Chornobyl as Commemorated in North American Popular Songs

Winnipeg – Is there a canon of Chornobyl songs in North America? Making the case for its existence was Dr. Denis Hlynka at a lecture series sponsored by Oseredok Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre on April 26^th, 2007, the 21^st Anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster.  Dr. Hlynka, acting director of the Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies at the University of Manitoba, together with Dr. Robert Klymasz, has been researching the impact of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster on North American music makers and the recording industry. Their findings showed that Chornobyl resonates in many different genres of Western music.

Using the image of Shevchenko’s perebendia, Hlynka draws an analogy between the kobzar or bandurist as an entertainer and the teller of stories, documenting social issues and historical events, and American folk singers. His examples of the Chornobyl theme in folk ranges from Canadian Bruce Cockburn and “Radium Rain”(1986) to American Richard Hayes Phillips and his “Chernobyl”(1986) to Paul Simon (Rhythm of the Saints) and his “Can’t run but”(1990), among others. Hlynka sees Kristin Lems’ song that begins with the words “I’ll tell you a story that happened in April of 1986” as a Chornobyl narrative akin to Ukrainian dumy. He finds the Chornobyl motif in The Tea Merchants, a group from the United Kingdom performing Celtic music and their song “Chernobyl” (1986), as well as the USA Klezmer group Brave Old World with its song “Chernobyl”.

Hlynka likes to identify protest singers as “displaced bandurists”, disbursing the story of Chornobyl.  As examples, he cites the Canadian punk/grunge group Silent Scream and their song “Chornobyl Experience” written by Andrew Dragan and William Lento and the American thrash metal group Screaming Headless Torsos and “Chernobyl Firebirds”.

Finally, Hlynka takes a brief look at jazz and classical music. In jazz he cites “Children of Chornobyl” by Ukrainian Canadian John Stetch. He points out some depth of field in classical music with examples such as Dennis Eberhard’s “Prometheus Wept” (1998, for orchestra), Nancy Van de Vate’s “Chernobyl” (1987, for orchestra) and Laryssa Kuzmenko’s “In Memoriam” (1997, for piano), among others.  He mentions in passing Roman Hurko’s “Liturgy” (2001) dedicated to victims of Chornobyl.

Hlynka readily admits that there is no evidence that any of the composers and performers of popular music had any awareness of the importance of the geographic and political dimension of the Chornobyl disaster to Ukraine and the Ukrainian nation. Chornobyl in these songs is a symbol for technology gone out of control; it is synonymous with concern for the ecology of our planet. He argues, nevertheless, that the phenomenon of creating songs about Chornobyl from the outside, from beyond Ukraine, brings Ukraine into the global village. That, surely, is a good thing.