Maria Burmaka: from the "maidan" to Manhattan (04/24/05)

Maria Burmaka: from the "maidan" to Manhattan

by Adriana Melnyk
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

NEW YORK - Throughout the history of modern protest movements, the arts in general, and music in particular, have frequently played an integral role in unifying the masses. The reason for this is simple: by putting forth a transcendent message that taps into the depths of human emotions, musicians have long been able to inspire feelings of unity and cohesion among protesters, even if their music is not political in nature. Ukraine's Orange Revolution witnessed something hitherto inconceivable in Ukraine: the mobilization of musicians who, as a result of their support of President Viktor Yushchenko, could well have been committing career suicide.

One of the few disappointing realities of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine was the Faustian pact that was struck between members of the former ruling elite and many performance artists. It is by now a well-known fact that along with many other members of the Ukrainian population, musicians were also threatened and bribed, but mostly bribed, to support Viktor Yanukovych, the candidate of the former ruling regime. In a nation that has a long-standing history of governmental patronage of the arts, the fact that these bribes were accepted is not surprising.

Though smaller in number, those musicians who took the higher moral ground more than made up for their numbers with their boundless energy, their unstoppable verve, and the inspiration and entertainment they provided last November and December to the huddled masses on wintry Independence Square in Kyiv.

Many of these musicians had long been household names in Ukraine and elsewhere: Okean Elzy, VV, Maria Burmaka, Taras Chubai, Eurovision champion Ruslana, Taras Petrynenko and Oksana Bilozir. Their role in the Orange Revolution elevated them to a new status: where previously they were entertainers, they became national heroes of a sort for their ability to rouse, and to put into words and song what many protesters on the streets were feeling, but couldn't express.

From March 30 to April 1, New York had the honor of hosting singer-songwriter Maria Burmaka on the first stop of her three-city inaugural North American tour, which included New York, Philadelphia and Toronto. Longtime fans had an opportunity not just to hear her music, but also to listen to stories about her life and about the role she played the events of late 2004. In addition to her musical talent, Ms. Burmaka has a unique genuineness and expressiveness, and an astounding ability to reach out to audiences with her stories and anecdotes.

Ms. Burmaka began her tour on the evening of March 31 at Columbia University's Faculty House. She was introduced by Prof. Ana Maria Ochoa from Columbia University music department's Center of Ethnomusicology. Prof. Ochoa spoke about the relationship between music and politics, saying that, in general, music is inherently apolitical. What politicizes music, she said, is the context in which it is performed, who performs it, and when and where they perform.

The following evening during Ms. Burmaka's performance in New York's East Village, Ms. Burmaka touched on that very topic. While still a university student, she told the audience, she was on more than one occasion questioned by authorities about a possible subtext to her music. "How ridiculous it was," she said. "I only write songs about love, about emotions, about human feelings, and I couldn't understand why, if none of my songs were political, they were scared to let me perform. It was only later I understood their fears - they thought I was hiding political messages in my music."

There were many aspects of Ms. Burmaka's tour that represented a break from the past. The tour was organized by the Brooklyn Ukrainian Group (BUG), a New York-based grass-roots organization comprising young 20- and 30-somethings whose mission is to support each other and the Ukrainian community in the propagation of Ukrainian arts and culture.

"We decided to bring Maria to North America because of our deep-seated respect for her as a musician, and particularly for her as a Ukrainian-speaking musician from Kharkiv, where her love of things Ukrainian posed many challenges to her throughout her life," said Yuri Pylyp, one of the organizers and a BUG member.

Many members of the audience voiced their admiration for the organizers, whose professionalism and age was an indicator that young members of the diaspora are active, enthusiastic, and alive and well.

The charitable nature of Ms. Burmaka's tour was also a first. "The fact that she sang not for her own profit, but for these worthy causes, helped to overcome the diaspora stereotype of Ukrainian musicians touring the United States to raise money for themselves," said one member of the audience at the New York City performance.

Proceeds from Ms. Burmaka's tour benefited three charitable causes: the production of "Folk!" - Roxy Toporowych's upcoming documentary film about traditional Ukrainian folk dancing in the United States; Help Us Help the Children, a project of the Children of Chornobyl Canadian Fund, and a voluntary, non-profit charitable initiative dedicated to improving the quality of life of children living in orphanages in Ukraine; and the Bohdan and Natalia Kowal Scholarship Fund for needy students attending the prestigious National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy.

Ms. Burmaka's music, and particularly her delivery of it, afforded diaspora audiences the chance to be a part of what had taken place in Ukraine during the Orange Revolution.

"Both Ukrainians and the Ukrainian diaspora got the same thing out of her music: the hope, the energy, the positive feelings her music conveys," said Ada Helbig, a Ph.D candidate in ethnomusicology at Columbia University.

"She afforded members of the audience who did not have a chance to visit Ukraine in November and December the opportunity to share and have a part of the events of those months," said Roman Chwyl, another organizer.

During her performance, Ms. Burmaka's worldliness and sophistication were evident (she is a doctoral candidate in philology at Kharkiv State University). In between songs, she quoted Paolo Coehlo, the internationally acclaimed Brazilian novelist. "Know what you want, and all the world conspires with you to achieve it," she told audiences, quoting his best-known work, "The Alchemist." She added, "This notion is something that has kept me going in life."

