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Oi u luzi chervona kalyna
Ukrainian patriotic march song From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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"Oh, the Red Viburnum in the Meadow" (Ukrainian: Ой, у лузі червона калина) is a Ukrainian patriotic march first published in 1875 by Volodymyr Antonovych and Mykhailo Drahomanov.[1][2][3] It was rewritten in a modern arrangement by the composer Stepan Charnetsky in 1914, and was subsequently used by the Sich Riflemen of the First World War. The song has many variations.
The song "Oi u luzi" was in the repertoire of Feodor Chaliapin.[4]
The red viburnum (Ukrainian: червона калина, romanized: chervona kalyna) is a national symbol of Ukraine. It is a deciduous shrub that grows four to five metres tall.[5] A silhouette of it is depicted along the edges of the flag of the president of Ukraine.
Following the 2014 annexation of Crimea, and then the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, singing "nationalist anthems" such as "Chervona Kalyna" in Crimea became punishable by fines and imprisonment.[6][7]
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Red Viburnum berries (kalyna) are a symbol that has been a part of the Ukrainian culture since ancient times.[5] The text of the song derives from a folk composition dating from the times of the mid-17th century Khmelnytskyi Uprising, which was recorded by Volodymyr Antonovych and Mykhailo Drahomanov during their ethnographic studies in 1875. The song was popularized after being included into Stepan Charnetskyi's play Sun of the Ruin (Ukrainian: Сонце Руїни), which premiered in early 1914. After the beginning of the First World War in the same year, it became adopted as one of the anthems of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, the first ethnic Ukrainian military formation of the 20th century. In 1925 Chervona Kalyna was recorded in the United States by Metropolitan Opera singer of Ukrainian origin Mykhailo Zozuliak, also known for making a recording of the National Anthem of Ukraine nine years earlier. In 1944 the song was issued as a recording for the second time with arrangement of Alexander Koshetz.[8]
During and after the Second World War, Chervona Kalyna was also used by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.[9][10][better source needed] Due to the song's association with the Ukrainian people's aspiration for independence, singing it was banned during the period in which Ukraine was a Soviet Republic from 1919 to 1991. Nevertheless, in 1961 a version of the song's text was published in a collection of historical songs issued in Kyiv.[11] Open performances of the song became widespread in Ukraine during the late 1980s, when it was frequently used at protest meetings. Around that time a modified version of the text was created by Ukrainian dissident Nadiya Svitlychna.[12]
Russian invasion of Ukraine
In March 2022, the song gained international attention when an Instagram video[13] of an a cappella rendition by Andriy Khlyvnyuk, of the Ukrainian band BoomBox, singing the first verse of the song was remixed by different artists around the world. The melody was somewhat changed. According to Valentyna Kuzyk, in this variant, "the energy of the primordial breath breaks out of stable forms and enters a new life space".[14]
BoomBox was touring in the United States when the Russian invasion of Ukraine started on 24 February. In response to the invasion, Khlyvnyuk cut the tour short to return to Ukraine to join the armed forces. He recorded the video while wearing army fatigues, standing near Sophia Square in Kyiv, and uploaded it to his Instagram account on 27 February, where it became viral.
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The first artist to remix[15] Khlyvnyuk's rendition was South African musician The Kiffness in early March.[16] At the end of the same month, Ukrainian ice dancers Oleksandra Nazarova and Maksym Nikitin performed to the song at the 2022 World Figure Skating Championships in protest of the invasion.[17]
In April 2022, Pink Floyd made use of Khlyvnyuk's recording for the vocal track of "Hey, Hey, Rise Up!", a single and video that the band released in aid of Ukrainian humanitarian relief.[18][19] In the video, Khlyvnyuk's performance is projected behind the band while they are performing and is sometimes shown full screen. The song opens with a sample from another recording of "Oi u luzi chervona kalyna", by the Veryovka Ukrainian Folk Choir.[20][21]
Since then, new versions have appeared on YouTube,[22] including remixes of the original remix.[23][24][25]
Banned in Crimea
Following the 2014 annexation of Crimea, and then the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, singing "nationalist anthems" such as "Chervona Kalyna" in Crimea was deemed to discredit the Russian army, and was punished by fines and imprisonment. In September 2022, the Russian occupation authorities in Crimea jailed and fined members of a wedding party for "discrediting" the Russian Armed Forces by playing the song.[26] The singers of the song in an online video were imprisoned and fined.[27][28]
Sergey Aksyonov, the Russian leader of the Crimean peninsula, warned that authorities would punish people harshly for singing such songs. He said that "People who do this are acting like traitors", and that there was a special FSB security service group working on the matter.[28]
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Lyrics
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Gallery
Red Viburnum berries (kalyna), the subject of the song
A commemorative coin released by the Government of Ukraine in 2022 with the inscription taken from the third line of the song
A graveyard of Sich Riflemen soldiers near Ternopil. The song was written in their honor.
References
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