Why Ukrainian Electro-Folk Is So Popular Now
Photo Credit: Go_A, Shutterstock
During Eurovision’s Grand Final on May 22nd, 2021, Ukrainian singer Kateryna Pavlenko stepped onto the stage wearing a green coat and sang in her native language. Only a couple of hours later, Ukraine’s captivating song entry, ‘Shum’, ranked second in the public vote. Two days later, ‘Shum’ made it onto the Spotify Viral 50 daily list. The song further dominated the Billboard Global 200 list.
The popularity of ‘Shum’- a word that means noise in Ukrainian-is a testament to the unforgettable qualities of Ukrainian electro-folk. Pavlenko is the lead singer of the Ukrainian electro-folk band, Go_A, a band that was formed in 2012. Musician Taras Shevchenko (who shares the name of an acclaimed Ukrainian writer who lived in the nineteenth century) wished to fuse pop music with folklore in 2011. In December 2012, Go_A unveiled their first ever song, ‘Koliada’. However, it was the song ‘Vesnianka’ that propelled them into the Ukrainian public spotlight, receiving the Kiss FM radio station Discovery of the Year award. The band’s first album debuted in 2016 and was named ‘Follow the Tune’.
Even the band’s name has special significance: The name means “go back to your roots”, and A, the very first letter of the Greek alphabet, represents rebirth and new beginnings.
Go_A is not the first band from the second-largest European country to mix folk and pop music, as previous established bands also display exemplary artistry when drawing inspiration from folklore. The band ONUKA (This word means “granddaughter” in Ukrainian) use traditional instruments like the bandura and sopilka. The group DakhaBrakha has performed internationally, and their engrossing music was even used in a commercial starring David Beckham. The inspiration for the group’s name came from the Ukrainian words “daty” and braty”, meaning give and take. Folknery, a folk band that is the brainchild of Volodymyr Muliar and Yaryna Kvitka, even tours European countries by bicycle!
Yet it is Go_A who pushed Ukrainian electro-folk to the forefront of the music community and there are four distinct factors that made them a tour de force.
To begin, Ukrainian, an East Slavic language, is very soft and mellifluous, contributing to the lyrical undertones of ‘Shum’. Pavlenko additionally uses the traditional Eastern European singing style called “white voice,” testing to see how high her natural voice can climb and how long she can hold a note.
When Pavlenko combines her outstanding vocals with the music, ‘Shum’ transforms into a triumph. The song begins with an addicting tone, but the music slows down at the one minute and forty-two second mark. It culminates in a euphonic eruption that sounds like an Eastern European soiree. Pavlenko conveys strong emotions while singing in the passionate language that is Ukrainian, making listeners want to repeat this song over and over again.
Perhaps the strongest attribute of ‘Shum’ is how it illustrates the Ukrainian heritage and how performance elements symbolize important beliefs. Shum is the name of the forest deity, and Pavlenko is summoning him so that spring, a period associated with renewal, can begin. She wears a lush, green coat on the Eurovision stage, an allusion to Shum. Her predecessors from this country viewed the spring solstice as a sacred event, and the start of a new season conveyed hope, carried promise, and marked the conclusion of long, dark winter days. In ancient times, Ukrainians would perform spring songs like vesnianky and haivky, and their successors to this day know these songs and preserve this component of their culture.
Performers dance around Pavlenko, paying tribute to the vesnianky and haivky dances, as a hallmark of these dances is to make a circle around someone standing in the middle. Dancing in this circle embodies how the sun makes its own orbit around Earth. Pavlenko takes a quick break from singing and Shevchenko performs on his flute before Pavlenko initiates another amazing feat when she sings faster and faster, signifying the dawn of spring and the victorious triumph of the spring’s sunlight over winter’s darkness.
It’s not just ‘Shum’ that’s a multifaceted masterpiece in the Ukrainian electro-folk world: Go_A continues to demonstrate their impeccable gift of combining folk with modern musical compositions. Their song ‘Solovey’, or nightingale in Ukrainian, is based on a tale in which a woman falls in love with a man who has a disapproving mother. In the song Rano-Ranen’ko mentions vinok, a traditional Ukrainian headdress for unmarried women, and Ivana-Kupala, a summer solstice holiday in which a woman puts flower wreaths in the water and the man who catches the wreaths on the other side of the river is said to be her future lover.
It’s evident that Ukrainian electro-folk depicts the bewitching folk traditions of this Slavic country and highlights how riveting mixing pop and folk music can be. It’s what makes listeners so interested in this music genre and Go_A further emphasizes vital lessons for their listeners: One should celebrate their roots, honour their ancestors, and explore their country’s beloved customs.
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Sources:
- http://euromaidanpress.com/2021/05/25/pan-european-archetypes-goa-ukraine-
eurovision-performance/
- https://ukraineworld.org/articles/ukraine-explained/ethnic-music-bands
- https://go-a-band.com/
- https://eurovisionfun.com/en/2020/06/go_a-ukraine-has-its-own-language-and-culture-and-we-have-a-chance-to-show-it-exclusive-interview-video/
by Maya Yegorova
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