REVIVAL FOLK PERFORMANCE IN UKRAINE: ORIGIN, PROGRESS, ACHIEVEMENTS (FROM THE LATE 1970S TO THE PRESENT)
Authors: Lukashenko Larisa 
Published: December 2023

The development of the new history of Ukraine contributes to the fact that the using of folklore in various directions of modern culture (a process generally called folklorism) is constantly in an upward direction. In recent decades, there has been a growing public interest to folk music and revival folk performance as well.

Although the history of Ukrainian reconstructive performance dates back to more than four decades, it remains almost unexplored, which justifies the relevance and scientific novelty of the proposed study. This is partly due to the fact that the scientific definition and demarcation of various phenomena of musical folklorism (and, accordingly, the targeted research interest in this subject) began to appear in Ukraine only in the 1980s.

In spite of the fact that the history of Ukrainian revival folk performance spans nearly a half а century, the topic remains practically unexplored, which contributes to the relevance and scientific novelty of the proposed study. A scientific definition and demarcation of various phenomena of folklorism began to appear only in the 1980s (during the Soviet period the term folklorism was not popular).

The purpose of the proposed study is to highlight the preconditions, the history of origin, development, directions, as well as achievements and prospects of modern Ukrainian reconstructive performance. In the process of achieving this goal, the following tasks were set and completed. The historical and contextual preconditions for the emergence of the reconstructive performance and the state of research on the topic were analysed. The history of the emergence and activity of scientific and ethnographic groups, within the context of activity centres, has been traced and described. An attempt was made to analyse the historical and sociological aspects of the phenomenon under study and to determine the prospects for its development. For this purpose, factographic, factual, analytical, synchronistic and diachronic comparative methods are used. This base makes it possible to reveal continuity, mutual dependence, and also to predict probable future perspectives and directions of development of the phenomenon under study.

A phenomenon of a modern Ukrainian revival performance began in the late 1970s because of the activity of the Kyiv folk ensemble “Drevo” (“Tree”). It was primarily due to the activation of fieldwork and big passion for traditional singing among scientists. This initiative was soon picked up and therefore vocal, instrumental, and mixed folk reconstructive ensembles began to appear in some cities of Ukraine: “Muravskyi Shliakh” (Kharkiv) and “Rodovid” (Lviv). The ensemble “Nadobryden” (Kyiv) became the first reconstructive band of instrumental music. Thus, the activities of these several groups formed the stage of the origin and formation of Ukrainian revival performance, which lasted from the late 1970s until the mid-1990s.

The “Drevo” ensemble is to be considered the founder of the revival authentic performance tradition, as well as it became an inspiration and example to follow for a number of ensembles of the younger generation emerging from the mid-90s. These are such ensembles as: “Hilka”, “Bozhychi”, “Volodar”, “Buttia”, etc.

Another revival performance direction concerns educational and extracurricular institutions, where folk performance is studied and children’s and youth folk singing ensembles are organized. Among them Rivne State Humanities University is to be mentioned, where in the late 1970s and early 1980s folk ensembles “Horyna” and “Dzherelo” were formed. Other high educational institutions are Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts (“Kralytsia”) and Kharkiv State Academy of Culture (“Kupalonka”, "Gorlytsia" etc.).

During the last decade, the public associations such as “Rys”, “Hurba” and dance association “Dryg” became the successors of the movement in a more interactive direction. Members of folk ensembles and associations organize workshops, including performing rituals, singing, dancing, etc. and create another cultivation area of folk music traditions.