Ukrainian Music

Formerly a member of the all powerful Soviet Union, Ukraine’s music today is considered to be well connected to the “Cossacks baroque”. To gain a musical education, centers for learning included the Glukhiv singing school and Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. D.Bortnyansky, M.Berezovsky and A.Vedel are just a few names of great artists who spread Ukrainian music. Even though their education meant that they had become knowledgeable in the European styled music, they never stopped emphasizing Ukraine’s melodic traditions and created masterpieces with their compositions and lyrics. In many Slavic churches, spiritual music composed by them is still played. Development in the musical field also lead to the emergence of cappella choir music, made popular by modern day Ukraine.
In the city of Chernihiv in Ukraine, archaeologists found mammoth tusks which were considered to be the first musical instruments made in Ukraine. Ukrainians can also be divided into different regional groups owing to their large ethnic population consisting of Russians, Poles, Slovaks, Hungarians, Greeks, Bulgarians, Armenians, Germans and Jews as well. With so many influences coming up, Ukrainian music has developed its own unique musical traditions borrowing from these ethnic groups.
Ukrainian court musicians used to play and perform in front of Polish kings and leaders from other royal houses. The country’s music stood for national history and culture and was widely depicted in its ballads and performances. Festivals to promote music in Ukraine include: “Perlyny Sezonu”, “Tavrijski Igry”, “Chaika”, “Chervona Ruta”, that give youngsters a chance to showcase their talents. It was because of these festivals that talents such as “Okean Elzy”, “Tanok na Majdani Kongo”, “Green Grey”, “Tartak were discovered and have been performing locally as well as internationally.
The evident characteristic of Ukrainian folk music is its use of minor keys. Being at the main crossroad between Asia and Europe, Ukraine one can say has received the best of both the worlds in terms of musical expressions like rhythm and harmony.  Harmonically because of the use of compound meters, Ukrainian music can be complex. It is also based on medieval modes. There are also different styles such as solo singing sung at wakes, solo singing with an instrument known as kobzari or lirnyky and the a cappella chorus group involving polyphony/heterophony/harmony without any instrument.
Traditional instruments include the the kobza (lute), the sopilka (duct flute), bandura, torban (bass lute), violin, resheto (tambourine) and drymba/varghan (Jaw harp). The trembita was another ritual instrumental music used by the Hutsuls to signify birth and death. Folk choirs also came to be accepted as the norm around the cities. Also popular Traditional Music of non-Ukrainain ethnic minorities is that of Jewish Klezmer music, which is not only rich and artistically creative but its compositions make it stand apart. Even Russian music has got some new improvisations in Ukraine. Classical Ukrainian music is well represented by V.Lukianets, Valentyn Pyvovarov, Roman Mayboroda and Taras Shtonda.
Western pop music has been on Ukraine’s music scene ever since the 60’s. A group named Kobza saw the emergence of folk rock bands in the 70’s. Other groups and artists who grew to prominence were Medikus, Smerichka, Volodymyr Ivasiuk, Iryna Bilyk, Oleksandr Ponomariov, Sofia Rotaru and Nazariy Yaremchuk. A Ukrainian singer by the name of Ruslana took away the coveted “Eurovision – 2004” award.