A Ukrainian Christmas music playlist from Euromaidan Press

In Ukraine, the Christmas season starts from the old-rite Christmas on 7 January. It is a time full with music – in the Ukrainian tradition, teams of carolers start visiting their neighbors on Christmas Eve, 6 January, singing songs glorifying the birth of Christ intermingled with pagan motives reaching prehistoric times.  On 14 January, the Old New Year or St.Basil’s, bountiful shchedrivka songs (the most famous of which you can hear in Carol of the Bells) are added to the holiday mix, and yet other carols appear in the repertoire on 19 January, when Julian-calendar Christian churches mark Epiphany.

To this day, the tradition of Christmas caroling lasting up to 40 days in some regions of Ukraine opens a door into a reality connecting past generations with those of today, heavens with the earth, and in which the mundane gives way to festivity for old and young. Here we offer a (by no means exhaustive) selection of our favorite Ukrainian Christmas music, all based on the Ukrainian caroling tradition. Some songs preserve the authentic tradition, some modernize it beyond recognition. All of them are guaranteed to add an unconventional touch to your Christmas celebrations. So turn on the youtube playlist and let the magic begin!

1. Pikkardiyska Tertsiya: Dobryi vechir tobi, pane hospodariu

The #1 carol of the Ukrainian Christmas season, Dobryi vechir tobi is known by young and old. Perhaps its popularity can be explained by its lyrics, which are perfect for an opening greeting of carolers, who bring good tidings to the homemaster: he will be visited by three holidays, Christmas, St.Basil’s (or Old New Year), and Vodokhreshcha, or Epiphany. All the earth should rejoice, and prepare for the upcoming feast with tablecloths of tapestries and cakes of spring wheat: the Son of God is born. Here performed by the acapella Lviv band Pikkardiyska Tertsiya, this rendition of Ukraine’s most well-known carol has become a national favorite. Pikkardiyska Tertsiya’s Plyve Kacha was adopted by the Euromaidan revolution as a farewell song to protesters shot by the riot police. It is now associated as a song of sorrow for Ukraine’s fallen warriors in Donbas.

2. Pelageya: Rozhdestvenskaya

The Ukrainian carol Dobryi vechir tobi is famous outside Ukraine. In this video, Pelageya Khanova, the Russian folk singer and frontwoman of the eponymous band Pelageya, made a mystic rendition of the song in russified Ukrainian, titling it “Rozhdestvenskaya,” or “Christmas song.” Christmas carols, while widely practiced in Ukraine, are less observed in Belarus, and are relatively rare in Russia, except for regions neighboring Ukraine.

3. Ruslana: Dobryi vechir tobi

Our third song is yet another version of the Ukrainian folk classic, this time by Ukrainian pop singer Ruslana, who won the 2004 Eurovision with her Wild Dances. Ruslana also became known as the voice of the Euromaidan protests of 2013-2014, leading the recitations of the Ukrainian anthem from the stage through the winter nights, and afterward founded the Ukrainian Image Agency. Ruslana added a sentimental touch to both the lyrics and music:

4. Menestreli: Koliada (Narodyvsia Boh na saniakh)

Narodyvsia Boh na saniakh (“God was born on a sleigh”) is a poem of one of Ukraine’s best poets, Bohdan Ihor-Antonych. Antonych lived and died in a western Ukraine under Polish control. He grew up in the Lemko area of Ukraine, where old, pagan deities lingered among the pine forests and haunted a superficially Christianised world. In the poem, Antonych paints a picture of how Jesus would be born in his native land, during the winter where sleighs are the primary transport. The vocal sextet Menestreli (1997-2003) made a crystal clear performance of the poem set to music by composer Vasyl Zhdankin. Antonych’s poetry, referred to as the “fusion of literary talent and a pagan, rebellious spirit,” recently received an English translation by Stephen Komarnyckyj in the book Night Music printed by Kalyna language Press. This translation of Koliada is also by Stephen Komarnyckyj.

5. Ptakha – Izprezhdi Vika

This carol, translated as “Earlier Times,” is one of the most striking in the Ukrainian modern repertoire. It is considered to go back to prehistoric times and represent the Ukrainians’ earliest cosmogonic ideas. Ukrainian ethnographer Ksenofont Sosenko, who reconstructed the Ukrainian pre-Christian Chrismas traditions, sees this as confirmation of the hypothesis that before the eastern Slavs were Christianized, the winter solstice was a time for celebrating the birth of the world. The carol speaks of the world being created out of sand from the floor of the great prehistoric sea. Initially, two doves were the ones diving under its waters, but the later Christianization of the Slavs led to the introduction of the figure of St.Peter. You can listen to an authentic recording of the carol here and read more about Ukrainian prehistoric Christmas traditions here. This rendition by Ptakha, a progressive electrofolk girlband, combined the traditional Ukrainian bandura, synths and samples with counterpoint vocals to create a cosmic sound for this captivating song.

