Walter Kish

The wonders of the Internet have been a real boon to me in keeping touch with what is happening in the Ukrainian world, whether it be in the original homeland or throughout the globe, wherever the winds of fate or circumstance have managed to scatter our ethnic seeds. It is not often that I am surprised or thrown off guard, but one item in my electronic mailbox this week did manage to raise my eyebrows a notch and give me pause to consider where Ukrainian culture is headed.

The item in question was a press release announcing the launch of the North American tour of a New York based punk rock group by the name of "Gogol Bordello". The group, to quote the release, "is the brainchild of Ukrainian singer/lyricist/visionary Eugene Hutz, who uses the term ‘New York Gypsy Punk Cabaret’ to describe their singular sound." The article continues to state that "Gogol Bordello often spin macabre tales of the immigrant experience involving Ukrainian folklore or bizarre erotic dreamscapes that can be as absurd as anecdotes about a gang of supernatural immigrant vampires, or a backyard BBQ with Stalin." A final quote explains that "Combining elements of traditional Ukrainian sounds with storytelling, elaborate props, and complex stage sets, Gogol Bordello relays aspects of many recent diasporic realities and creates for us all a uniquely infectious spectacle that offers up nothing short of a new, free-for-all theater of anarchy. These shows are not to be missed!" Indeed!

Now my own musical tastes, broad as they may be, and despite the best efforts of my teenage progeny, have never quite stretched out far enough to include the category of punk rock. I have heard it, I have seen it, and I have pronounced it beyond the bounds of my musical sensitivities. Hence, upon reading the above promo blurb for this band of creative anarchists, my first thought was – "What has Ukrainian culture come to?!"

I related this by phone to my cousin Hryts, who though outwardly a peasant in a little village outside of Lviv, is quite the expert on all things political and cultural. I was a little surprised to find that he was absolutely thrilled and pleased with this curious development.

"Why this is wonderful!" he exclaimed.

"How so?" I inquired.

"Don’t you see?" he explained. "It means that our younger generations, who are perpetually rebelling against anything and everything relating to their parents tastes and values, have nonetheless found something worthwhile and interesting in our traditional music and culture around which to give vent to their creative, though anarchistic urges!"

"But," I retorted, "Doesn’t this show a lack of respect for our traditional culture? Isn’t it a bit of an insult, an esthetic desecration?"

If art and culture were meant to be static, we’d still be painting stick figures on cave walls.

"Oh don’t be such a Niunka!" he replied. "You’re beginning to sound like the village priest! If art and culture were meant to be static, we’d still be painting stick figures on cave walls, and banging away on hollow logs! You should be grateful they still find things Ukrainian to be interesting subjects for their musical experiments, regardless of your personal musical limitations. Would you be happier if their music reflected American ghetto drug culture or how to tear down our materialistic, capitalist establishment?"

"Don’t tell me you like punk rock music?" I asked

"Don’t be silly!" he shot back, "You know my favourite instrument is the accordion!"

"But Gogol Bordello, has an accordion player in their group!" I exclaimed.

"You don’t say!" he said after a little pause. "Maybe, I’ll go look for their CD down at the Rynok."