Ukrainian
polka bands and dances were a huge part of Manitoba’s entertainment scene in the 1950s and ’60s. A polka dance could be found any night of the week, and were for younger people, not for seniors.
The original polka bands only needed a fiddle and tsymbaly, similar to a hammer dulcimer.
Ukrainian
bands added accordion after the Second World War, then came drums and then came the influence of country music in the form of guitars.
Local musicians included people such as accordionists
Ted
and
Ron Komar, fiddlers
Tommy Buick and
Steve Myk, the
Interlake Polka Kings.
Husband-and-wife team
Mickey and Bunny (Modest Sklepowich and Orysia Evanchuk), who, in the early 1960s, translated
Ukrainian
songs into English and English pop songs into
Ukrainian. Their
This Land is Your Land
album, with lyrics sung half in English, half in
Ukrainian, sold more than 50,000 copies.
“There was no exchange of cultural information (between Ukrainian Canadians and Ukraine) during the Cold War, so people here had to create their own culture and music,” said Brian Cherwick, a former Winnipegger with a PhD in Ukrainian folklore and ethnology, now working in
St. John’s, N.L.
The famous
Mandolin Orchestra, which started in the 1920s, grew out of that self-reliance, as did programs in choral music and traditional dance.
Three
Ukrainian
music labels sprang up in
Winnipeg:
Regis Records in the 1950s;
V-Records; and
Sunshine Records. V-Records would produce the first single for Neil Young’s band, the Squires.
“A whole record industry actually evolved in Winnipeg and grew across the Prairies,” said Cherwick.
Sunshine Records, owned by former V-Records employee
Ness Shydlowsky, started in 1974. Its
Ukrainian label,
Baba’s Records, is currently re-releasing the entire catalogue of
Mickey and Bunny
albums, about a dozen in total, on compact disc.
“We’re trying to preserve this music and the heritage and traditions,” said
Shydlowsky.
The polka gave way to new music.
Ukrainian
musicians were influential in the early rock ‘n’ roll days with people such as
Joey Gregorash and the
Mongrels, (his dad was a cousin to well-known Ukrainian fiddler,
Jim Gregorash); guitarist
Derek Bylyk of the
Deverons; drummer
Ken Hordichuk
of the
Shondels; the
D-Drifters; and
Randy Bachman, who is
Ukrainian
on his mother’s side. Among contemporary
Ukrainian Canadian musicians are
Chantal Kreviazuk
and
Alexis Kochan, with her group,
Paris
to
Kyiv.
By:
Bill Redekop
Comments
Ukrainian polka bands and dances were a huge part of Manitoba’s entertainment scene in the 1950s and ’60s. A polka dance could be found any night of the week, and were for younger people, not for seniors.
The original polka bands only needed a fiddle and tsymbaly, similar to a hammer dulcimer. Ukrainian bands added accordion after the Second World War, then came drums and then came the influence of country music in the form of guitars.
Local musicians included people such as accordionists Ted and Ron Komar, fiddlers Tommy Buick and Steve Myk, the Interlake Polka Kings.
Husband-and-wife team Mickey and Bunny (Modest Sklepowich and Orysia Evanchuk), who, in the early 1960s, translated Ukrainian songs into English and English pop songs into Ukrainian. Their This Land is Your Land album, with lyrics sung half in English, half in Ukrainian, sold more than 50,000 copies.
“There was no exchange of cultural information (between Ukrainian Canadians and Ukraine) during the Cold War, so people here had to create their own culture and music,” said Brian Cherwick, a former Winnipegger with a PhD in Ukrainian folklore and ethnology, now working in St. John’s, N.L.
The famous Mandolin Orchestra, which started in the 1920s, grew out of that self-reliance, as did programs in choral music and traditional dance.
Three Ukrainian music labels sprang up in Winnipeg: Regis Records in the 1950s; V-Records; and Sunshine Records. V-Records would produce the first single for Neil Young’s band, the Squires.
“A whole record industry actually evolved in Winnipeg and grew across the Prairies,” said Cherwick.
Sunshine Records, owned by former V-Records employee Ness Shydlowsky, started in 1974. Its Ukrainian label, Baba’s Records, is currently re-releasing the entire catalogue of Mickey and Bunny albums, about a dozen in total, on compact disc.
“We’re trying to preserve this music and the heritage and traditions,” said Shydlowsky.
The polka gave way to new music. Ukrainian musicians were influential in the early rock ‘n’ roll days with people such as Joey Gregorash and the Mongrels, (his dad was a cousin to well-known Ukrainian fiddler, Jim Gregorash); guitarist Derek Bylyk of the Deverons; drummer Ken Hordichuk of the Shondels; the D-Drifters; and Randy Bachman, who is Ukrainian on his mother’s side. Among contemporary Ukrainian Canadian musicians are Chantal Kreviazuk and Alexis Kochan, with her group, Paris to Kyiv.
By: Bill Redekop