Koliada: Winter Rituals

December 26, 2010 at 2:30pm & 7:30pm

A theatrical celebration featuring Carpathian musicians and winter song singers from around the world.
This new show is created by Virlana Tkacz and based on traditional nativity puppet play will feature the Koliadnyky, Yara Arts Group, Aurelia Shrenker, Eva Salina Primack, Julian Kytasty, Kat Yew, Deanna Klapishchack, Yuliyan Yordanov, Valeriy Zhmud, Shigeko Suga, Paul Brantley, Alexander Katreczko, Ron Lawrence, Kiku Sakai and special guests with winter songs from around the world. The event includes original videos on the Koliada, samples of a traditional ritual food – kutia, a wheat berry porridge with honey and nuts. Vit Horejs will present a marionette version of the “Snow Maiden.” The event is presented by La MaMa Experimental Theater and Yara Arts Group.

The singers and musicians of Koliadnyky are all from the Carpathian Mountains. Ivan Zelenchuk, is the “bereza,” lead singer. He comes from an old Kryvorivnia family and is the son of Ivan Zelenchuk, whose handwritten notebook of winter songs has helped to preserve this tradition despite the persecution under the Soviet rule. Now in his fifties, Ivan considers his involvement in the Koliada his personal mission. Mykola Zelenchuk, the son of Ivan, proudly carries on the tradition of his forefathers, both as a winter song singer and the best trembita (mountain long horn) player in the village. He also makes the traditional costumes for the winter song singers. He has taken part in Yara productions and was featured in its Still the River Flows at La MaMa (2008). Mykola Ilyuk is a master fiddler and plays on most traditional instruments of the Carpathians, including the trembita (mountain long horn). He is director of the renowned Hutsul instrumental ensemble and has his own museum of musical instruments from the area. Vasyl Tymchuk plays the tsymbaly (hammer dulcimer) and teaches children to play Hutsul instruments. Ostap Kostyuk plays the duda (bagpipes) and various flutes and represents the newest generation that has become expert in this ancient tradition.

Instruments played by the Koliadnyky include the trembita (Carpathian mountain horn), which is made of a hollowed pine tree that has been struck by lightning and wrapped in birch bark. Trembitas are used primarily in the mountain pastures. In the villages they are only used during the Koliada and at funerals. Fiddles are played in the Carpathian style. The musicians also play the duda (bagpipes made from a goat), tsymbaly (hammer dulcimer), drumby (jaw harps) and a variety of hand-made Carpathian flutes.

Yara Arts Group began collaborating with traditional artists from the Carpathians in 2003 and has developed performances with them in Kyiv and New York. Products of this collaboration include the theatre pieces Koliada: Twelve Dishes and Still the River Flows at La MaMa Experimental Theatre in New York. Photographs and video of the koliada ritual in the village of Kryvorivnia have been exhibited at the RA Gallery in Kyiv, La Galleria and Ukrainian Institute in New York, Spring Street Gallery in Saratoga Springs and a major art installation at the Ukrainian Museum in New York. This year Yara celebrated its 20th anniversary and presented its newest show, Scythian Stones, at La MaMa in New York and at international festivals in Kyiv and Kyrgyzstan.

Presented by Yara Arts Group
Directed by Virlana Tkacz