Volyn singers perform at the Sorochyntsi Fair

As they were packing to leave for the famous fair in Sorochyntsi, did the women from Ivanychi think that they would have to perform in the open air under the scorching sun, sleep on the floor in a local school, eat mostly the pork lard called salo that they had wisely brought from home, and wash off their fatigue and sweat in the Psel River?

Even in these extreme circumstances Horlytsia, an amateur folk group from an urban-type village in Volyn oblast near the Buh River, took first prize, won the admiration of the audience, and was invited to come back for a repeat performance next year. The group’s members are already dreaming of coming back to Velyki Sorochyntsi.

They are still reliving their experiences at the fair. Emotions are overflowing because, as Halyna Doroshchuk, the group’s leader, says: “To the very last day we didn’t believe that we were really going to Sorochyntsi.”

Horlytsia has performed at scores of festivals and competitions, participating in nearly every event in Lutsk, in the Belarusian city of Bereza, and Poland. However, the Sorochyntsi Fair is special because it attracts folk ensembles from all over Ukraine and abroad.

The Ivanychi-based ensemble was surprised to find out that they were the only ones representing western Ukraine. This was not because of a lack of talented performers but financial problems. Horlytsia was able to make the trip after taking out a loan.

“In the spring, when we received an invitation to perform at the fair, we instantly thought: where will we get the money? The raion state administration supported us, but they were able to give us the funds only in late summer. We had to find sponsors,” Doroshchuk explained.

The organizers of the fair in Sorochyntsi, which has national status, said they would cover the participants’ room and board, but just before the trip they backed out. Oleksandr Liashuk, a businessman from Lutsk and a former classmate of Doroshchuk’s, agreed to fund Horlytsia’s trip and wait for the money promised by the government.

It was a long journey-800 kilometers from Ivanychi to Sorochyntsi. The group arrived at dawn, knowing they would be housed in the local school. They were let inside and shown into a classroom that did not even have beds, only mattresses on the floor. They barely managed to get one mattress (without sheets) for the driver, who had not been placed on the list in advance. Then they could not buy any soup in the school canteen; it was only serving the policemen responsible for public order at the fair. The group’s members suffered without hot meals because they did not have either time or money to stand in long lineups at the food kiosks at the fairgrounds.

“We’re not demanding. We were happy we had a place to stay. Many participants were resentful and offended by the lack of good accommodations. They filed complaints because the organizers totally ignored the performers. It was hard for us too, but we thanked everyone when we were leaving,” Doroshchuk said.

The famous Sorochyntsi Fair covers more than 15 hectares, and it was impossible to provide all the performers with adequate accommodations. Sorochyntsi is an ordinary village in Poltava oblast with a population of 4,000. During the fair it swells by a couple of hundred times. This year there was a record-setting number of participants and tourists. The locals took advantage of the crowds at every step of the way: local peasants charged exorbitant prices for their plots of land, converted in a pinch to parking lots. The temperature seemed to hover around 50 C, so water and kvas, a sour fermented drink, were sold at sky-high prices.

“We got in a long, long line for kvas. But then Lilia Vasaha pulled me away to take pictures of some passing oxen. We ran after them. The driver said we could take pictures, but the oxen had to be taken farther away from the crowd. This meant we wouldn’t get any kvas, and our throats were parched.”

“A local woman brought us a whole bucket of water,” Nelia Kandyba said, pronouncing the word “whole” as if she still felt the same thirst as she did then. “We had just finished performing and left the stage. She came up to us. ‘Oh, this girl sang so nicely! And this one! And this one!’ she said. And then she brought us a bucket of water. We scooped it up with ornamental dishes we had bought at the fair.”

At the folk festival in So­ro­chyntsi the ensemble quickly realized that there was no fixed order for the performances. “On the morning of our arrival, the head of our raion’s Prosvita House rushed off to find the organizers. Then we got a call and found out we would be performing at 11 a.m. We ran out of the school, listening to the instructions being given over the cell phone because there was no clear plan for our performance. It turned out we were scheduled to perform at 1 p.m. on the stage near Khivria’s House. Where the heck was it?

