Volodar

The folklore ensemble Volodar sings archaic songs and performs ceremonies of the Central Polesia of Ukraine and Belarus. All material has been written down by participants of the folklore research collective on ethnographic expeditions.
Collective
In modern-day Europe there are very few places with folklore in an authentic form. Since 1993, members of the folklore collective Volodar have archived, reconstructed, and presented traditional songs and calendar, family, and wedding ceremonies.
Volodar was created by Iryna Klymenko in the spring of 1993. The ensemble performs in the Ukrainian style of "authentic singing" with the Kiev folklore ensemble Drevo (whose art director is Yevhen Yefremov).
In 2003, Marharyta Skazhenyk became the ensemble's art director. She is an ethnomusicologist, teacher, and researcher at the Kiev Conservatory.
Volodar's repertoire includes songs and calendar ceremonies which have been written down by participants of the collective on research expeditions to the Polesia of Ukraine and Belarus. They work in regions where archaic ceremonies are well-remembered and still practiced in some villages.
The group sings traditional calendar and family songs, in particular Christmas Carol, Schedrivka, To Go With the Goat, To See Off Winter, and To Call Spring. They also perform round dances, ceremonies of the Troica, ceremonies with fire on Kupalo, Petrivka, harvest songs, wedding songs, lyrical songs, soldier's songs, and humorous songs.
They are regular participants in creative meetings of young people and holiday celebrations in Kiev.
Multimedia
Expeditions
Marharyta Skazhenyk has been engaged in professional research activity since 1996. She has been the head of expeditions to villages of Ukraine, writing down musical folklore and ethnographic data from her countrymen. Since 2001 Oleh Korobov has taken part in the organization of expeditions and works of the ensemble. Halyna Kachor also participates in scientific research.
From 1996 to 2009 the group has carried out more than 70 expeditions and surveyed more than 330 villages. Territories in which research has taken place include the Central Polesia of Ukraine and Belarus, Zhytomyr, Kiev, Poltava, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Homiel (Belarus), and Bialystok (Poland).
These territories are indicated in orange on the map below.
File:Volodar exped.jpg

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