Sonia Connolly

O Generous One by Timothy Snyder, a Substack link with more history of Ukraine then and now. Excerpt below.



Excerpt from the article:
“Carol of the Bells” stands out because it arises from a different tradition: that of Ukrainian folk songs, and in particular ancient Ukrainian folk songs welcoming the new year, summoning the forces of nature to meet human labor and bring prosperity. These are called shchedrivky, “carols of cheer” or, a bit more literally, songs to the generous one. The word “magic” is used a good deal around Christmas; this song has its origins in rituals that were indeed magical. And perhaps this is exactly why it reaches us.

Before the advent of Christianity, and for that matter for centuries afterwards, these songs orchestrated and encounter with the forces that could bring what was sought, which was the bounty of spring after the cold of winter. The pagan new year began, reasonably, in February or March, with the arrival of the swallows or the equinox; the carols of cheer were pushed back towards January or December 31st by Christianity -- and one in particular was pushed deep into December by Americans, transformed into a Christmas carol.

The melody that I heard in St. Paul’s Cathedral in Toronto as “Carol of the Bells” is a Ukrainian folk song. It was arranged as “Shchedryk” by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych in the middle of the First World War, likely on the basis of a folk song from the Ukrainian region of Podilia. The four ancient guiding notes of the melody sound like the dripping of icicles joined by the singing of birds. Leontovych’s lyrics capture the earthy directness and incantatory purpose of the ancient songs. My English translation is no doubt inadequate and a little free -- in Ukrainian, for example, a dark-browed woman is by definition a beautiful woman, and so I have rendered her.

( Ukrainian text and English translation )

Here's another song we're singing this time, Nazdrave Ti, Chorbadžijo, "Cheers to You, Master of the House." This is a caroling song with a strong dance rhythm, and I took to it much more happily than Otče Naš. Koleda is the Bulgarian term for the Christmas season. And I love the design of this album cover!

Cheers to you, master of the house!
Oh, Koleda!
We sing to you, we praise God.
As much sand there is by the sea,
May you have as much grain in this house.
As much water there is in the sea,
May you have as much wine in your barrels.
As many leaves as there are in the forest,
May you have as many sheep in your pens.

I biked over Grizzly Peak this morning, in November sunshine so warm that I didn't even need my jacket for the usually-cold final descent into Claremont canyon. While Berkeley bathed in glorious sunshine, the Bay hid under a blanket of fog with the Golden Gate Bridge towers and San Francisco skyscrapers peeking out. I love the experience of climbing steadily past cute North Berkeley houses and gardens, with these spectacular views off to the side.

From the top, you can see a panoramic view of the Bay and surrounding cities spread out at your feet. By the time I got there, most of the fog had burned off, just clinging in a line along the Bay Bridge.

I never stopped missing that ride during my years in Portland. I haven't done it in more than a year because of my ankle injury, so I was very happy to be back on that road and still comfortably make it up and over.

Last night I biked across town to a concert of the Iavnana Ensemble, a community choir of 40 local people dedicated enough to learn and perform Georgian songs, plus their teacher and a visiting singer who is one of the foremost American singers of Georgian music. And he's giving a workshop tomorrow for the general public, so I'm going to that.

Earlier this week, Zele, the Balkan and Georgian community choir I'm in, sang four songs as part of a concert and grief ritual for people who have lost loved ones. As I walked over to the venue, and then later walked home, I thought, "This is why I came back."

Last week visiting Ukrainian ensemble Kurbasy performed with Kitka, and then they gave a workshop.

I came back for the amazing performers who come to town, for the workshops and singing groups I can participate in, and for the spectacular bike rides and scenery. I miss the vibrant fall colors of Portland, and it's fun to visit friends there now and again, but I am very glad I came back to the Bay Area.

One of the women in the Balkan community choir signed up to sing at the local farmer's market, and invited people to show up. Totally casual and disorganized, but it turned out well. About eight of us showed up (I was busy singing and didn't count, and people left and arrived at different times.) Everyone proposed songs at the same time and we all paged through our music. I had just alphabetized mine in its folder, but it still takes time to find things, and of course now I have to alphabetize it all over again.

We did manage to choose songs, and I awkwardly blew into my pitch pipe for starting notes, and we didn't even discuss who was singing which part, and we sounded pretty good. It was so casual that I wasn't even nervous about performing. It felt more like a private singing gathering that some people happened to hear.

It was a cool foggy day, so the market was uncrowded, and several small children watched us with pleased attention. Adults applauded, and even left money in the hat one of us put out.

Then there was an argument about what to do with $32.70 from the hat, and we ended up donating it to a homeless services center nearby, since there's an encampment right by the market. I bought my veggies and fruit for the week, and then sat with a few folks as they ate lunch and chatted.

Two lovely stories containing mutual support.

Saints Support Group and Coffee Hour by keita52 . A delightful modern-times AU for the Chalion Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold. Contains kindness and a noisy cat.

Endless Roads to Travel, Endless Lives to Live by snacky . "Three adventures Polly Plummer never had, and two she gave to others." AU for Narnia after The Magician's Nephew.

(Dunno what happened to the little AO3 icon, but the usernames are correctly linking to AO3 profiles.)

Bonus video: Best of Favorite Dance Moves (2024) by Ed People. This amazing guy goes around learning dance moves from dancers of many nationalities. The dancers are good teachers, too. This one includes a snippet of a Serbian Kolo, amidst lots of other dances that look a lot more difficult to me. Full of joyful energy.

