 Editor in Chief Iouri Semenov, PhD |
 Managing Director Oleksandr Perepelytsya, PhD |
ADVISORY BOARD
Detlef Gojowy, PhD, Germany
Oleksandr Kozarenko, composer, Lviv
Lesia Olijnyk, PhD, Kiev
Oleksandr Rovenko, PhD, Odessa
Karmella Tsepkolenko, composer, PhD, Odessa
Olena Zinkevytch, PhD, Kiev
Dear reader,
Editorial staff of the magazine MUSICA UKRAINICA welcomes you.
May be, you have opened our site by professional interest or/and personal concern in Ukrainian music. We hope to satisfy both as much as we can. As we want our magazine to be a good friend for the professional musicians, amateurs and lovers of Ukrainian music, we call for feedback from you, including your comments and materials.
MU is mainly aimed at furthering the development of Ukrainian music and its integration to the worldwide, first of all, the European cultural space. May you live in Ukraine or not, without doubt you would be eager to learn our fundamental concept. The truth is that Ukraine, a country with a territory and population almost equal to France, a country having been integral part of Europe since Herodotus’ “History”, keeps being the largest “white spot” on the continent’s cultural map. An average (West) European doesn’t know even 2-3 symbolic figures, which could represent Ukraine, like Hans-Christian Anderson does Denmark, Jean Sibelius does Finland...
This sad phenomenon roots first of all in political history – centuries-old division of Ukraine by other states desiring to wipe off the Ukrainian identity and taking drastic actions in this direction. So, many world-known ethnic Ukrainians (writer Nikolai Gogol, scientist Vladimir Vernadsky, composers Dmitry Bortniansky, Igor Stravinsky and even Peter Tchaikovsky, composer and musicologist Eusebius Mandyczewsky) mostly lived and worked outside of the Ukrainian ethnic territory and the consciously Ukraine-oriented political trend, so they are thought as a rule to be incorporated into other ethnic cultures. Not to mention such ethnically non-Ukrainians but born on Ukrainian soil and really inseparable from it, as writers Sergej Bulgakov, Sholom-Aleikhem, poet Paul Celan, composers Reingold Gliere, Sergej Prokofiev, Karol Szymanowsky …
But the identity problem does not depend only on the foreign factor, but it is intrinsic to the Ukrainian culture as such. There is not these temporary identity crises, unavoidable to any culture as well as personality, but a kind of permanent crisis, rather a rupture inside this identity, which has not existed until today as a system of ideas recognised by all (or most) of the Ukrainians. The absence of independent Ukrainian state and (to a great extent) of genuine Ukrainian elite did not further the creation of the “higher” Ukrainian culture. Thus Ukraine has had an extremely rich rural (particularly folkloric) culture, but has completely or almost lacked in “higher” genres and styles: for example, professional Ukrainian symphony appeared only in 20th century; the independent existence of Ukrainian opera and ballet remains under discussion until now.
As a matter of fact, it must be admitted, that the Ukrainian culture has been featured by predominance of traditionalism, strengthened by an artificial opposition of Ukrainian ethnic identity to any innovation and modernisation. That is why Ukrainian artists as a rule don’t dare to take an independent innovatory role in the national and international context, as composers or writers from Estonia, Poland or the former Yugoslavia did, and very successfully did. Searching for a way to its cultural independence, Ukraine cannot avoid globalisation and global modernisation, but must learn to use them.
But let us return to the Ukrainian music culture. At the beginning of the 20th century it assumes ever more features of the European-type culture with emergence of professional orchestras, conservatories, music journals, and music societies. But very soon, from the early 1930s, the development was hampered and distorted by the Soviet policy. Be recalled such blatant facts as extermination of composer Mykola Leontovytch (1921) and lots of others, including the participants of the congress of kobzars (blind bandura players and singers) in 1930s, the pogrom-like “criticism” on Borys Liatoshyns’kyj at the end of the 1940s, and later, in 60s, on the ‘Kiev Avant-Garde’ composers’ group, including Leonid Hrabovs’kyj and Valentin Silvestrov, as well as limitation of editing right of the Ukrainian music academies etc.
In addition to some real achievements, the independent Ukraine has inherited from the Ukrainian Soviet Republic an extremely outdated structure of music life, music industry and education, - without any contemporary music festivals, any production of LP and CD. As well, educational plans of our music academies, which are today struggling for being re-named from ‘conservatory’ to ‘academy’, have out-dated in many points by 40-50 years.
