Endangered Songs

IS YOUNG IVAN AT HOME

Christmas Eve is a time to think of those closest to us, even when they are far away. In Ukrainian tradition, carols are often addressed to someone dear.

This song is for a son serving in the army — absent from the table, yet present in every thought. A situation that remains painfully true for many families today.

A rear region, strongly affected by missile attacks.

We perform the Poltava variant; a Sumy version of the carol is also documented.

ZATSVIV TEREN SHCHE Y LOZA
/ BLACKTHORN BLOOMS, AND SO DOES THE WILLOW

A lyrical song from the Zaporizhzhia region about a young woman whose heart has grown forlorn. Holding a nightingale in her hands, she asks it to sing for her in a foreign land, where she is left without her parents or her beloved Vanyusha.

OH, DO NOT WEEP, MY MOTHER, DO NOT CRY

A recruit song from the Sumy region about a son reassuring his mother as he heads off to war.

The area suffered during the russian invasion in 2022. Just 36 km from the russian border, it remains at high risk and under constant shelling.