With Ukraine being on everyone’s mind, Ray Kimber considered the music that defines a nation by exploring and re- appreciating Ukrainian music. The music of a nation is identity, culture, and history.

With Ukraine being on everyones mind, Ray Kimber focused on exploring and appreciating Ukrainian music, culture and history.

Music comforts, Music heals, Music stirs patriotism, Music strengthens resolve, Music bonds strangers together. Music! Without words, without text, music will always communicate.

The first part of March I ordered random CDs to become more acquainted with unfamiliar Ukrainian music and musicians. Some I will listen to often, some I have now listened once. Here is the list bzari Ukrainian Folk Ensemble

Jazz It Up! Ukrainian Songs For Three Dads

Soundtrack Dmitry Baevsky

Carol of the Bells The Sixteen

ANTHOLOGY OF SACRED CHORAL MUSIC. Praise and Worship Chant of Eastern Europe Orthodox Church. Ancient Medieval Byzantine Monk Chanting, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky Vespers, Ukrainian Christmas Folk Song

Piano Concertos Valentina Seferinova

Ukrainian Village Music - Historic Recordings 1928-1933

Ukrainian Piano Quintets Bogdana Pivnenko

Motanka Motanka

Sacred Music from Ukraine SHCHETYNSKY,ALEXANDER

From Kiev to the Black Sea: Folk Music from Ukraine Muzyky, Veseli

Complete Music for Violin & Piano LYSENKO,MYKOLA

A German piano artist brought his piano to the Polish Border to play for arriving Ukrainians. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_EQzgAppjg This is wonderful, but then in the second clip a woman refugee wants to play something. Days without sleep the woman plays “We Are The Champions” https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-04/ukrainian-woman-plays-we-are-the-champions-at-polish-border/100880988?fbclid=IwAR24MD6x_FqA67dz0CkcIbkkEYOWbWUh0Lzs1SyUzR5Oyo_UHplUpbR-Oho

Music works when all other communication is impossible

My world travelling nephew sent me the following message about Eurovision Song Contest. “Of course I watched the Germany ESC preliminaries being as that is where I lived. Jamala (who is from Ukraine) won the ESC final in 2016 with the song 1944 - which was about Crimea. Now, as a refugee from Ukraine who just arrived in Germany in the past few days, she again participated in the ESC. Germany invited her to sing at their preliminaries. It was so powerful. The lyrics are fantastic.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SweSHhK89EU

Here is additional information about Jamala and Crimea. https://genius.com/Jamala-1944-lyrics?fbclid=IwAR1Xx_s0TxhhA8G0dn3qug8jXKRCh89ErZXFVCDDjl1uy0IYZJ1fUjzv8JU

And then I recalled a 1982 song by rock group “The Who” The lyrics are powerful, change a few nouns and we have the current war. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP0YWt4o8HA

From 1984 Alphaville- Forever Young takes on new meaning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNjQXmoxiQ8 from 1984 Ultravox – Dancing with Tears in My Eyes with lyrics that are disturbingly relevant some 40 years later https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSQWUZ8a2Ho From 1982 The Fixx – Red Skies at Night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCM4_5uB1ww

Prayer for Ukraine -The United States Air Force band and Singing Sergeants https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glL_mWmzXoM

Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen, with new lyrics by Shirley Serban https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duOnmlJuNJQ

Sting posts video of himself singing his 1985 song “Russians” amid war in Ukraine https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/06/entertainment/sting-russians-song/index.html?fbclid=IwAR2M_kHlZNr6WxXyBeL9ipzXJypq6Hv-XelqyMPsBnKz99aik_7LV_iRBug

My good friend Robert Silverman, yes THAT Robert Silverman posted some thoughts “These days I find myself constantly thinking about Shostakovich’s 7th Symphony, and about its premiere performance 80 years ago. I think about the Russians suffering under siege by the Nazis, and about those starving, freezing folks who sat huddled by the radio (if they had one) listening to this work. I think of the musicians, also suffering from starvation, which made rehearsing difficult: they frequently collapsed during rehearsals, and three of them died. The orchestra was able to play the symphony all the way through only once before the concert. Despite those horrifying conditions of the performers, the concert was highly successful, prompting an hour-long ovation. The symphony was broadcast to the German lines by loudspeaker as a form of psychological warfare.

