sounds of Ukraine
When you live in a country where words seem to mean less and less, what a relief it can be to listen to a language you know not at all.
Alyona Alyona, live (acoustic session), Slovakia (Pohoda Festival), 2019
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
more sounds of Ukraine
Valentin Silvestrov (1937-), Requiem for Larissa (1997-1998, written for the composer’s wife); National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, National Academic Choir of Ukraine, live, Kiev, 2000
In this world of too much, too fast, too loud, something slow and deliberate can seem subversive.
,
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago
sounds of Ukraine
day five
Gurt [0] (AKA rypt [0]), “Мушечки,” 2018
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Chicago
sounds of Ukraine
day four
How about something quiet, delicate, beautiful?
Valentin Silvestrov (1937-), Post-scriptum (1990); Movses Pogossian (violin), Alexei Lubimov (piano), live, Los Angeles, 2016
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lagniappe
reading table
Floating on a Marsh
by Wang Wei (701-61), translated from Chinese by David Young
Autumn
the sky huge and clear
the marsh miles from farms and houses
overjoyed by the cranes
standing around the sandbars
the mountains above the clouds in the distance
this water
utterly still
in the dusk
the white moon overhead
I let my boat drift free tonight
I can’t go home.
sounds of Ukraine
day three
Bichkraft, “Didn’t Know,” 2015
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
sounds of Ukraine
day two
Jamala, “Шлях Додому,” 2016
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
sounds of Ukraine
day one
Here’s the latest from this kindergarten teacher turned rapper.
Alyona Alyona, “Завтра,” 9/27/19
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
what’s new
Greatest, ever, Ukrainian kindergarten teacher turned rapper?
Alyona Alyona, “Булінг,” 9/9/19
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
She’s on to something—what, I’m not quite sure.
Alyona, Alyona, “Залишаю свій дім,” 2018
the song is about the fact that she leaves her home and parents in the province and moved to the capital (Kiev)
—YouTube comment
(More? Here.)
sounds of Ukraine
Attitude needs no translation.
Alyona Alyona, “Голови,” 2018
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lagniappe
reading table
. . . all news feels foreign today . . .
—Mike McCormack, Solar Bones
music clip of the day 