Since I made this list for someone, here are a bunch of Georgian songbooks I have collected over the years.
99 Georgian Songs by Edisher Garakanidze, Joseph Jordania, and others. As far as I know the only way to get this is to get it shipped from Wales, which is expensive, but it's a great resource. Comes with a CD of part tracks that I did not find useful.
Songbook Georgia by Tamar Buadze. This one is great too, and it is available in the US, although the language transliteration they use is different from the usual, it's more like Turkish. Tamar Buadze is the leader of Tutarchela. Comes with Tutarchela source recordings.
Supra! A Feast of Georgian Song by Carl Linich Includes CD
Forged in Fire, by Zedashe via Village Harmony Digital download, includes mp3s of Zedashe performing.
Georgian Folk Songs I, Village Harmony Digital download, includes mp3s.
Georgian Sacred Chorales, Village Harmony Digital download, includes mp3s.

Alazani.ge Treasure trove of downloadable Georgian folk music. Over on the right, choose ALL for tracks, and then you can search for songs, listen, and download. Spelling is idiosyncratic. You can also click Choirs on the left and browse around. For example, Tutarchela is fabulous. Some of the songs have words linked under Text, in the Georgian script, which you can transliterate at translit.cc.

Also, places to look for lyrics online
Songbat Lyrics Archive Lily Storm's site. Gives a warning about not being a private connection, but it's safe to view.
Hopp-Zwei-Drei Not so much Georgian, but lots of Balkan, since it's songs that have been used for folk dances. Mostly lyrics, some scores.
Folkloretänz Noten. This one has scores. Also more Balkan, although I did find a score for Heyamoli under Turkish/Laz.

I mentioned a while back that I've been playing piano again. I'm still at it, practicing for 10-15 minutes every day or every other day.

The book I'm learning from is Mastering Music Level 1A, Versatile Piano Studies for Older Beginners by Janet Vogt. It's well put together to gradually teach concepts with musically interesting pieces. I'm working on the last few pieces in that one, and I have 1B waiting for when I'm ready. I'm moving through it slowly, trying to learn the physical skills to hit the right keys, make the volume gradually get louder or softer, slur notes together, and play chords. Not to mention reading the music.

I had "What Every Pianist Needs to Know About the Body" by Thomas Mark et. al. for years, but never read it. Partly because the similar book for singers was so dense and technical. I sold it to Powells when I moved. But I got a copy recently via interlibrary loan, and it turns out to be very readable and useful. I might re-buy a copy to have it for reference. I reviewed it at more length.

What Every Pianist Needs to Know About the Body video also by Thomas Mark. This two hour video is a great companion to the book. I also had a copy of this and never watched it, so I was delighted to find the whole thing on the Internet Archive. Highly recommended if you're interested in good body mechanics.

Looking back in my journal about Larry Gordon led me to this post, April 2023 about a video I was searching for, and the gorgeous Songs Stay Sung.

Here's Zoe Mulford and Windborne, because it is more relevant than ever. It made me cry, in a good way. I hope it resonates for you, too. "Love stays loved, and song stay sung."



I searched again for the video I'd been looking for then, 'child musicians from around the world joint video' and it was the first hit. Check out the young drummer, and all these other amazing young musicians and dancers.



And a similar joint video of adults in Turkey playing Hayde Gidelum in outdoor locations around the country. At the end it says they were inspired by playingforchange.com, who made the previous video.


And a cool making of video for that last one, with out takes.

5. I am proud of my knowledge and skill at Balkan folk dancing. This is less complicated than feeling proud of singing. I was lucky to be introduced to folk dancing as a child, both in terms of acquiring skills young, and in terms of it being a life-saving anchor to community. Since then I've joyfully put in the hours of practice and hours of volunteer service running groups and festivals, and I am proud of all of that. I'm proud of teaching others and bringing them into the community and showing them how to lead.

Here I am summoned to lead Bulgarian dance Bičak at the 2024 Hoolyeh Reunion and Friends party in Corvallis. This one is leader-called, which means not only remembering all the steps and doing them in rhythm, but listening to the music and deciding when to switch to the next one. ( Leading Bičak at Hoolyeh )

Kitka sings this lovely Bulgarian song Son Mi Dojde (video link). The video notes state that they learned it from Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares in 1988.

I was asked if I had a Bulgarian source recording. I didn't have it in my large stash of folk recordings, and a general search online didn't turn up that version at all. Kvartet Bulgarka Junior did record a similar version (video link).

I got puzzled, and kept digging. Discogs.org, a comprehensive listing of old album contents, didn't list the song for Mystere des Voix Bulgares, but did list this likely looking album by Orchestra of the Bulgarian Television and Radio Folk Song Ensemble, which is their precursor. Balkanton published it as BHA 565.

I looked on archive.org to see if someone had uploaded this album. Sadly no, but while searching on the Balkanton number I did stumble across this treasure trove of rar archives of old Bulgarian recordings, and the odd Macedonian and Georgian songs too. It helps to read Cyrillic, and to have downloaded a rar decoding utility. The albums come from https://bulgarian-folk-treasure.blogspot.com .

I paused for thought, and then wrote to a folk dance teacher who helped me with another obscure album in the past. Yes, he had the album, and kindly sent me an mp3 of the source recording the next morning. Elapsed time from request to forwarding the recording, a little less than 24 hours.

I'm proud of knowing how and where to dig for information, and proud of continuing to think of new avenues when I get blocked. I use that a lot in my programming work, too. Back when I first got back into Balkan music after a long hiatus, I could tell it was important to me because I would keep digging for more information online, and get excited about what I found. Nowadays general search is getting less and less useful, but knowing specific places to search is still fruitful.

ETA: I uploaded the recording to dropbox: feel free to listen and download.