Quartet Captures the Romance of Lemko Songs

By Olena Wawryshyn

When I was a teenager, my father, after visiting Poland, incessantly spoke about the merits of a Ukrainian high school in Legnica, planting a vague fear in me that I might be uprooted from Toronto and sent to the school in Eastern Europe.  During a recent interview with members of the vocal ensemble Pid Oblachkom I learned that three of them are graduates of that very same boarding school. 

Their experiences at the school clearly had a lasting impact on them: it shaped their friendships, interests, and eventually led to the recording of their self-titled CD, which is being launched at the Bloor West Village Festival in Toronto this Friday.

Three members of the Polish-born, Toronto-based quartet, Beata Pasieka, Halyna Cechowska and Iwona Kowal met at the school where Ukrainian subjects were taught; Ola Polanski, the fourth, met the others through Iwona, who is her older sister.

“At the school we treated each other as brothers and sisters…We lived together in one dormitory, 10 to 12 to a room. Students from all over Poland attended, often going home only on holidays and, as a result, very close friendships developed,” says Beata, who has a Master’s Degree in choreography and now teaches music in Toronto.

It was also there that they developed a love of music and of Lemko music, in particular, though none of them are Lemkos. In the evenings, the students used to organize sing-alongs. Many of them came from Lemkivschyna [the region of western Ukraine on both sides of the Carpathian Mountains and along the Polish-Slovak border]. They brought their songs with them and we learned them,” says Beata. 

Those who had a talent for music joined the choir, which was led by Professor Mykhajlo Duda. “He is a big authority figure for us. He worked with us on our voice, on the techniques of singing,” says, Beata. We had a lot of concerts and travelled to festivals,” she adds.

 On their summer holidays, they would attend the Lemkivska Vatra, a large annual gathering of Lemkos where Ukrainian youth from all over Poland converge for an outdoor music festival.

“We would also go on camping trips (called raidy) into the mountains for two weeks with knapsacks. We met Lemky and their music impressed us so much,  as did the atmosphere, the starry nights, the bonfires. When you hear the music sung there, it has an unbelievable spiritual feeling to it,” says Beata.

 “I think the music of every part of Ukraine has something distinctive–different harmonies, a different mood,” says Iwona. “The songs of Lemkivshchyna commonly reflect the spirit of the mountains,” adds Beata. “They’re about mavky (wood nymphs), charivnytski (enchantresses). They are very romantic.”

With music so firmly engrained in their souls, years later when the young women were reunited in North America, they naturally began singing at their social get-togethers. 

A performance at a Lemkivska Vatra in the United States in 2003 marked their first official appearance as an ensemble. At that performance, they were introduced to Seman Madzelan, who wrote the words to two of the songs in their repertoire, "V Temnu Nichku" ("In the Dark Night") as well as "Pid Oblachkom" ("Under the Window"), their namesake. “He told us a bit about how he wrote the songs. "V Temnu Nichku" is about his first love, the love of his life,” says Iwona.

His song "Pid Oblachkom" is about the vagaries of love. “It is a very special song for us. I think every person finds something of their own in it,” says Beata. It’s the “link between the content and the romantic melody that makes it so memorable,” adds Iwona.

They chose to record both of Madzelan’s songs on their new CD.  All but one of the songs, "Tsyhanka" ("Gypsy"), on the album are traditional Lemko songs. But the arrangements by composer and conductor Roman Illa Drozd, who is also a graduate of the Ukrainian school in Poland and has a doctorate from the Musical Academy of Lodz  is anything but traditional.

Drozd, who lives in Poland, was visiting Toronto briefly when he met up with Pid Oblachkom at a social gathering.  They sang for him and, afterwards, decided to ask him to arrange the songs for them.   He agreed and told them that “this music is going to be like a babtsia (grandmother) in jeans–tradition linked with a contemporary sound,” says Iwona. “He was right.”

Once the arrangements were completed, the foursome asked violin virtuoso Vasyl Popadiuk, whom they knew from the concert and festival circuit, if he wanted to work with them on the recording. He agreed and also brought Moscow-based guitarist Viacheslav Truvanov on board.

Through Popadiuk’s agent they got in touch with the multi-Juno Award winning recording engineer Nick Balogna, who over his 40-year career has worked on the albums of famous musicians and bands including The Police, David Bowie and Tina Turner, among many others. After hearing the music of the talented and beautiful quartet (they look even more stunning in person than in photos), he made time in his busy schedule to work with them.

The result is a professionally produced album, which Iwona says the group hopes will appeal to various generations and publics in North America, Poland and Ukraine. They also hope it will help popularize the music of Lemkivschyna. 

A performance by the ensmble of the songs with a symphony orchestra in Poland under the direction of Roman Illa Drozd is in the planning stages. The concert will help further this end.

Pid Oblachkom’s drive, enthusiasm and love of music had its origins in their school days, which they all recall with such fondness. Perhaps my father was right. The school in Legnica must have truly been a special place.

Pid Oblachkom will launch their self-titled CD at a performance at the Bloor West Village Festival on the Jane Street Main Stage at 8:30 p.m. on Friday August 25. Copies of the CD will be available at the post-show reception.