Especially outdated remains the music information branch. The publishing house Muzychna Ukrajina (Musical Ukraine) was not able to assume new methods and has almost stopped its activity since 1990. Most of musical libraries of Ukraine (as a rule, music academies’ libraries) have never received music sheets, books and journals from abroad, and even if they received anything, they hid it from the public. Until now there has been made no try to publish any Ukrainian music magazine being specially dedicated to the “serious” professional music (particularly new music) and musicology; music academies’ bulletins have often struck by lacking in professionalism. The harmful praxis of hiding information is going on, among others it concerns various printed materials, now and then published in different Ukrainian cities or coming from abroad. Hardly can help the commercial branch (production and trade of CDs, videos and pop-music magazines, show and mass media business), when the social structure remains underdeveloped and the population is impoverished. Extremely distorted is the activity of Ukrainian mass media that in their turn absolutely ignore all norms of authors’ right.
Of a special importance in this situation is the ‘third’ sector of economics – public organisations. So, the Association New Music (the Ukrainian section of the ISCM) is already experienced in holding various events in the area of New Music, such as the festival Two Days and Two Nights of New Music in Odessa, other festivals, forums, and conferences. Now the ANM has created the Music Information Centre Odessa Ukraine. In the terms of this activity we start releasing the online magazine MUSICA UKRAINICA. It is important to emphasise that the latter does not receive any support from the side of the state or from commercial structures and exists only thanks to the support of independent public organisations – International Renaissance Foundation and Pro Helvetia – Ukraine as well as thanks to our volunteers - correspondents and staff.
Our aim is to provide the wider circles of Ukrainian and foreign Internet users, particularly specialists - musicians, composers, musicologists with the maximum of important and useful information about the development of contemporary Ukrainian music culture and its integration to European and world-wide cultural space in the most inexpensive, lightly accessible and treatable form. Such a form, especially for the younger generation, is the online magazine, accessible 24 hours everyday for anyone.
Our magazine will contain as well current information and critical reviews as theoretical and historical features and even publications from archives. The main theme will always be the Ukrainian music, but with a special emphasis on contemporary Ukrainian music of new ‘classical’ type as the most important for the development of music culture and international musical relations. Taking into account the integrity of music culture, we are about to light up the other musical trends as well, but only in general plan. We are publishing also materials without immediate relation to Ukraine, if they are new, useful, and inaccessible on other Internet sites. An important place on our pages will be given to discussions, including on-line ones.
A particular problem that may be as soon as possible discussed is using languages. Our magazine is aimed at developing such a constituent of national music culture, as the special verbal Ukrainian music language – both artistic and musicological. To be mentioned here, all the events organised by the Association New Music since 1995, have been held in Ukrainian, and all the information as a rule has been printed in two languages – the Ukrainian and English. The experience let us assert that the genuine Ukrainian thinking in music is so specific, that simple loaning ofRussian, Polish, English or other foreign terms and expressions can violate the spirit of the Ukrainian language coming to expression in music and words. Really, musicians and musicologists in many regions of Ukraine don’t use the Ukrainian as the common language not in the last place through the absence of a special Ukrainian language and music terminology, commonly recognised by the musicians’ community. Even if the Ukrainian is used in music education, it is ‘littered’ with terms, patterns and expressions being loaned or constructed after foreign ones, so again we run danger to the spirit of the Ukrainian. Dare to sum up, that the Ukrainian professional musical language now exists more potentially, than really, i.e. must be elaborated. Properly, there is some advantage in this situation too, because an unroughened language is easier to receive innovation and to favour the creative approach.
That is why we consider as ineffective to make a formal complete Ukrainian translation of all the texts coming to us in Russian or English. For starting, it seems to be better to do two parallel versions of the magazine – a Cyrillic one, with Ukrainian (in the first place), Russian, Bielorussian, Bulgarian, Serbian texts, and the Latin-alphabetical one, with (predominantly) English texts, but also with German and French ones. We ask you for understanding because we need some time to complete both the parallel versions. So far we must so far do with short summaries. We would like to know your opinion about all the questions, our dear reader.
Generally, we consider feedback as one of the most important of our work. Thus we ask you to send your opinions, reviews, proposals, wishes, informational, critical, and scientific materials and features to our E-mail address.
We start the new 2001 year, which is considered to be the beginning of a new century and new millennium. God give happiness to you and to our Ukraine, our dear friend!!!
Iouri Semenov
Correspondents
Margarita Esipova, PhD, Russia
Angelica Fanina, musicologist, Moldova
Natalia Kuliajeva, musicologist, Kiev
Anton Rovner, musicologist, international
Natalia Stepanenko, PhD, USA
(C) 2001 Association New Music (Ukraine). All rights reserved.