Folk group "Vesnyanka"

Folk group "Vesnyanka" from Rivne's Palace of Children and Youth was founded in 1983. Nowadays, it is a special artistic laboratory that discovers, fixes, preserved and popularizes the ethnic traditional cultural heritage of the Rivne region's Polissya. This unique and original area absorbs an enormously fascinating history and culture. The founder and the artistic director, since the establishment, is Viktor Kovalchuk.

Folk group "Vesnyanka" took part in many national and international folk festivals and won numerous awards. The ensemble presented the national culture of its area in Bulgaria , Poland , Slovakia , Czech Republic , Russia , Hungary , Greece , France , Germany , Italy and many cities and villages on Ukraine . "Vesnyanka" sings the songs, dedicated to the series of diverse events and holidays of our forefathers. The entire repertoire was gathered during the folk research expeditions to the places where the customs are still alive. The main objective of the ensemble is inheriting the original songs and customs and then presenting them in the way our ancestors used to perform them. That is how the public can observe the customs of "Vodinnya Kusta", "Povyazuvannya Namitki", "Pozplitannya Kosi", and car- oling that "Vesnyanka" performs. The group has various concert programs, such as "AVzhe Vesna Skresia", "Vashogo Dvora Ne Minayemo", "Na Ivana Kupala", "Vzhe Zhenchiki Ne Rano", "Z Drevlyanskogo Dzherela", "Oi, Zagraite Muzichenki" and others.

This CD presents you the traditional seasonal songs, which are like one of the most original pearls in the treasury of the Ukrainian folk art. In their nature, they are closely related with the seasons of the year, customs and traditions. Every one of them differs in the context, form, character and time of performance. All the songs, no matter if they are for calling the spring, carol ling, gathering berries, coming back to old pagan rituals, harvesting, or celebrating a Christian holiday - at the beginning, have maintained the agro-magical function and only during the last couple of centuries have received the traditional esthetical meaning.

Photo and information are from the booklet to the CD.
official page in Internet: http://www.pdm.org.ua/etnokultur/vesnyanka.htm
and http://folk.org.ua/portal/vesnianka/