6. Bozhychi: Shcho z Kyieva tai do Rusalyma

The Ukrainian vocal ensemble Bozhychi performs Ukrainian traditional music in the authentic tradition, the same way as it is sung in Ukrainian villages and settlements, where it is disappearing at an alarming rate. The ensemble is active in conducting its own ethnographic expeditions, as well as popularizing traditional culture among Ukraine’s youth. Bozhychi released an album of traditional Ukrainian carols eponymous to the carol we’re featuring here, Shcho z Kyieva tai do Rusalyma (“From Kyiv to Jerusalem”), which is a touching illustration of the simple people’s faith, where holy figures including God Himself come and mingle among humans.

7. Taras Chubai: Nyni Rozhdestvo

Our seventh song, Nyni Rozhdestvo (“Now is the nativity”),  is from the project Nashe Rizdvo (“Our Christmas”) by singer Taras Chubai, Plach Yeremiyi and Skriabin bands, Yuliya Lord and Andriy Pidluzhnyi, particularly – from a 2008 performance at the Nashe Rizdvo festival. Like the poem by Antonych, it imagines Biblical events taking place in a Ukrainian reality by giving a widespread church carol a national makeover, where representatives of Ukrainian ethnographic regions greet the birth of Christ: the guys living in Poltava, Podil, Volyn, as well as representatives of sub-ethnic groups: Lemkos, Boikos, Hutsuls.

8.B&B project: Shchedryk

B&B is an acronym for the Bandura & Button Accordion Project, a young duet which performs world-known classics on the two Ukrainian traditional musical instruments. The project took off fast as their first cover of Metallica’s Nothing else matters gathered 500,000 views in only a week. Here the couple performs their instrumental take on the world- famous Ukrainian folksong that became universally known as Carol of the Bells.

9. Drevo: Pane Hospodariu

Without any exaggeration, Drevo is a legendary vocal ensemble. Formed in 1979, it for the first time showed to Ukraine and the world that Ukrainian traditional music has an artistic value as it is, without any adaptation. It is Drevo that set the example for other Ukrainian musical collectives, among them Bozhychi who we mentioned earlier, to explore and perform traditional music in the authentic tradition. This carol, Pane Hospodariu (“Mr.Homeowner”), is from the album Rai Rozvyvsia (“Paradise has blossomed”) about Christian motives in Ukrainian traditional music. It’s notable for the word “rozvyvsia,” which is best translated as blossomed but refers to the unexpected reanimation of something dead, such as a dry tree that suddenly started sprouting green leaves. In the carol, paradise starts blossoming right in the middle of the homeowner’s house, now that Christ is born.

10. Salutaris: Spyh Isuse Spyh

Translated as “Sleep, Jesus sleep,” Spyh Isuse Spyh is a Ukrainian carol-lullaby for the little newborn Jesus. Here it is performed in the Ukrainian language by the Belarusian chamber choir Salutaris, adding a calm and contemplative tone to Christmas celebrations.

11. Shpylyasti Kobzari: Jingle bells (Ukrainian version)

This year’s prize for the cutest  Jingle Bells cover goes to the Ukrainian band Shpylyasti kobzari! The band filmed this music video in order to find a new home for six homeless puppies; the Ukrainian lyrics and idea belong to Ukrainian poetess Oksana Borovets of the Bandura Style project which promotes the traditional Ukrainian music instrument – bandura (resembling a harp).

12. Burdon: Czhy doma-doma / Tam na richtsi na Iordani

The Ukrainian folk-band Burdon from Lviv is known for their acoustic arrangements of Eastern European music from the Balkans to the Carpathians that, while departing from the authentic tradition, preserve its sincerity  and authentic spirit. This song Czhy doma-doma / Tam na richtsi na Iordani (“Is he at home / There on the river Jordan) comes from their 2006 Christmas album Vam kolyadochka (“A carol for you”) and is a combination of two carols: a Christmas carol with the traditional wishes of goodwill to the host and a hint that the carolers wouldn’t oppose a treat, and an Epiphany carol.