Voices of the Past: Songs from Rural Ukraine (with Susan Crate)

The Slavic Connexion

Dr. Susie Crate returns to The Slavic Connexion! This time, Dr. Crate spoke with SlavX host Katya about her experiences collecting ethnomusicological material from 1989–1990 in the Kharkiv oblast in Eastern Ukraine, then still part of the Soviet Union. This work was part of a larger project to collect and preserve songs unique to particular villages in the Kharkiv oblast. The types of songs recorded include kozats’ki pisni (Cossack songs), wedding, balada (ballad), chastivka (joking), funeral, and religious. Dr. Crate shares six songs with us – a chastivka from Raketnaya, a wedding song from Kyseli, a Melanka song from Dmitrovka, an Ivan Kupala song from Izium, and two ballads from Raketnaya and Pisarevka. Special thanks to Dr. Vera Mikolaevna Osadcha, professor and head of the former Department of Ukrainian Folk Singing and Musical Folklore at the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture, and colleague and dear friend of Dr. Crate. Z Velykodnem!

Photo credit: Dr. Susan Crate.

ABOUT THE GUEST
Dr. Susan Crate is a professor of Anthropology in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at George Mason University. She is trained as an applied anthropologist, folklorist, and ethnomusicologist. Much of her research focuses on environmental and cognitive anthropology and human ecology among Viliui Sakha of Yakutia, Northeastern Siberia. Her research on the effects of unprecedented climate change has recently expanded to Canada, Mongolia, Peru, Wales, Kiribati, and the ever-so exotic, Chesapeake Bay. She is the author of Cows, Kin, and Globalization: An Ethnography of Sustainability (2006), the coeditor of Anthropology and Climate Change: From Encounters to Actions (2009, 2016), and a lead author on Chapter 1 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s “Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate”.

NOTE: This episode was recorded on April 18th, 2020. Recordings of folk music provided by Dr. Susan Crate.

CREDITS
Co-Producer: Tom Rehnquist (Connect: facebook.com/thomas.rehnquist)
Co-Producer: Matthew Orr (Connect: facebook.com/orrrmatthew)
Assistant Producer: Kathryn Yegorov-Crate
Associate Producer: Lera Toropin
Associate Producer: Cullan Bendig
Associate Producer: Samantha Farmer
Associate Producer: Milena D-K
Development Assistant: Luis Camarena
Production Intern: Jada Sofia

Executive Editor: Charlie Harper (Connect: facebook.com/charlie.harper.1485 Instagram: @charlieharpermusic) www.charlieharpermusic.com (Additional Background music by John Bartmann, Michelle Daniel, and Axeltree)

Executive Producer & Creator: Michelle Daniel (Connect: facebook.com/mdanielgeraci Instagram: @michelledaniel86) www.msdaniel.com

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed on this episode do not necessarily reflect those of the show or the University of Texas at Austin.

Special Guest: Susan Crate.