“Imagine: women in national costumes-waistcoats and heavy skirts, turbans on their heads, and wearing boots running around for half an hour searching for the place where they had to perform,” Valentyna Petroshchuk, the editor of the Ivanychi raion newspaper, told this reporter. In order to get her story about glorious Sorochyntsi she suffered all the “creature discomforts” together with the members of Horlytsia. “Where do you think we washed? Some locals showed us where the river is, because the village does not have a water supply system.”

“We watched the opening ceremony. There was no canopy or roof, and the audience started to disperse because of the sweltering heat. People got bad headaches. But we wanted to see the other performances. We clapped so hard that the TV channel Inter even filmed us for its broadcast!” the women boasted. “But we did not see many costumes like ours here. What we have are original, authentic costumes passed down from our mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers. They are 100 years old or more. Other performers mostly had mass-manufactured, standard costumes.”

That the ensemble from Volyn was special caught more than just the jury’s eye. In addition to three grand prizes, there were only a few first prizes although around 80 groups were competing. The women from Ivanychi were wildly popular in Sorochyntsi.

“Spectators grabbed us by our costumes so that they could take pictures,” Doroshchuk said, laughing. “We wanted to take some pictures for ourselves because there are so many interesting things there. Lilia wanted us to go and see a quaint little fenced house, but we were already surrounded by a crowd. I told them: take some pictures-but quickly because it’s hot. When we wanted to take a picture near one of the houses at the fair, an angry man came out and said we were not allowed; you had to pay a few hryvnias for the privilege of taking a picture of sunflowers next to the fence.”

“If we had charged for the pictures that were taken of us, we would have gotten enough money to cover our transportation expenses. We bought a lot of souvenirs. And none of them were cheap. All of us bought clay-bead necklaces because they are pretty and suitable for performances. Embroidered blouses were so expensive at the fair. A thousand hryvnias a piece or more, but very neatly done, I should say. One woman, probably a representative of an embroidery company, held my sleeve in her hand, stretched it, and took a very detailed, close-up picture of it,” said Nelia Kandyba.

Horlytsia performed three times at the fair: during the competition program, on the main stage, and on the stage near Khivria’s House. The group’s repertoire includes over 30 authentic songs rather than the all-too-familiar “Dva dubky” (Two oak trees) which won the grand prize. They also sing such ritual songs as “Vesillia” (Wedding), “Vypikannia korovaiu” (Baking the Wedding Cake), “Obzhynky” (Harvest Festival), and others.

“When I invited the girls from the group to my wedding, they didn’t talk for several hours-they just kept on singing. The entire wedding ceremony was accompanied by songs. In the evening, when it was all over and the tables were being cleaned, the sound of their singing could still be heard on the road. In the morning one of my neighbors called me. I said: “Are you mad because we didn’t let you sleep?” She replied: “Nelia, thank your girls from us. The whole village didn’t sleep. People turned off the lights in their homes, came out into the street, and listened. I cried my eyes out because these were the songs from my youth. And the singers know all of the songs to the end rather than just one verse!”

During its performance at Sorochyntsi, Horlytsia sang an authentic song recorded in the village of Nyzkynychi. “People listened to it and cried their hearts out. It is such a heart-breaking song,” said Kandyba.

Back in Ivanychi, the talk of the town is about “how our girls performed in Sorochyntsi.” Horlytsia’s leader says that the members of the group deserve a monument not only for popularizing and preserving authentic Ukrainian songs, but for their courage, endurance, and dedication. Many of the group members had to take time off from work and arrange for a replacement because only some of them are employed by the raion Prosvita House, while others work in the kindergarten, on the communal farm, at the market, etc. Yevdokia Nikolaichuk is the oldest member; she will be 70 next year. She baked such wonderful soft bread for the fair!

“We also sang in the evening after the concerts. We would sit next to the school and start singing quietly. Suddenly, people would start coming out of the building. The head of one of the children’s dance groups from eastern Ukraine woke up all her children so that they could listen to some real Ukrainian songs. We also sang on the way home, even though we were hoarse from all the singing,” said the Horlytsia women, laughing.

Now their biggest dream is to participate in the Sorochyntsi Fair again. For a few days each August the fair becomes the folk capital of Ukraine and welcomes many guests, even from Africa. It would be good if things were more civilized and better organized. After all, the Sorochyntsi Fair represents our state.