VV Outshines the Rain at Canada Day Show

By Kateryna Shpir

The date was July 1. The location was CYM’s (Ukrainian Youth Association) campsite, Weselka, near Acton, Ontario. While Canadians were celebrating Canada Day, Ukrainian Canadians had even a little more to be merry about. The well-known Ukrainian rock band, Vopli Vidopliassova (VV), was performing as part of the Zolotyi Klen/Golden Maple Music Festival.

The show was to start at 7:30 p.m. but people began arriving at the campsite as early as noon to meet up with old friends, eat varenyky and, most importantly, have fun. Soon things started to take a turn for the worse. A half-hour before the show was due to start, rain began to pour down hard. Everything, including spirits, was dampened.

Rumours began to spread that VV, the most-awaited musicians and the main reason so many had gathered at Weselka, would not be able to perform because of the bad weather. Tensions started to rise; people began to get anxious. Then, a sound that brought both relief and joy hit everyone’s ears. The rich and full harmony of VV playing “Polonyna” filled the field.  With its slow intro, which escalated gradually into a fast, hard rock beat, it was the perfect song to inject energy back into the crowd.

After the first song, the musicians declared that the louder the audience cheered, the more energy would flow from person to person, and this would force the sun out. This hope came true during the band’s second number “Ukraina.”  Songs from their new album Fayno and older albums such as Mamay and Khvyli Amyr followed.

Among the songs played were “Yura,” “The Pack of Cigarettes” and “Sonyashni Dni.”

Some were almost unrecognizable from the recorded versions. This is because in a live performance VV’s improvisation and spontaneity jives with the vibes of the crowd, adding charming and surprising new flavours to the songs. VV also played their interpretations of traditional Ukrainian folk songs such as “Ikhaly Kozaky” and “Vesna.”

It is undeniable that Oleh Skrypka, the band’s lead singer, has enormous talent. He shines and brings a tremendous power and energy to the stage. His musical talents do not lie just in composing, playing guitar or singing; he also has mastered the trumpet, accordion and whistling, which makes his performances even more enjoyable to watch and listen to. During the concert at Weselka he demonstrated all of these talents in an entertaining manner. He would suddenly pull out an instrument from behind him, like a magician, and then play it while swinging and letting the music guide his body around the stage. As he did so, the crowd went wild. They screamed and cheered until their throats were sore.

This wasn’t the first time that VV were in Canada. In August of 2003, the band was the main attraction of the Bloor West Village Ukrainian Festival in Toronto, where they entertained around 250,000 spectators.

The band was established a week after the tragic accident at the nuclear power plant station in Chornobyl. Three students from the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, Oleh Skrypka, Oleksandr Pipa and Yuri Zdorenko formed the band and decided to name it Vopli Vidopliassova, after one of writer Dostoyevsky’s characters. Soon after, drummer Serhiy Vitalievych joined the group.

VV took Ukraine by storm. Their innovative and robust music enchanted youngsters all over the country and their rich and meaningful lyrics appealed to many who are Ukrainians at heart.  The band has always made it a point to sing in Ukrainian and just recently Skrypka organized Kyiv’s Rock Sich festival, which saw almost 50 bands performing over two days this past May. The festival’s slogan was “Live sound! No to pop! Yes to the Ukrainian language.”

Twenty years have passed since VV’s inception, and even though some changes to the band have occurred (Yevhen Rohachevsky replaced Yuri Zdorenko), the band continues to delight crowds in not only Ukraine but other countries including the United States, Hungary, England, Portugal and Canada.

Some of the songs that VV performed this year at Weselka are well-known and loved. But, every time the band plays them they are infused with a new, fresh sound. I’m still nursing the mosquito bites, but it was worth it. This was an unforgettable event.