Ms. Burmaka's music is highly accessible to audiences of all ages, for as she puts it, she sings about "universal human emotions." Before singing her well-known "Ne Biisia Zhyty" (Don't Be Afraid to Live), she prefaced her performance by talking about the emotions of protesters in November and December 2004.

"This is a song about loneliness and although I did not write it specifically for these events, in fact none of the songs I performed on Independence Square were new songs," she said, "this one was particularly relevant. Everyone would go home to the apartments from the maidan and feel lonely. They would eat something and go back to the square as soon as possible to avoid feeling as though they were alone, and there they would see that there were many others like them, that everyone was experiencing the same emotions."

Her motivation for performing for days on end was obvious from the beginning, she told this writer. "I didn't care what I looked like, there were moments when my fingers were freezing, but it didn't matter. I realized that this was my small contribution - the tiny part that I was meant to contribute to the tremendous events going on around me. I had been a friend of President Yushchenko's for many years. I remember in 1998 he told me that I should always consider him a friend. And I knew that if there was something I could do for Ukraine, for this country that had given birth to me, I had to do it."

During her performance and in a personal interview, the singer spoke about other aspects of the revolution. One facet in particular that she emphasized was the unity that existed between eastern Ukrainians and western Ukrainians. "Skhid i Zakhid Razom" (East and West Together) was one of the mantras of the protesters. "Language became irrelevant," she said.

"This is something I want to communicate. This was not a political fight, it was not battle of regions, nor was it a battle of candidates. It was a battle of the forces of good and evil, of human dignity and human rights versus the forces of repression. This was the only chance we were going to get. I am from Kharkiv, and I want to say that I sing in Ukrainian because it is the language of my heart. However, Russian-speaking Ukrainians in the east of the country are victims of history, it is not their fault that they did not have access to information, and their choice of language is not a political choice," she said.

Indeed, in addition to her original compositions, Ms. Burmaka's repertoire included the traditional Ukrainian ballad "Rushnychok," as well as two folk songs from Lemkivshyna, the Ukrainian region now part of Poland. "People who live in Donetsk are also Ukrainian, even if they speak Russian," she said. "I will now play a personally beloved song of mine from another region of Ukraine, from Lemkivschyna. The person who taught me this song told me that there is a legend that goes along with it: that if you sing it to a man, he will fall in love with you. I have tested this legend, and it has come true for me, and on more than one occasion," she said, eliciting laughter from the audience.

Before performing "Ivanku, Ivanku," she dedicated it to the memory of Kvitka Cisyk, whose untimely death left a gaping hole in the fabric of diaspora Ukrainian music. "I would like to sing a song that an irreplaceable Ukrainian-American, Kvitka Cisyk, used to sing, and to say that no matter where someone is from, they are Ukrainian if in their hearts they feel Ukrainian."

A first cousin of Ms. Cisyk's, Maya Lew, described this dedication as being particularly poignant for her and for her sisters. "It meant so much to us because after her death, various musicians have tried to imitate her songs and her style. What Maria did was different," said Ms. Lew. "She sang this song to keep her spirit alive, and there is no one I would rather have doing that."

Ms. Burmaka also told The Weekly of the integral role that international musicians played in boosting the hopes and the morale of musicians and protesters alike. "For me, for us, hearing the statements made by Bono (lead singer of the Irish band U2), of Jethro Tull, of Chris DeBurgh made us see that we have the support of the international community, that we were not alone, and that the triumph of democracy was possible."

But really, it was in large part due to the dedication of Ms. Burmaka and of performers like her that the protesters held their resolve through the most trying of circumstances. She was on constant call, as were the handful of other musicians who took turns playing around the clock.

Ms. Burmaka recalled one moment that was pivotal for her: "It was the 25th of November. I heard on television that President Yushchenko had taken his symbolic oath of office, and I immediately left home to go Independence Square. When I got there, I was backstage and heard that people were going to the Presidential Administration Building, and that my song 'My Idemo' was playing, and that this is the song to which they would be walking. It was only then that I realized the importance of what I had done. I am a strong woman, and rarely cry, but when I heard my song, tears streamed down my face, for I understood that I had somehow done what I was put on this earth to do."

So how was the idea for her North America tour conceived, and what are its implications? According to Ms. Helbig, this event should signal a new way of doing things, and is sure to herald a new dynamic of exchange of musical ideas between the diaspora and Ukraine. "Her music is different from what the diaspora is used to hearing. It shows us that maybe there is something called Ukrainian pop music. It is now our turn to send one of our young musicians to Ukraine, and to keep the exchanges going, on our generation's terms," said Ms. Helbig.

As for the tour's conception, Lubomyr Konrad, another organizer explained: "While in Ukraine in December, Yuri Pylyp introduced me to Maria, and we met up with her to discuss the idea of her touring some cities in North America. When we returned home, we got to work on planning the logistics of her trip, because we saw that we had no choice but to make good on a casual promise made at Bar Baraban in Kyiv."

And, much to the delight of audiences in Philadelphia, New York and Toronto, make good on that promise they did.

* * *

Maria Burmaka's tour was the first of what its organizers hope will be many such tours of various visiting musicians from Ukraine. Anyone interested in becoming involved in volunteering to assist with future initiatives may contact the Brooklyn Ukrainian Group via their website: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BrooklynUkrainianGroup/.

For more information on "Folk!," log on to http://www.kinorox.com.

For Help Us Help the Children, please visit: http://www.chornobyl.ca/page-helpus.htm.

For the Kyiv-Mohyla Foundation, please visit: http://www.kmfoundation.com.

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