Well now, I turn the tables on them. Here is a video performance of that work, played by a modern German orchestra, conducted by a Finn. Watch and listen to it (or at least the spine-shivering first movement if you don’t have an hour), then send it to Gergiev, and every Russian, Texan, or anyone else you know who supports Putin in this vicious adventure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB3zR_X25UU

Ukrainian National Anthem by the Met Orchestra and Chorus. Yes the is a Ukrainian in the group, yep he is the one that doesn’t need to see the sheet music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUfwy3f3R4s

Here is a step by step to play the Ukrainian National Anthem on an Organ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd4B64j145w

I am a big fan of pipe organs, out of curiosity I searched for Ukraine + pipe organ.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYw-kUkLtSM

More searching for music+Ukraine and I discover the name of a another city “Lviv” back to the maps. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_x7AyoLSqc

Utah violinist, up to this point I was unfamiliar with the Ukrainian Anthem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TnaPQ2sw4w

Music was the reason that I have kept the name of the city of Kiev in my memory. Here is “The Great Gate of Keiv” from Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky on a Steinway piano N.B.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgRy5NNi0K8

The Great Gate of Kiev in a powerful full orchestra setting, Douglas Gamley is the arranger and conductor, and yes! Includes a pipe organ and men’s chorus. Kudos!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw7OM_Q810k

Revisited one of my favorite versions of the Great Gate of Kiev, by the rock group EMERSON LAKE & PALMER, yes I have the vinyl purchased when I was a kid. AFAIK the lyrics were added by ELP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voRMlczF5uM

Ukrainian violinist ILLIA BONDARENKO playing from a basement shelter in Kyiv. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww_5xwnY_XY

A Moonlight Night - The Most Beautiful Ukrainian Song (Dedicated to All Brave Ukrainian People) performed by the Slovenia Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra and Choir. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaOChwNPg5o

Ukrainian opera star Andrei Bondarenko - National Anthem of Ukraine, performed with the National Orchestra of France.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25PrUiajLbU

Anthem of Ukraine. Choir named after G. Veryovka under the direction of Anatoliy Tymofiyovych Avdievsky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D4qgR3TsRc

Ukrainian National Anthem with English translation subtitles. Set to the ethereal singing of Zlata Ognevich and the Cadets of Kyiv Military Lyceum #23, with poetic translation into English subtitles, this is a compilation of drone footage taken in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 2017.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=einTXaSeGAI

Peter Richard Conte plays the Ukrainian national anthem, also known as “Ukraine Has Not Yet Perished” on the world’s largest playing pipe organ.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ie26r7sEjE

History of Ukrainian Anthem
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shche_ne_vmerla_Ukrainy_i_slava,_i_volia

History of the Prayer for Ukraine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_for_Ukraine

Pivotal music figures
https://www.wqxr.org/story/top-five-ukrainian-classical-music-figures/
https://ukraineworld.org/articles/ukraine-explained/10-reasons-why-ukrainian-music-world-class-phenomenon

Along the way I started reading a book. A Mountain of Crumbs: A Memoir by Elena Gorokhova

“In Russia we played the vranyo game on a daily basis. The government lied to us, we knew they were lying, they knew we knew they were lying, but they kept lying anyway and we pretended to believe them. There was a joke: “They pretend they pay us and we pretend we work.” It was ingrained in the system.” See page 181
https://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Crumbs-Memoir-Elena-Gorokhova/dp/1439125686?fbclid=IwAR29waE7tpI41-edkQNWZCBeQSWo4yO0mfr9HVunoNhYnIfn58cBKos7d2Y

And finally an article published February 26, 2022 about Volodymyr Zelensky
Well worth reading https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/02/volodymyr-zelensky-ukraine-president/622938/

The lyrics are newly relevant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usZF2467UUw

Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theater perform the National Anthem of Ukraine - Kudos, a magnificent performance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGjicPkxb0s

Tartu, Estonia Symphony Orchestra and Choir
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INqllWohdvo

Czech Philharmonic performs the National Anthems of the Czech Republic and Ukraine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkcKTH84d44

A tender emotional performance by Emanual Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, and Yo-Yo Ma at The Kennedy Center
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkcKTH84d44

On the Wings of Music, The New York Philharmonic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r1oVa3_Nt4

Boston Youth Philharmonic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIp9GPcH0Sw

Ukrainian national anthem performed by flashmob orchestra in London
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk9bEL9WDN4

In the middle of the war Ukrainian Opera singer in the middle of Lviv
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_myOT8R_zAo

in sign language
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmXTCicaIew

Utah Symphony performs Ukrainian National Anthem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGtvE9f82Os

Ray also Reflected on Finlandia and How it Relates to Russian/Finnish History

There is widespread appreciation to Finland for their historic noble patriotism.
Take a listen to this very large choir, the determination and grace are clear.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns2A5yUMZhU
with English subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WPmSv-TBy0
An overview of Finlandia by Jean Sebelius.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XojVmivqDrA

Helsinki Finland
https://www.facebook.com/teppo.alimattila/videos/356076979772694

Finlandia played by Nightwish 2012 to open their show in…, Moscow. Finlandia on Russian soil = Irony https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SViaAMSj8LU– in