My article "The Black Sorochka" appears in the Dec. 11, 2011 issue of The Ukrainian Weekly.
The original Ukr. lyrics are
here:
The translation of the song by Oleksandr Shevchenko appears below:
CHORNAVYSHYVANKA / THE BLACK EMBROIDERED SHIRT
Lyricsand melody by Oleksandr Shevchenko
(freely translated by Orysia Tracz)
For ten years the earth burned under people’s feet,
For ten years the earth moaned from enemy boots.
For ten years the Carpathian village could not sleep atnight,
For ten years it awaited its sons at the garden gates.
Every day the machine guns chatter behind the village inthe forest.
Every day the morning is awash in hot blood.
And on a cold dark night the forest brothers brought
The young lad into our home.
And when the UPA partisan was called back by the blueCarpathians,
And when the time came to part,
He gave his sorochka [shirt] as a memento to the younggirl, saying
“May your son wear it and may he remember us.”
Refrain:
That shirt was black-black, blacker than the night.
Black-black as death, black-black like a fresh furrow.
Black-black was that shirt, as black as the boy’s eyes.
As black-black as my Ukrainian earth.
For a long long time the shirt lay in mama’s skrynia [woodenchest],
For a long long time it awaited respect and human warmth.
Finally the time arrived: I wore it today
And a quiet tear rolled down my babusia’s [grandmother’s]cheek.
Previously unheard strings resounded in my soul,
And my spine proudly straightened spontaneously.
No matter what happens to me and where I may wind up inthe world,
I will pass on this sorochka to my sons andgrandchildren.
Then there are the Ukrainian-style embroidered and woven shirts
in black. Being the total opposite
background from the traditional sorochka, the designs on these shirts are in
bright yellow, orange, and red, or white and silver, or other contrasting
colors. This is a fairly new style, from
the last decade or so. The image is
striking and colorful. But it is so
incongruous, especially because it is so untraditional. A sorochka, especially for Sunday and
special occasions must be “bila-bila” – white.
And yet, in context, this black look does not bother me. Some exquisite designs have been created. However, it is a stage and special occasion
piece of clothing, and not to be worn with a traditional costume. Why would I ever mention this
no-brainer? Because at a festival in
Winnipeg I saw a young woman on a stage wearing a pretty embroidered black
sorochka along with the traditional sash and wrap skirt of Bukovyna. Ouch!
This is as bad as the fully-beaded modern supposedly-Bukovyna sorochky
worn with a full Hutsul costume, as seen recently in Hutsul villages. Talk about incongruous!
I have wondered where and when the black style started in
Ukraine. There is one possibility of a
Canada>Ukraine influence. Sylvia
Todaschuk, a Winnipeg businesswoman and community proponent, and owner of the
Todaschuk Sisters Ukrainian Boutique, is also a consultant for performing
groups and events. Her business opened
in 1985 on Selkirk Avenue. As she
remembers, sometime around 1986-87, the members of the well-known D-Drifters
band were to perform at Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival in Dauphin,
Manitoba. They asked Ms Todaschuk to
come up with outfits that were different.
The other requirement was that the shirts should not show soiling –
especially from the dark guitar and accordion straps. Ms Todaschuk came up with black shirts with
sewn-on embroidery-style ribbons. She
also created black t-shirts with embroidery on the pockets. At the time, she and the band were criticized
by some for this non-traditional look. Times have sure changed. And how many Ukrainian-themed t-shirts are
out there now!
But there is another possibility closer to home, in
Ukraine, and the following chronology of the appearance of the black
embroidered shirts seems very possible. In searching for songs about the sorochka, I
checked the very informative http://www.pisni.org.ua/ site.
Leave it to the Ukrainians to have songs about hops, kalyna [viburnum],
the rushnyk [ritual cloth], a bridge, the black soil, and – yes – the
embroidered sorochka. At least
twenty-four songs appeared in the search.
A very pretty and sentimental one is Mamyna
Sorochka [Mother’s Sorochka] by Natalia Mai, praising the very white
embroidered shirt that means so much.
