EVENT

Welcome to ethno-vechornytsi!

Folk-style soirees to begin on December 1 at the Kyiv art club (at the premises of the Kyiv cinema theater)

The project is to be launched on Tuesday, but the organizers are planning to establish a club that will host every day concerts of folk music, exhibits, the screening of feature and documentary films, presentations of discs and video clips, performances of musical groups, listening to audio recordings made during folklore and ethnic expeditions, as well as all kinds of master classes in traditional singing, dancing, and handicrafts. A few months later, the project is going to show such an attraction as concerts of foreign groups that play ethnic music.

As the project was being launched, the audience could see Hanna Yarovenko’s documentary film Fiesta about Mykhailo Koval, a Ukrainian bandura player from Cherkasy oblast. The improvised concert will present the groups Bozhychi, Propala Hramota, PoliKarp, and DrymbaDaDzyha; the authentic accordion player Dmytro Levkovych, as well as hold an ethno discotheque. There will be special incentives for those wearing a beautiful natural outfit. Visitors will be treated to traditional Ukrainian dishes to be washed down with broths. The organizers maintain that whoever comes to these vechornytsi will find themselves in an unrestrained atmosphere and will be able to scale the true heights of traditional culture.

A ghost of terrorism wanders “stable” Russia

The Russian passenger train Nevsky Express, running between Moscow and St. Petersburg, was derailed by an explosion. According to the latest data published by the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, the crash claimed 26 lives, whereas the whereabouts of four people are still unknown. Ninety-two people were hospitalized, with 21 of them in critical condition. This was the second time the Nevsky Express was attacked. On Aug. 13, 2007, the train was derailed as a result of an explosion, but no casualties were claimed then. However, the railroad has been bombed again. Yesterday a bomb exploded under the Dagestani passenger train No. 374 following the Tiumen – Baku route, according to Interfaks. The preliminary data says that there are no casualties, and no one was injured.

Gazeta.ru reported that one of the leaders of the Russian Movement against Illegal Immigration has recently posted a statement in his blog on behalf of the group of Russian nationalists Combat 18 which said: “We, the autonomous fighting group Combat 18, are claiming responsibility for blowing up the Nevsky express. This is only a small part of what we are going to do. The time has come. Every resident will be touched by the war; there are no indifferent people or innocent victims, only our adherents and foes.” The Combat-18 propagandizes struggle against any “police” or “military” regime and terrorist methods applied by special services.