Pawlo Humeniuk

“King of the Ukrainian Fiddlers”

CD 7025
CD upc: 096297702529

REVIEWS

The tunes shake down into major-key tunes,which often wheeze and oom-pah with Teutonic complacency, and minor/modal tunes, reminiscent of the klezmer bands once popular throughout the Ukraine. In fact the notes point out that one cut here, `Oh, Pidu Ja SzicherWicher,' is also known as `Reb Duvid's Nign.' They state: `this widely known old-time Yiddish dance tune can also be heard on early Polish and Swedish recordings.' ... The most amusing portion of this recording is its series of skits: Ukrainian Wedding, Garland Weaving Ceremony, Party After the Wedding . These 78s dramatized old world celebrations, complete with toasts, tears, jokes, and music. Humeniuk and instrumentalists backed comic actor Ewgen Zukowsky and `superbly cracked-voice singer' Nasza Roza Kresnowska. A sample routine The Christening: `The curtains open with a discussion by the god-parents on the merits of cooking with chicken or pike. Church bells summon them to the baptism as they argue over naming the baby boy: Father prefers Ivan, while Mother insists on Hryts.' While Ewgen has a bit too much fervor to be a George Burns, dear Nasza is a ringer for Gracie Allen and cracks me up though I understand not a word of Ukrainian.

Arhoolie's Chris Strachwitz delights in the backwoods and back-alleys music of unassimilated rural and urban ethnic communities. The classic Arhoolie sound is gnarled and eccentric, full of energy, revelling in rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic anomalies. Turn to Arhoolie for a consoling and inspiring reminder that the world was not always suave and homogenous.”

(Jane Peppler — Sing Out!)

Of the 11 tracks by Humeniuk on those vinyl items six are reissued here, in audibly cleaner form (the NoNoise system was used and a fine job it is too). Inevitably, perhaps, both of the double-sided `village sketches,' `Ukrainske Wesilia' (Ukrainian Wedding), and its logical sequel `Chrestyny' (Christening), issued originally in the 12-inch Columbia 7(H)00-F series, surface once more. In his notes Richard Spottswood observes the appeal not only to Ukrainians themselves but to other eastern European groups who empathised with (and found catharsis in) the evident joyous and celebratory nature of the occasions depicted, even when they did not understand the language.

Any purchaser of the original discs certainly received great musical value for their 75 cents. The aforementioned `Ukrainske Wesilia,' for example, features dance tunes in 4/4 and 2/4, church bells, passages of dialogue, yelps of pleasure, a free-form air played on violin and guitar with male bass and female soprano vocals, which segues briefly into a jaunty melody to complete the first part. The sequence as a whole is of such complexity, in fact, that it stretches belief to learn that each side was satisfactorily completed in a single take. By contrast, each half of Chrestyny required three takes to get it right.

There is some ambiguity regarding Spottswood' s claim for Humeniuk as a `traditional Slavic fiddler.' Whether he had a grounding in down-home fiddle playing prior to studying violin under `a graduate of the St. Petersburg Conservatory' is not stated. And probably few, if any, of the village musicians in Humeniuk's native Western Ukraine were able to `recollect old tunes and transcribe new ones on music paper.' Yet he was apparently accepted as both bearer and exponent of an authentic tradition, not merely within his own expatriate New York community, but by the thousands of Ukrainians, Poles and other Slavic groups elsewhere who paid out their hard-earned dollars for his extensive recordings, which numbered over 250.

Whatever his musical training, taken at face value Humeniuk' s style is reminiscent of the pan-Slavic/Mediterranean gypsy technique: fast and flashy, with pure intonation and cleanly-executed runs in the second position. The impression is reinforced by the commonality of modal tunes and those which pass from major to minor and back again, such as `Iak Zachuiu Kolomyiku' (a generic dance form) heard here. And although most of Humeniuk's technique is concentrated in his fluid fingering, `Na Wesiliu, Pry Weczeri' indicates a comparable mastering of bowing.

`Oj Kozacze Bilousyj' sounds at times like a straight old-timey breakdown. On this track the hammered dulcimer appears to be playing at times in an entirely different key to the violin, establishing a musical tension which is quite exciting. A similar feeling is imparted by the tambourine playing of one, two, one-two-three over the 4/4 melody on various tracks. This percussive intrusion is only ever allowed a four or eight-bar break at any given time, giving a special feel to its appearance. On the vocal front the high-pitched and forced style of `Nasza Rosa Krasnowska' is particularly appealing, and I would like to have known something of its traditional antecedents (assuming such exist). Conversely, the histrionic bass vocal of Ewgen Zukowsky sounds distinctly classical in style; although he uses an entirely different voice on `Do Poczajewa Na Widpust.'

I've been a fan of this music for years. If your taste also runs to exciting, busy tunes with varied accompaniments and solid vocal performances, go for it without hesitation or deviation. If not, then you're missing out on a terrific aural experience. The listing on the rear of the CD proclaims `Arhoolie brings back 78s up to 78 minute CDs.' and true to their word this issue registers 77 minutes 14 seconds on my digital display. I, for one, hope that they keep them coming. You should too.”

(Keith Chandler — Musical Traditions)