17^th Annual Bloor West Village Toronto

Ukrainian Festival Unveils Cultural Highlights

Traditional regional culture will be in the spotlight at the Bloor West Village Toronto Ukrainian Festival to be held from September 13-15, 2013, as the 17^th annual Festival showcases the Hutsul people of the Carpathian Mountains in Ukraine.  

In addition to the usual Festival elements - the crowd-pleasing parade, international and local performers, delicious food, an outdoor beer garden, cultural displays, a midway, a film festival, vendors and street dances - visitors will be treated to the Canadian début of a photo exhibit by Ukrainian-Parisian photographer Youry Bilak, titled The Hutsuls: In the Shadow of the Carpathians. This outdoor installation will chronicle the vanishing centuries-old culture of Ukraine’s highland people through a series of 40 large-format colour photos presented in a museum-like atmosphere with professional art lighting and themed music. To preview the exhibition gallery, visit website www.hutsulexhibition.com.

In another street pavilion, the Kule Centre for Ukrainian and Canadian Folklore at the University of Alberta will feature the interactive exhibit Ukrainian Dance from Village to Stage. This 21-panel photo and text installation will examine dance from the Hutsul and numerous other regions in Ukraine. Accompanying this exhibit is Dr. Andriy Nahachewsky, the U of A’s Huculak Chair of Ukrainian Culture and Ethnography, who will share his expertise on Ukrainian folklore, weddings and dance. Festival-goers will be invited to participate in his Tanetz (Dance) House sessions during which he will teach traditional village dances.  

Adding to the authentic Hutsul atmosphere will be Brian Cherwick, one of the leading researchers and practitioners of the tsymbaly (hammered dulcimer string instrument). A master of the violin, the bandura and many other Ukrainian traditional musical instruments, Brian grew up in Manitoba, where he played in bands from the age of 14. During his studies at the Kyiv Conservatory in Ukraine, he learned to play the cimbalom, the concert version of the tsymbaly, from Vasyl Palaniuk, an ethnic Hutsul from the Carpathian mountain region recognized as one of Ukraine’s leading players. After returning to Canada and settling in Edmonton, Brian was the leading member of the renowned folk band The Kubasonics from 1996 until his move to St. John’s, NF in 2011.

The Bloor West Village Toronto Ukrainian Festival is a free, three-day family-focused event that attracts nearly 600,000 visitors of diverse cultures from Canada, the US and abroad.

For more information about the Festival, please visit www.ukrainianfestival.com.