Yara’s Winter Festival
2021 New & Old World Music
Yara Arts Group from La MaMa Experimental Theatre in New York presents “Yara’s Winter Festival: New & Old World Music” a live three day festival at the Ukrainian Museum in New York December 17-19, 2021. The festival features masters of traditional Chinese, Iranian, Korean and Ukrainian string instruments, as well as traditional singers. Festival program
FESTIVAL PRESS
"Three different intriguing, enlightening and delighting sets of performances. The result? A 'triple crown' win..." Ihor Slabicky, Ukrainian Weekly Full review
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Friday Dec 17, 2021 featuring Julian Kytasty (Ukrainian bandura), Xiao-Fen Min (Chinese pipa) and Afarin Narazijou (Iranian qanun). Friday photos
Friday video Afarin Nazarijou "Improvization in mode Isafahan" & Xiao-Fen Min plays "Sunny Spring, White Snow"
New: Xiao-Fen Min & Julian Kytasty improvise piece in tribute to Derek Bailey
avant-garde guitarist
Saturday Dec 18, 2021 featuring Julian Kytasty (Ukrainian bandura) and Do Yeon Kim (Korean gayageum). Saturday photos
Sunday Dec 19, 2021 featuring Iryna Voloshyna and Alina Kuzma (Ukrainian traditional songs) with Julian Kytasty. Sunday photos |
Sunday video Iryna Voloshyna & Alina Kuzma "Oy na hori, oy shchuryata"
“2021 Yara’s Winter Festival ” is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, as well as Self-Reliance (NY) Foundation and friends of Yara Arts Group.
2020 World Epic Songs
Yara Arts Group from La MaMa Experimental Theatre in New York presents “Yara’s Winter Festival: World Epic Songs” a series of virtual events on world epic song traditions in November and December this year. The festival features Buryat, Kyrgyz, Finnish and Ukrainian epic singers, as well as a program of African American spirituals.
Ukrainian epic or duma program | watch video
Buryat epic or uliger program | watch video
Kyrgyz epic or dastan program | watch video
Finnish epic Kalevala program | watch video
African American songs program | watch video
“Yara’s World Epic Song Festival ” is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, as well as friends of Yara Arts Group.
Yara's Traditional Music Series: Zinoviy Shtokalko
Yara Arts Group and The Ukrainian Museum in New York presented a series of virtual events in the fall of 2020 on world epic song traditions and the work of Zenoviy Shtokalko who brought Ukrainian epic songs (dumas) to New York in the 1950s.
“Yara’s Traditional Music: Bandurist Zenoviy Shtokalko” is a four-part series:
Zinoviy Shtokalko: Instrumental Music program |Watch Video.
On the bandura, its history and styles with Julian Kytasty and Dmytro Hubyak
Zinoviy Shtokalko: Singer of Tales program |Watch Video.
Shtokalko's own versions of ancient tales about Kyiv with Julian Kytasty & Marko R. Stech.
Zinoviy Shtokalko: Epic Modernist program |Watch Video.
On Shtokalko's poetry and experimental music with Julian Kytasty, Marko R. Stech and Mike Andrec.
Zinoviy Shtokalko: Ukrainian Epic Songs program |Watch Video.
Shtokalko brought the Ukrainian epic song tradition to New York in the 1950s with Julian Kytasty, Andrij Hornjatkevyc and Dmytro Hubyak
The events were live-streamed in September and October 2020 and now can be seen anytime. Yara’s virtual events are free and bilingual (Ukrainian-English).
Zenoviy Shtokalko was an immigrant from Berezhany, and a virtuoso bandura player who came to New York in the 1950s. He recorded several records for Surma, most of which were released after his death in 1968. He also left a treasure trove of basement tapes which have influenced major bandura players in New York and Ukraine.
In July 2020, Yara created "Zinoviy Shtokalko: Bandurist," a virtual event that was an introduction to Zinoviy Shtokalko’s work. Virlana Tkacz told his story, while Julian Kytasty, a master bandura player, shared recordings and played work influenced by Shtokalko. Watch Video
“Yara’s Traditional Music Series ” is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, NY Bandura/Bandura Downtown and friends of Yara Arts Group.
