Ukrainian culture alive and well
Ukrainian culture won’t die — Zeellia won’t let it.
Zeellia was formed by Beverly Dobrinsky as a choir of Ukrainian women singing songs of their history, daily trials and adjustment to North American life. It recorded two albums in 1997 and 2004, and had enough ideas for a third before a hiatus in 2010.
Dobrinsky went on to do other things — immersing herself in the hurdy gurdy, appearing solo, contributing to soundtracks, acting in theatre — but that third album wouldn’t let go. She put together a revived Zeellia with four original members and two new ones, finished the record and will perform it on Saturday.
Tse Tak Bulo/That’s How It Was renews Dobrinsky’s bond to Ukrainian culture and, once again, is timely.
The original Zeellia was formed in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union. This Zeellia is a response to a fight for Ukrainian independence. She was bred in Winnipeg, but her roots are in Ukraine and so are the roots of Zeellia’s Balkan folk melodies.
“It’s digging deep ... obviously,” Dobrinsky said. “It’s important to me. I had to go back to connect with what I call soul.
“Each album has been different from the other. The first (self-titled) was more innocent. The second (The Willow Bridge) was more explorational, as is the third album.”
By the time Dobrinsky managed to finish the third album, she not only had more experience in a variety of arts but knew more about the music business, as well as arranging, singing and playing.
“So that’s been sitting there for a while and I didn’t know what to do with it,” she explained. Reuniting Zeellia always was in her mind and seemed the logical thing to do.
“I went and called people. I added new musicians,” Dobrinsky said enthusiastically. “It’s a great group. I like how it turned out.”
The album is steeped in Slavic lore that she learned growing up on the Prairies.
“I’m in a different place but I was brought here by my ancestors,” she said. “It was hard for them to do what they were expected to do.
“It was really important to me. A lot of the people I originally talked to are dead.”
Zeellia isn’t singing for other Ukrainians but for all who have immigrated, left their native land for whatever reason, and had to adapt to a new beginning.
Zeellia, then, has an undercurrent of politics. Dobrinsky is reluctant to talk about it as she and Zeellia are not overtly political but, in its unspoken feminism and a theme of independence, Zeellia isn’t pop fluff.
“You know, I’m a woman, a Canadian woman,” she said cautiously. “I grew up in the ’60s and went through it all.”
There is purpose; there is the necessity of understanding.
“I’m happy to be singing about it. It has truth. It has a lot of meaning.
“My hope is that I can reach that universal place.”