Exploring Ukrainian folk music with Instrumental Stories
Ballads about the moon, the river, the valleys and love — Iryna Kalinovich gracefully serenaded audiences at the second installment of Instrumental Stories held on Nov. 24, 2022 at the Memorial Park Library. We were introduced to the bandura — a complex string instrument, which sounds and feels like a beautiful combination of a harp and a zither. The historic resonance and the versatility of the instrument were unique, educational and refreshing for the audiences. It is not every day that you come across a bandura concert or performance in the heart of downtown Calgary.
Iryna Kalinovich, born in Lviv, Ukraine has an extensive musical background in both voice and instrumental performance and specializes in the bandura. She has previously led the Soli Deo Choir of Lviv and has traveled and performed numerous concerts around Ukraine, Poland, Germany, The Netherlands, France, Hungary, Croatia, Belarus, Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Italy.
This session was a musically rewarding ethnocultural experience with Kalinovich's rendition of "Schedryk," a Ukrainian composition which is commonly referred to as New Year's song and more popularly known as the "Carol of the Bells"
With the next Instrumental Stories event approaching around the corner, we thought you'd enjoy this melodious recap of what we experienced at our last session.
Instrumental Stories will continue to feature world music and musicians during the last Thursday of every month, in hopes to build community and educate Calgarians about different cultures from around the world through a casual, fun and musical event.
The January session of Instrumental stories is a celebration of the Chinese new year with flutist, Jiajia Li. Although the session is fully booked, we encourage you to follow our updates on the upcoming session here:
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