Music chosen by the time

The Kraina Mrii music publishers founded by the VV front man Oleh Skrypka is one of the youngest labels on the Ukrainian phonographic market. It aimed at rationalizing of the publishing of their band’s albums and parallel projects, in particular, solo works. The publishers also announced about their intention to assist in development of the most extraordinary and bright music phenomena of present-day Ukraine. Although Kraina Mrii started its activity in May 2006, the number and quality of the label’s album releases indicates that Skrypka and the company are maintaining high standards of their publishing company. This is even more spectacular in the time, when CDs as a mass carrier of information are totally dying. So, The Day discusses the most interesting of the latest releases with the head of the publishing company Mykhailo DRUCHENKO.

“We have recently released Every Place Has Its Customs and Rights, an album created by Nina Matviienko and the Kostiantyn Chechenia Old Music Ensemble. This is not the first joint work of the outstanding singer and these unique musicians. But this is the first disc that fully fixes the beauty and depth of the music of the Ukrainian Renaissance. It is a recording of the live performance in the premises of the Ivan Honchar Museum. Dmytro Dobry-Vechir, leader of the famous Kyiv band Vii, took care of the recording, and young audio engineer Volodymyr Diachenko did the mixing. The mastering of the recorded audio was done later in the studio HOTLINE MASTERING in New York. By the way, we have been cooperating with this wonderful studio for almost a year. Later Oleh Skrypka heard the recording, he took a great interest in it and decided to publish it. Besides, we all were encouraged by Kostiantyn Chechenia’s words that this material in his opinion was proof of an unheard-of progress in the sense that we had managed to present this music in a modern European manner. On the whole, we know Nina Matviienko in various roles: as a performer of authentic folklore, variety singer, and a very original performer of the aristocratic repertoire of the Hetmanate, Ukrainian baroque of Ivan Mazepa’s time. I mean that our task was to reveal namely this side of the talent of Nina Matviienko, who feels that culture on some gene level. Kostiantyn Chechenia and the rest of musicians, Yarema Shevchuk (hurdy-gurdy) and Oleksandr Savchenko (recorder), have the same ability.”

This album shows a deep interpretation of the music culture of that bygone time. Especially touching is the performance of Hryhorii Skovoroda’s song “Every Place Has Its Customs and Rights.”

“That was on the whole a real hit, a popular song which existed in the time of Cossack Hetmanate and which the students of the 18th century liked to sing at the heady parties of that time. Oleh Skrypka as a producer of the project often emphasizes that most of the songs on the disc are dancing hits of that time, to which the residents of towns liked to dance.”

So, we have a disc of the trendiest music of the 17th-18th centuries?

“Doubtlessly. This is an old-time analogue of chanson and discos. This is the way the popular music sounded.”

Another novelty is the recording of Vopli Vidopliasova on the stage of the festival Rock-sich on DVD.

“Yes, this is a quality many-camera recording of the solo concert of VV, made on the Trukhaniv Island in Kyiv on May 7, 2006 during the festival Rock-sich. It conveys the extremely emotional atmosphere of that event and shows the band VV in the best shape of the creative lineup of the later period. That was one of the most high-quality performances of the team with the lineup preceding the current one. Secondly, it presented thoroughly selected best hits of the band in its 25-year existence, so that was music chosen by the time. Both versions of the concert, audio and video, were produced by Oleh Skrypka. Knowing his exactingness to the quality of sound, I can say that was the case he was 100 percent satisfied. According to the level of the mighty drive, I could compare this performance with their earlier concert in 1991 Abo abo (Either, or) recorded in France on a cassette recorder by Oleksandra Semenova, the first manager of the then VV.”

Kraina Mrii has published an official collection of all recordings in mp3 format on two discs, including ten albums and six singles in conjunction with the band’s 25th anniversary. Another disc includes all solo albums of Oleh Skrypka in mp3 format.

“This is a kind of a report timed to the big date. The collection of VV albums contains only the releases Oleh considers legal. The great number of recordings published by the fans of the band was left overboard.”

The catalogue of Kraina Mrii has quite an unusual position: the album of Chernivtsi acid jazz formation Samata called Vopli Vidopliasova.

“In my opinion, this is one of the most unusual alternative views of VV music taken by extremely talented musicians. This is a collection of cover versions of the most famous songs of the album. The album has a special sound atmosphere combining to some extent lyricism and astonishment. Now the band is finishing its work on the new full-fledged album. The work is going on at several studios simultaneously, using all the newest recording technologies of the 21st century. At the same time Oleh Skrypka is working on his solo project Ethno-Vechornytsi, which he has many times presented live. This will be our Ukrainian response to the so-called Balkan ‘beat,’ which is so popular nowadays.”