Non-festive reflections on the festivities marking the centenary of the great Ukrainian singer Borys Hmyria
We can be proud of Hmyria not only because he lived and performed in Ukraine. It is time we pondered precisely what is there that makes up our national pride one case or another. Often it happens that artists in good odor with the powers that be and awarded countless official titles become our pride. We tend to forget that such things look somewhat differently elsewhere in the world. Music lovers buying disks with Hmyria’s songs abroad (sometimes such disks are pirated) are not likely to know that the man had the title People’s Artiste of the USSR.
The epigraph of the jubilee concert at the National Opera, commemorating the singer, was a quote from him: “Love music, because it has a power to elate your soul.” Among the performers was a soloist from Kharkiv, People’s Artiste of Ukraine Mykola Koval. This was only natural, considering that Borys Hmyria’s operatic career began on that stage. There were guests from the Lviv Opera, winners of international contests Viktor Dudar and Andriy Beniuk. Among Kyiv performers, the excellent basses Mykola Shopsha, Valentyn Pyvovarov, Taras Shtonda, and Serhiy Mahera stood out. The concert starred a variety of People’s Artistes, including Mariya Stefiuk, Liudmyla Yurchenko, Roman Maiboroda, Oleksandr Diachenko, and Mykola Koval (the namesake of his Kharkiv colleague).
The audience was enchanted by the Shopsha-Shtonda-Mahera-Dudar bass quartet performing the famous Slander away... from The Barber of Seville and the Ukrainian song I would take my bandura... The concert was produced by Mykola Tretiak. Munir Bushenaki, UNESCO Director General for Culture, sent a message of greetings recited at the jubilee concert. It read in particular that the singer’s vocal heritage is an invaluable contribution in the treasure-trove of the world performing arts. His philosophical and literary works are also of considerable value for world culture. The singer was known as Borys the Great and his powerful bass was recognized as a unique phenomenon belonging not only to Ukraine, but also to world culture as a whole.
In addition to the gala concert, this author would like to point out that, with the singer’s jubilee date long past, only a small part of the planned festive projects have been carried out. Indeed, a commemorative coin, a postage stamp, and an envelope were issued in memory of Borys Hmyria. Yet these are not the most important steps to have to be taken. In October, the National Music Academy will host a scholarly conference to analyze Hmyria’s place in the world performing arts. Other scheduled events have encountered obstacles, mostly because the cabinet has not as yet passed a resolution on the celebration of Hmyria’s jubilee at the national level (with the attendant budget appropriations). Because of this, the jubilee festivities were underfinanced. Such financing is done according to set pattern. The Ministry of Culture and the Arts submits a document to the Cabinet of Ministers and the latter orders budget appropriations. In this case events took the following course. The cabinet decreed the setting up of a jubilee committee. The committee does exist, although the results of its efforts have been faked. In other words, even the preparatory stage lacked coordination and efficiency. When the organizing committee adopted a jubilee schedule, what followed was endless procrastination. The ministry scraped up UAH 95,000, a meager sum, of course. There would be much more if the officials concerned had submitted the required document to the cabinet sooner. People at the Borys Hmyria Foundation ruefully point out, “If you want to bungle a project, let the Ministry of Culture handle it.”
The financing pattern was not observed due to several factors. Hmyria’s apartment at the Passage on Khreshchatyk has not become a museum. A monument to the singer was not erected (there is a private fund-raising campaign by Kyiv residents). There is no museum in his native town of Lebedyn. The singer’s apartment is occupied by the family of the chairman of the Borys Hmyria Foundation, meaning they have to move to a different place to live. And there are pleasant albeit worrisome surprises at times. On August 5, some 150 individuals visited the singer’s apartment in Kyiv, certain that they were visiting the Hmyria Museum. Hanna Prynts, Chairperson of the Hmyria Foundation, deserves all the credit. Whoever visits the place leaves feeling convinced that he has just explored a museum. Her family has for a number of years lived in accordance with a special regimen, being always prepared to welcome unexpected guests and in every way preserving the great singer’s atmosphere.
It is generally known that the Soviet Melodiya recording monopoly at one time made Borys Hmyria a Russian bass and then transferred recording rights to other companies. Ukraine has not been able to do anything about that, not even after independence. Until recently, no Hmyria recordings could be obtained in Kyiv. A new generation is rising, and it could be denied any opportunity to partake of his creative legacy. Fortunately, thanks to the Hmyria Foundation, six CDs with his songs have been released. Two more will be cut in October. Given adequate subsidies, at least 55 such disks could be produced.
What makes Borys Hmyria unique is that his vocal talent impressed not only his countrymen, but every most exacting Western European connoisseur. This is no ambitious overstatement. For example, those favoring the German vocal school refuse to acknowledge any Slavic singers’ attempts to perform pieces from the Austrian-German repertoire. Dietrich Fischer Dieskau wrote skeptically about Chaliapin’s renditions of Schubert, stressing that they could only be regarded as curious. Few if any German musicians would encourage Ukrainian singers to perform German works. Borys Hmyria was the only exception, especially his recording of Schubert’s grand song cycle Die Winterreise (Winter’s Journey) and a number of other songs. Munich Opera soloist Wunder Volker considers himself Hmyria’s pupil, noting that the said recordings are perfect and even better than those of many German singers.
The key idea of the jubilee projects is not to formally immortalize Hmyria’s name, but to breathe a new life in his creative heritage. This must be done now, otherwise a generation will grow up, denied something we possess and have every right to be proud of.
The Hmyria Foundation invites you to join the fund-raising campaign for the construction of a monument to the singer in the vicinity of the National Philharmonic Society. Welcome to send money to Account #26006000429201, MFO 322498, ID Code 21523713, AKB Kyiv, City of Kyiv, Ukraine, marked “For the Hmyria Memorial.”
