk groups from Ukraine performing at this year’s Krayina Mriy include Karpathians, Stelsi and Hutsul Calypso. Karpathians were founded by a Ukrainian-American musician Yury Fedynsky together with kobza and lyre player Taras Kompanichenko and violin player Serhiy Okhrimchuk, and presently play music that combines traditional folk with guitar, bass and drums. Stelsi of Chernivtsi play so called “electro-techno-folk” – samples and fragments from authentic Ukrainian songs in electronic arrangement – and Hutsul Kalipso, who play what they call jazzy “hutsul-acid-pop,” have already taken part in last year’s fest and quite succesfully.
Some of the participants play real authentic music with no modern touches. Among them are Mtiebi of Georgia, Raisa Tandalay from the Altay region of Russia, Intakas of Lithuania, and a number of Ukrainian ethnic bands – Drevo, Hurtopravtsi, Nadobryden, Hulyayhorod, Lukyni Rosy, Serpanok, Buttya and others.
Ethnic musicians performing solo will have a special Kobzar stage to themselves. Among them are Antoniy Pilch, a Polish lute player; Tomas and Lizzi Blau of Germany playing the hurdy-gurdy; Edzun Yechika, the Japanese monk who plays meditative music on a bamboo flute called a “Shakuhachi;” Mustafa from Turkey, playing baglama, a traditional Turkish musical instrument; Shishtakrit from India on tampur, and Ukrainians – mostly kobza and bandura players Taras Kompanichenko, Vadym Shevchuk, Eduard Drach, Serhiy Tkach, and Taras and Svyatoslav Sylenko.
Traditionally, the festival will be closed by Oleh Skrypka himself, who will this time perform solo, accompanied by musicians from the Ukrainian State Armed Forces orchestra and folk bands.
Spivoche pole
July 7-9Free admission. For more information go to www.krainamriy.com
