No winner of 491 Song Marathon

Over a period of forty-four hours, forty-four bands performed their forty-four-minute song programs. Hosted by an art club at the heart of the Ukrainian Broadway, Khreshchatyk, the marathon took its unusual numeric name from Club Forty-Four. The Ukrainian issue of The Day reported previously that this unprecedented marathon in the Ukrainian musical environment was timed to coincide with the third anniversary of the art club. This music event is the brainchild of Oleksandr Popravka and Eric Eigner as well as the expert commission of the Book of Records of Ukraine headed by Ihor Pidchibiy.

Music groups performed in succession from November 5 through November 7 on the stage of the art club. Music styles changed with the bands: from the French chanson performed by Scenic Railway, a guest band from Western Europe, to electro-rock music by the Ukrainian band Borshch. It was tasty and, to quote my companion, “fat.” Apart from Scenic Railway, all the groups have already performed at Club Forty- Four. According to Eric Eigner, when they were auditioning participants for the record-setting marathon, over eighty Ukrainian and foreign bands answered the call. As Mr. Eigner told The Day, it is not advisable to begin with an excessively large number of groups. He admitted, however, that he is contemplating a couple of other world records. He hopes to gather 150 different bands for the birthday of the Triple One Club, which will put on a similar song program. Incidentally, it doesn’t take much to be entered into the book of records. A similar record was set in 2002 by the English trio of Lara Leuw, Janel Spalding, and Simon Alexander, who performed 121 compositions for 46 hours and 15 minutes. Yet the Ukrainian bar owner of German parentage is not content to rest on his musical laurels. He also plans to sell the largest number of world famous Tequila-Boom cocktails in record time. Maybe someday Ukraine will enter the annals of history not only as the home of world-class athletes but the most music-loving and cocktail-drinking nation as well. But quality comes before quantity, especially where setting records is concerned.

During the forty-four hour marathon at Club Forty-Four the featured bands performed 491 compositions, while visitors consumed 1,500 liters of beer, 2,000 house pancakes, and 3,000 sandwiches. But the main entrees of the marathon were the Ukrainian bands Green Grey and VV, who, unfortunately, did not perform that night, with the Kyiv bands Doza and Borshch filling in for them. The latter may be considered a newly-formed offshoot of the legendary VV. All the other bands performed according to schedule and for free, which Eric Eigner repeatedly stressed in his interview with The Day. Ihor Pidchibiy, manager of the Book of Records of Ukraine project, said that only a few of the bands featured in the marathon actually perform for a living. Most of the musicians have office jobs and some pursue completely different creative careers, like journalism. A band from Odesa by the name of No. 482 sang a song about the mass media, which especially pleased this author.

Power outages on the night of November 7 were another unplanned surprise of the marathon, but did not disrupt the succession of performances, with the bands playing live music by candlelight. Between 4:00 and 10:00 a.m. most of the people in the audience were seeing marathon- induced dreams sitting on their chairs or on tables, while some danced in slow motion near the stage. Not a single person lasted all three days of the marathon, despite the fact that at the outset five out of three hundred visitors vowed to do so.