But then further down the list I noticed Chorna Vyshyvanka [The Black Embroidered Sorochka] by composer/lyricist
Oleksandr Shevchenko.
At first the story of the song, as listed with the lyrics
on the website, left me dubious. No
names, no exact location – an apocryphal origin. “At the end of the 1940s, during the middle
of the night, Povstantsi [UPA soldiers, Ukr. Insurgent Army] knocked on the
window of a house in a Carpathian village.
They asked the owner to take care of an injured soldier. The family took him in, and he was hidden in
the hay in the barn. So that no one in
the village would know about him, the 11- or 12-year-old daughter of the family
took him food… When he healed from his wounds, and got ready to leave again for
the forest, he left the girl his black embroidered sorochka [shirt], and said,
“When you grow up and have a son, give him this sorochka – may he wear it and
remember about us”…. She fulfilled the
soldier’s wish. Her son put on that
black sorochka when he went to Rynok Square [Ploshcha Rynok in Lviv], where for
the first time after the Soviet era, the blue-and-yellow flag was raised [over
city hall]…. “ Oleksandr Shevchenko continues, “…. I asked to
see the sorochka. The babusia
[grandmother] brought it… It was black fabric, embroidered in hot colors,
yellow, red… And when I held this sorochka in my hands, I felt an energy and
power emanating from it… I wrote this song the next day, giving the story of
the sorochka. It is called “Chorna
Vyshyvanka” [the black embroidered shirt].”
Replying to my request, Shevchenko gave the details. The song was written in 1990, based on the
story told to him by the owner of the shirt, Yuriy Bobyk, who was given it by
his mother according to the wishes of the UPA soldier. These events happened in the post-war years
in the village of Zhuriv, Rohatyn povit, Stanyslaviv [now Ivano-Frankivska
Oblast]. The girl’s name was Stefa
[Bobyk’s mother], the soldier was Myron.
The sorochka still exists. In one
of her concerts, soloist Natalka Samsonova wore the sorochka in performing the
song. Myron’s fate is unknown, as well
as his surname. Often the soldiers had
pseudonyms, for security. The last news
from him was from the territory of then Czechoslovakia. One of his letters to Stefa has been
preserved [Shevchenko sent me a copy, along with a few photos of Stefa]. In the letter he asks to pass on greetings to
Mariyka and Slavko. The song appears on
YouTube -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ9kQj8f6Fc&feature=related
Oleksandr Shevchenko, a native of Hadiach, Poltava
region, has been writing and composing since 1979. His songs, including the big hit Staren’kyi Tramvai by Pikardiys’ka Tertsiya, have been performed
by many prominent artists. He has
participated in numerous festivals, and has written close to 140 songs, a
number of them about the UPA. This poet
and composer reaches the soul and heart with his lyrics and melodies.
To my question of why the original sorochka was
embroidered on untraditional black fabric, Shevchenko explained: in the circumstances of the life of the
povstantsi (UPA soldiers) – forest, caves, hiding places – a white sorochka
would be absolutely impractical and inconvenient for everyday life. The chumaky and kozaks also used dark shirts,
soaked with tar or wagon grease. These
didn’t get dirty (or dirtier), kept out dampness and, very importantly, resisted
insects. A very practical
explanation. It is interesting that the
povstantsi would still need or want a sorochka during wartime. But in the many books on costume and
embroidery that I have checked, I either missed the mention of this, or it
hasn’t been covered. Most information is
about the everyday and festive white linen and hempen sorochky. The everyday “work” shirts would still be
lightly embroidered, because the ornaments were protective and symbolic. I will
have to keep searching.
This UPA story most probably explains how the popular
present-day chorna vyshyvanka came about.
We appreciate and treasure the traditional and we go forward with
innovations and creativity. But we must
do this with the knowledge, understanding, and respect for the source. And what a deep wellspring of inspiration we
are fortunate to have!
The original lyrics and story of the song at:
A free-verse
translation of the song into English is at: http://orysia.blogspot.com/
