Kalendar at the Toronto Ukrainian Festival 2017

North America’s largest Ukrainian Festival takes place just around the corner, on Bloor Street West, in a little over a week’s time and we’re happy to have a very active presence. Come and join us and the other exciting cultural expressions during the weekend of Sept 15 – Sept 17, 2017! Details of our performances can be found below:

Friday Sep 15 7:40 pm Women’s Songs on the Runnymede Stage
Saturday Sept 16 4:30 pm Kalendar on the Main Stage at Jane and Bloor
Saturday Sept 16 7:50 pm Kalendar on the Runnymede Stage
Sunday Sept 17 12 – 2 pm Street Busking on at Durie St and Bloor St

For more info, visit the Toronto Ukrainian Festival website.

Most Memorable Moment in 2017

On May 18 2017, Kalendar went to stage for its first performance of ZEMLYA / EARTH ! It was a great success! And how grateful we are to all those who supported this event and made it such a memorable event! From our amazingly generous and inspired musical muse, Marichka Marczyk — to the technical support we got from Oksana Howrylak (stage and graphic design), Mark Marczyk (spirited violin, other earthy instruments, and so much more), Dina Levin (video and good good vibes), Marichka’s brother (who also worked on the video), William Porter (sound), Ellen (lighting), Katya Kudriavceva (brilliant ticket logistician) — to the financial support from the Ontario Arts Council – Conseil des arts de l’Ontario, the Ukrainian Credit Union Limited, the Shevchenko Foundation, the Shevchenko Museum in Toronto (for rehearsal space), Toronto’s St.Vladimir Institute (for rehearsal and performance space!), all the wonderful audience who came to the show, and all those who helped us along the way – none of this could have happened without you! Though we tried, there are not enough words to express how such support has inspired the creative and unique experience we had that evening. It feeds our memories and drives us to develop ZEMLYA /EARTH so that we can share more of this incredibly powerful women’s tradition of Ukrainian polyphonic song.

Have a look at the teaser video created from video and audio footage of the premier:

 
And below, have a look at more media (Facebook posts) of this memorable evening – thanks to St Vladimir Institute and Anna Ha.

 

 

We also want to graciously acknowledge Andrew Timar of Whole Note who wrote a wonderful preview of our production in the May issue. Click the image to read the whole article, Timar’s articles are always informative and engaging.

Zemlya in Whole Note Magazine May 2017

 

ZEMLYA: A FOLK OPERA

ONE NIGHT ONLY!
THURSDAY MAY 18 2017 8pm
at St. Vladimir’s Institute

We have been hard at work! With grants from the Ontario Arts Council, Shevchenko Foundation, Ukrainian Credit Union and in co-production with St Vladimir Institue, we are super excited to have Maria Marczyk‎, co-creator of Counting Sheep, creating and directing this original collection of traditional Ukrainian songs.
Click here for the official press release

THE SHOW IS TONIGHT!!!

Online ticket sales are no longer availabe BUT you can still buy them at the door!
 

Zemlya a Ukrainian Folk Opera

KalynDar at Capital Ukrainian Festival!

July 21 -24 2016 is Capital Ukrainian Festival!
Only in its 2nd year, this is a super popular festival celebrating the life, joy and heritage of Ukrainian culture with music, dance, cuisine, drinks, artwork, crafts… All against the scenic backdrop of the Rideau Canal, in the heart of Ottawa!

KalynDar will be performing at 3 different times:
* Saturday July 23 6 PM on the Main Stage
* Sunday July 24 2:40 PM & 4:40 PM on the Main Stage
But the line up of performers and hands-on workshops is incredible, so visit the website for more info http://capitalukrainianfestival.com

The festival is FREE!! With free parking! And is located at
952 Green Valley Cres. Ottawa, ON

Capital Ukr 2015

 

 

KalynDar hosts an Open Folk Mic

On Friday May 13 2016 8 pm, KalynDar is hosting an open mic at Bar Lokys (1573 Bloor Street W, just west of Dundas West).

GOAT_IMAGE

Bring your traditional instrument!

Bring your folk voice!

And share your folk music with us!

Each set will start with a KalynDar feature, performing some hauntingly beautiful and some super energized Ukrainian village songs. By the way, this is an all-acoustic evening. The “mic” in the event title is a metaphorical one. 😉

Thanks to KATHRYN DURST for the cool goat-accordion image!

$5-10 suggested PWYC

UPDATE MAY 10 2016:
We’ll also have a small folk craft market! So bring some extra cash and get some unique one of a kind wares – like Georgian hats and traditional copper enamel jewlery.

 

KalynDar Calls Forth Spring in Song

Kosa’s Festival Revives the True Meaning of a Festival.

