Troisti muzyky Prykarpattja. Ukrainian ethnic music.

There is some general impression of this entire story. A simple impression. Thank God, there still exist people on the earth who in contrast to most of us not only listen to songs. These are the people who sing. These are the people who make recordings.

Ukrainian “trojisti muzyky” (ensemble of musicians playing folk instruments) is a cultural phenomenon, which is both interesting and isolated. By the way, there’s a legend in the booklet, which narrates how they appeared, and when you are listening to the disc, you understand why they didn’t disappear from our culture. The explanation is – though such space as folk music possesses great inner diversity, “trojisti muzyky” practically always attract attention to themselves with some kind of zest peculiar to their performance. This particular disc in not an exception. It is pleasant to listen to it not only because it is an ethnic art, but also because it is really a skilful performance. At the same time, it is both solo and ensemble performance, besides, they also perform kolomyiki (by the way, composed in the Soviet times). Here you can also find a family ensemble – the brothers’ Vatamanyuk’s troyistyi ensemble. They present the manner of performance peculiar to such distant part of our country as Hutsulshchina. To make a long story short, there is much to be heard. As for the first track, it looks as if it opened a kind of a gate.

Anton Jozhik Lejba (Hedgehog)

"Ukrainian Ethnic Music" series came out of many ethnographical expeditions to different region of Ukraine. Compact discs have stylish design. In the colourful booklets you will find information about the places where recordings were made, stories about performers, lyrics of the songs etc. Information is given in Ukrainian and English.