16. Rest and Rhythm
A slow week with songs from loved ones.
This week marked the end of a teaching job that took over my life for the better part of a year. After months of trudging through ongoing burnout, in between two huge projects, I decided it was enough.
As bittersweet as this was, I could not wait to revel in doing absolutely, unmistakably…nothing.
I stared at the ceiling for a good while, and listened to the birds. I sat with my grandparents while drinking tea, and listened to well-worn stories mixed with crumbs of brow-raising gossip.
In the pleasantly empty hours, there was also lots of humming.
Humming in our family is the mood lifter that eases even the dreariest of days. Like a balm for the soul, it became the way we pulled along the melodies entrusted to us in our childhoods.
As my grandmother recently suggested, recordings also do the job quite well. She had the idea to record her childhood lullabies, anxious about their survival beyond her own lifetime. Inspired by this, I began to look around at other efforts in preserving Ukrainian folk songs.
Listening to Ukrainian music is a way for me to keep learning the language, and to invent the visual rhythms of my own work. So in the absense of my own busy life, I wanted to take this time and share an amazing resource that highlights the creativity of others —
Most of my playlists, in one way or another, find their beginnings in the Ukrainian Art Song Project.
Founded in 2004, the Ukrainian Art Song Project is a ground-breaking initiative that published and recorded over 1000 artistic songs by Ukraine’s brightest composers. It is a free, accessible library of scores translated from generational melodies. This project also produces live and recorded music that gives opportunities to up and coming performers.
In a time where the core of Ukrainian culture is consistantly under threat, it is projects like these that I always carry hope for. Voice and rhythm were the ways that our family carried stories for generations. Every note, voice crack, and clickity clack of a piano is a call to home.
To learn, to listen, or to explore the legacy of Ukrainian music, I invite you to visit their library. Who knows? Perhaps you’ll find some new melodies for your own humming playlist :)
What I’m making -
Free from my own personal projects this week, I had the pleasure of finally sitting down and hand-painting a silk scarf for my grandmother. Inspired by the hibiscus that used to grow around her flat, I designed a floral motif with a warm, shifting watercolour effect.
If you’re ever in the Toronto area, I give workshops on this exact technique in a small, picturesque studio by the lake. To learn more, you’re welcome to pareuse the courses here!
What I’m sitting with -
In the spirit of Ukrainian music, I wanted to share my favourite folk song.
Oy Tam Na Gori (Over on the Mountain) is performed by the lovely Alisa-Mariia Vorokh below:
Have a warm, musical weekend!
With love,
Sasha
It was wise of you to give yourself time to recover from the burnout. Take good care of yourself! We all need your bright ideas and interesting insight.
Special thanks for the link to the Ukrainian Art Song Project. What a wealth of information!