KalynDar will be taking part in Kosa Kolektiv’s spring celebration, Haivky. We will be drawing on the ancient spring songs from regions across Ukraine, calling forth the warmer weather and the chance for renewal after the long cold winter. The following describes the uniqueness of this Toronto event and the full article can be located on MusiCampTO.com.
When one mentions “festival” in this part of the world, people immediately think of it in commercial terms – big stages, sound systems, visiting artists, official schedules, ticket sales, wrist bands, CDs and many other forms of merchandising – from specialty foods to cultural wares. But this is not the sort of festival Kosa Kolektiv will be bringing to Trinity Bellwoods Park this Sunday. There will be no stage. No sound systems. No vendors trying to sell you food. No money will ever cross hands. In contrast, this is a true community celebration to welcome Spring back to Toronto! Read more from the original post about how Haivky will play out in Trinity Bellwoods park.

 
There will be songs, children’s games, balfolk dancing, and more. Bring your family, friends and picnic baskets!

Haivky 2013 3

 
Haivky
is on Sunday, May 1, 2016
3:00 – 6:00 pm
at Trinity Bellwoods Park
790 Queen St W Toronto, ON

KalynDar pre-show for Dakhabrakha

KalynDar Pre-Show for Dakhabrakha Sunday April 24 2:00 PM
Dakhabrakha Presentation of EARTH 3:00 PM
At the Aga Khan Museum (77 Wynford Drive, Toronto)

We are very excited to be performing a short set before Dakhabrakha performs their soundtrack to the 1930s silent film Earth, by Aleksandr Dovzhenko.

The singers in Dakhabrakha are masters of Ukrainian ridnyj holos. We consider them our mentors and whenever we can we study with them. The group, however, does not strictly perform traditional music. Rather it blends new world beats, jazz, and traditional musics in such a tasteful and truly innovative way! Their appeal goes far beyond Ukrainian or even Easter-European cultural limits. They are authentic representation of 21 century world music.  Scroll to the bottom of this page and have a listen for yourself.

Aleksandr Dovzhenko’s silent film Earth (1930) has long been recognized — alongside Battleship Potemkin by Sergei Eisenstein and The Man with a Camera by Dziga Vertov — as one of the great Soviet-era films. Experience its power with a score performed live by DakhaBrakha in this Toronto premiere! – See more at: https://www.agakhanmuseum.org/performing-arts/event/world-music-series-dakha-brakha-april-24-2016#sthash.LLuuJIQ7.dpuf

Echoes of Chornobyl: 30 years later

Echoes of Chornobyl, Friday, April 22, 2016, 7:30pm at St. Vladimir Institute620 Spadina AvenueToronto, ON, M5S 2H4

Join us on Earth Day  2016 in remembering Chornobyl, not only as a place of disaster 30 years ago, but as a place of life, where the land and its people lived, sang, and loved. It’s an evening of storytelling and remembering: Echoes of Chornobyl.


Special guests include:

Ukrainian Villages Voices from New York City will be performing ancient Polissyan songs from the Chornobyl Songs Project

Marichka Marczyk (Lemon Bucket Orkestra) and Alena Liavonchanka recounting a childhood altered by history through photo & song

Angela Bischoff (Ontario Clean Air Alliance) and Jose Etcheverry, PhD. (York University) speaking about nuclear energy in Ontario

Alex Belyakov, Ph.D.  answering questions about Chornobyl (http://fromchernobyltofukushima.com/)

also: special Polissyan songs by Belarussian folk group Javarovy Ludzi and KalynDar, and refreshments prepared by Kosa Kolektiv

Koliada Season – time to say farewell…

We are coming to the close of another Koliada season and to wrap it all up we have one last show…

We love singing Ukrainian Christmas and New Year carols. Our lives are enriched with these little-known songs and we are thankful to Maria Kudriavtseva’s workshops (where we learn many of these songs) and to the communities in Toronto that participate in this crazy-long carolling season.  For 2 months we sing and recite these ancient blessings – in people’s homes and at community events – and experience such a warmth of hospitality in return. That being said, we are finally coming close to the end of this season and there is one final carolling event to mention.

KalynDar and Kosa Kolektiv will be performing along with the Polish Folk Song & Dance Ensemble, at St Casimir’s Church on Roncesvales, Tues Feb 2 8pm, $10. One last time to celebrate the New Year!

koliada farewell 2016

Sichen’ by KalynDar

The new CD, ready for Koliada season, will be available December 22 2015!

Note these are only samples for promotional use and the sound quality is reduced. We are indebted to Jean Martin at the Farm in Toronto for co-producing, mixing and mastering.

Stay tuned, we’ll probably upload a few more samples over then next few weeks! And we’ll also let you know when and where you can grab copies of these!