olechko

Yesterday I went down to Berestechko to check on lots of ethnic wear, singing and alas, political talk. The talk part was the most confusing. I never saw so many different and colorful party flags, Lutvyn and Lutsenko giving instructions on rebelling against the corrupt, etc, etc.

I much more enjoyed taking in the historic sights: the church, the cossack burial catacomb and the monument. A grand cossack against poles battle of Berestechko took place here under the lead of Khmelnytskyi. The place all looked different since the …teen yeas when I went there on a school trip.

The highlight of the festival was Taras Chubay’s performance of Shevchenko verses. Plus all the young people that came for the concert part - pleasant to see their new way of wearing embroidered shirts and taking the Ukrainian pride their own way…

Berestechko, Volyn region, 50 km from Lutsk

Beregynya annual festival in Lutsk, Volyn region featured lots of folklore, crafts, music and dancing, special church service and a parade. Locals poured on the streets to enjoy the sight, show themselves and check out others.

I saw a particularly good exhibit by 12-15-yr-olds and helped out my family to sell their mead. Mead is sth of a mix between cider and wine, made purely of honey, water and hops, 15 grad proof or so, served mostly chilled. It’s been around Europe ever since druids. If it was not so complicated to set up a small business in Ukraine, I would long ago embark into the family business of marking this drink. And even though receteering and petty crime has gone down in the past 15 years, the govermnment corruption has grown stronger. So we keep this treat exclusively to our family circle and some rare festival outings. Although if my readers would like to try some…

It’s been a reoccurring theme for Mr. Olechko to get me to go to the soccer match at the Dynamo stadium. Now that the weather got better, Little Miss Moi and Mr. Moi joined us for Dynamo-Kharkiv. The stadium turned out to be move like a Veronese coliseum then a modern soccer stadium. It’s tiny and surrounded by a great park. Everything is colored blue-white - Dynamo colors. The people actually pay attention at the game, except for the well-organized chanting of Dynamo fans on the side of the field by the opponent’s goal post. The tickets are dirt cheap (15-50 hrv), and usually are in plenty of supply at the door just before the game except for when Beckham or else descends on Kyiv. Dynamo won 2:0

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… almost won (second place) the 2007 Eurovision contest. The victorious Verka Serduchka - Andriy Danylko leaves nobody indifferent to her perfomance and her (his) persona among the Ukrainians. Hat tipped to this unique modern cultural phenomenon!!

(photo courtecy of proza.com.ua)

Another post about documentaries: our friend Damian Kolodyi from NYC came out with his new documentary “Orange Chronicles“.  The movie got quite a few screenings in the US and Canada and now we  are seeing to having it shown in Kyiv.   I wonder if any of you know some independent cool venues to approach about this, universities would be my first guess, if anything…

“A man in search of his roots, the woman following his boots “-is the catchphrase behind the new documentary about Eugene Hutz.   I dug up a trailer for it on YouTube, check it out.  I can’t believe Hutz (Gogol Bordello’s) music is still not big in Ukraine!!  He’s got quite a cult following in North America.

Sometime during the winter I wrote about the March of Santas. Now the season of walking advertisements re-opens with even more colorful and attention grabbing outfits and performances I captured here on Podil yesterday. One thing missing - behind this excitement it’s really hard to figure out what the hell they advertise. It’s almost like the marketers make it a forbidden fruit and make us chase down the characters to ask the question. Aha, right, I am here just for the free entertainment!

It’s stunning, interesting, personal and magnificent. In spite of having very little to do with music and theater, I am drawn to this place extremely. The Opera House was opened in 1900, built in Austria, transported to Lviv by train and put together by pieces. The interior is full of gold, silver and marble details. It generally feels good to be inside. Besides, ballet and opera, other acts perform there periodically. The tickets on regular shows range from 10-70 hryvnias, a bit steeper then in Kyiv, actually. Because of that it’s easier to get a seat at the last minute. A nicely-designed site has the general information and contact info in English, but does not seem to have the bill translated just yet.

We saw Natalka-Poltavka there on Friday. Too much talking between the songs was our verdict. Otherwise, the performance moved me. The orchestra did very well too. The Opera House is stunningly beautiful from the inside and out! The Opera has a page in English. The paybill there is published in Ukrainian, but you can find the upadted schedule on Kyiv City Guide website.