The two colors of Kvitka Cisyk

Her rare soprano made all of North America shiver with delight. Her title song from the Hollywood film You Light Up My Life won the Best Song Oscar in 1977. Kvitka (her name means “flower” in Ukrainian) Cisyk recorded her two albums Kvitka, Songs of Ukraine and Kvitka, Two Colors at the same studio where such outstanding performers as Placido Domingo, Madonna, Lenny Kravitz, Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, Diana Ross, Duran Duran, Billy Joel, Henry Mancini, and Pink worked their magic.

Although Cisyk died 10 years ago, her homeland only recently made its acquaintance with this famous Ukrainian American singer. The soiree that took place at Ukraine House was attended by such luminaries as First Lady Ka­teryna Yushchenko, who heads the supervisory board of the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Foundation, and Vasyl Vovkun, Ukraine’s Minister of Culture and Tourism.

The Unforgettable Kvitka memorial soiree is a unique precedent in our efforts to take pride in prominent figures of Ukrainian origin, who championed a positive image for our country with their exemplary life and works. The tribute was launched by some private individuals from Ukraine and the US, whose idea was supported by the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council and Ukraine 3000. Funds were provided by the Ukrainian art patron Oleksandr Prohnimak, the port of Odesa, Avon Cosmetics Ukraine, and the Tecom Insurance Company.

Ukraine House was filled to capacity. Cisyk’s ancestral land, which she visited only once, in 1983, and where she dreamed of coming on tour after it became independent, has started filling in one of the last few blank pages in Ukraine’s cultural and artistic history. Among those who agreed to give a free performance were the operatic diva Maria Stefiuk, pop singer Maria Burmaka, VV’s front man Oleh Skrypka, virtuoso violinist Ser­hii Okhrimchuk, and the unsurpassable Nina Matviienko and her daughter Antonina.

During the soiree Oleksandr Hornostai, musical producer and director-general of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, introduced a recording of the only Ukrainian-language interview with Cisyk, which was recorded at her and her husband’s New York studio in 1992. It goes without saying that even this small fragment of the nearly 50-minute-long video immediately convinced the audience that this little woman was a ball of radiant and vigorous energy.

In the US she was known as Kacey Cisyk. She was the voice behind ads for the largest US brand names and the most highly-paid performer of promotional jingles. It was her exquisite singing that helped such corporations as Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, American Airlines, ABC, NBC, CBS, and MacDonald’s to create their sound images.

From 1982 until her death, Cisyk was the sole voice of Ford Motors. The statistics-crazy Americans estimate that more people than live on our planet heard the voice of Kacey the jingle diva-22 billion.

Meanwhile, Ukraine knew almost nothing about Cisyk, the daughter of western Ukrainian emigrants. She died on March 29, 1998, of breast cancer. Perhaps this is why people cannot listen to songs, like “I Will Go to the Faraway Mountains,” “Cherem­shyna,” “Two Colors,” and “Cranes” without shedding a tear.

Today, you can hear Cisyk in Kyiv taxis. It was in a taxi that Sasha Gutmacher, a Ukrainian-born American producer, first heard about Kvitka. He invited Igor, his Russian-speaking taxi driver, to the soiree at Ukraine House soiree, where the Russian confessed that all his customers are in raptures over her singing.

“Kvitka Cisyk is a legendary name. She is a gem and a showpiece of Ukrainian culture in the world. But she is little known in Ukraine,” Gutmacher said. He revealed his plans to film a US-Ukrainian co-production about Cisyk, and he is sure the movie will win an Oscar.

Ukraine’s culture minister supports Gutmacher’s idea. “Kvit­ka Cisyk must come back to Ukraine in a major festival,” Vovkun said. He announced that a Ukrainian song festival dedicated to Cisyk’s memory will be held next year under the auspices of his ministry. First held Kyiv, the festival will subsequently take place every year in countries where Ukrainians reside.