<I>The Day</I> in Concert with The Ostrih Academy
On April 6 The Day took a trip to the National University of Ostrih Academy. Ostrih welcomed us with sunny spring weather and a homelike atmosphere, which is not in the least surprising. Kyiv Mohyla Academy’s Vice President and regular contributor to The Day Prof. Volodymyr Panchenko, who was visiting Ostrih for the first time, described The Day’s friendship with Ostrih students as “a novel with sequels.”
The meeting kicked off with a readers’ conference that discussed Wars and Peace, the third book in The Day’s Library series, which addresses Ukrainian-Polish relations. This issue is particularly relevant now that the Year of Ukraine in Poland is about to be officially inaugurated in Warsaw. The students of Ostrih Academy once again demonstrated an impressive level of knowledge. The following are some of the questions that they posed to The Day’s chief editor Larysa Ivshyna and Prof. Volodymyr Panchenko. Will Ukrainians have enough “passionarity” to turn Ukraine into a regional leader? Who will become the Jacek Kuron of Ukraine’s relations with Russia? What are the fundamental differences between Polish and Ukrainian patriotism? During the meeting, Larysa Ivshyna officially announced the launch of a new competition for a stipend from The Day’s chief editor. The main selection criteria remain unchanged: excellent scholastic performance, a clear civic stance, and publications in the press, particularly in The Day. The results will be announced six months from now, which should be enough time for the Ostrih students to show their worthiness as writers for The Day.
An unexpected bonus for the Ostrih students was a concert by the professional kobza, bandura, and lyre player Taras Kompanychenko, who came to Ostrih Academy at The Day’s invitation. For a full hour and a half Taras Kompanychenko performed what he calls “hit songs” of the 16th-18th centuries on his kobza, old-style bandura, and wheel-lyre (hurdy-gurdy) — the three traditional instruments of the kobzars, wandering minstrels of Ukraine’s Cossack period. He performed songs by both anonymous and known authors, including poetry by Stefan Yavorsky, Hryhory Skovoroda, and Ioan Velychkovsky, both in Ukrainian and Polish.
The music was a veritable revelation to many students, and most of their impressions of the concert were summarized by one word: “fantastic.” Ostrih Academy rector Ihor Pasichnyk said that Taras Kompanychenko’s performance was a kind of musical salute to the book Wars and Peace, given that Taras performed songs from the period when the Ukrainian and Polish cultures were closely intertwined.
Before his performance Taras Kompanychenko pointed out that the world doesn’t know us to the extent that we don’t know ourselves. In his view, musical and literary monuments can help Ukrainians discover themselves. In this sense the books in The Day’s Library series and songs performed by Taras Kompanychenko serve the same purpose.
Read more on The Day’s visit to Ostrih and impressions from this visit in an upcoming issue.
