Arkan • Hutsul Warrior Song for Ukraine • f. Nikolaj Tymchak [Otherlands: Ukraine & Czechia]

This recording is the 27th in a project by Casey Driessen titled - OTHERLANDS: A Global Music Exploration.

LOCATION: Myslík, Czechia
DATE: June 26, 2022

CREDITS
Song: Arkan (Traditional Hutsul)
Music Arranged by: Nikolaj, Marian, Martin, Michal, Casey
Sopilka: Nikolaj Tymchak
Voice/dulcimer/horn: Marian Friedl
Bass/audio: Martin Kocián
Drum/nail: Michal Wierzgoń
Fiddle/audio/video : Casey Driessen

Special Thanks: Michal Schmidt, Jiří Pospěch, Lukáš Mrkva, Základní umělecká škola Frenštát pod Radhoštěm

ABOUT THE COLLABORATION
On February 24, 2022, Russia started a war with Ukraine. Two weeks earlier, I made my first contact with Marian Friedl, a musician I was hoping to meet in the Czech Republic. After Russia’s invasion, Marian wrote with a beautiful suggestion—inviting Nikolaj Tymchak, a Ukrainian collector and player of traditional flutes to collaborate with us.

Nikolaj is Hutsul, a people from another part of the Carpathians, now mostly within Ukraine’s borders. Marian is a player of traditional flutes from Valach culture in the Moravian-Silesian Beskids, a part of the Carpathian Mountains where the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland meet. Yes, please!

Nikolaj proposed playing “Arkan,” a Hutsul warrior song connected to outlaws, traditionally danced before fights around a fire with their bartka, an axe often associated with shepherds. He even sent a video of his father dancing and singing for us to reference. “Arkan” also held the added significance for Nikolaj in that a friend of his—and fellow sopilka (flute) player named Mysko Adamchak—was currently fighting against the Russians and rescuing fellow Ukrainians. His friend was also playing Arkan on the battlefield to boost morale. We would play Arkan for him, and for Ukraine.

Nikolaj wears his traditional Hutsul clothing. Marian and Martin’s outfits represent their local Valach heritage. I was given a traditional vest to join in spirit. Our multicultural group basically satisfied local Hutsul instrumentation: voice, flute, dulcimer, fiddle, and drum

Roughly translated:
• VERSE 1 - Musicians, play for me, I want to sing; for spring nights, for the eyes of my beloved; for a dove-grey cuckoo, and for this period of life I’m in
• VERSE 2 - I have a hole in my heart; play for me until morning; play the Arkan dance for me; play for my beloved; let this song fly to the Carpathians

If you'd like to read more about our experience making music together, please visit:
http://www.caseydriessen.com/blog/war...

~~~

To follow along the OTHERLANDS project, please visit:
OTHERLANDS Webpage (http://www.Otherlands.fm)
Instagram (  / caseydriessen  ,
Facebook (  / caseydriessen  ,
or this YouTube channel.

ABOUT THE PROJECT
OTHERLANDS: A Global Music Exploration follows GRAMMY-nominated 5-string American fiddler Casey Driessen as he travels to various countries across the globe to meet with local acoustic-based musicians with roots in their own traditions. Musical exchanges and travels are documented via audio, video and photography elements with collected materials released over the course of the project via his website and social media outlets and official musical releases likely to come at the end of travels.

OTHERLANDS is an independently designed and produced project that is self-contained with a small collection of audio and video equipment. All engineering and recording, including any post-production, can be set up, operated, and completed by Casey wherever on the globe he happens to be.

For more information and to follow the project, please visit — http://www.Otherlands.fm