Perspective
Sisters Mariia Demenenko (left) and Olha Baglaenko (right) with their sister-in-law Liliia Domchenko (centre). Photograph by Clare Keogh.
Tetyana Karpenko, Olha Baglaenko, Ivan Humeniuk
The Museum of Song is a song collecting project, co-created by artists Tess Leak and Sharon Whooley, that was originally delivered via the postal service to residents in West Cork community hospitals during the Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020. The project was expanded in 2022 to include in-person sessions with new members of the community who are originally from Ukraine. Tetyana Karpenko and Olha Baglaenko of the Chervona Kalyna choir, supported by interpreter and choir member Ivan Humenuik, reflect on their experiences of sharing culture and kinship through song.
The Museum of Song is a song collecting project, co-created by artists Tess Leak and Sharon Whooley, that was originally delivered via the postal service to older residents in community hospitals in West Cork during the Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020.
In 2022, the artists expanded the project to include in-person sessions with new members of the community living in Drimoleague and Skibbereen who are originally from Ukraine. The pilot project Museum of Song: Ireland and Ukraine was supported by REACH funding through Cork Education and Training Board and culminated in a Winter Song Gathering in Skibbereen in December 2022. The following perspectives are from members of the newly formed Chervona Kalyna choir which is made up of people living in Drimoleague who had never sung in public before.
Tess Leak spoke with choir members Tetyana Karpenko and Olha Baglaenko, with support from interpreter and choir member Ivan Humenuik, about their experience of the project. During the conversation they looked back on some of the photographs taken by Clare Keogh at the Winter Song Gathering, where over a hundred guests enjoyed Ukrainian food and songs by local choirs in Ukrainian, English and Irish languages.
Tetyana Karpenko wearing the Vinok (traditional Ukrainian headdress) she created in collaboration with Alice Halliday as part of the Museum of Song: Ireland and Ukraine project. Photograph by Clare Keogh.
Tetyana Karpenko
“When I had this photo taken I tried to show Irish people that, in this moment, Ukrainian people are in a battle, they are trying to get peace for their Motherland. We can’t believe that our neighbour could attack us after living in peace together for a long time.
I really enjoyed sharing Ukrainian songs with Irish people and singing Irish songs together, to get a conversation between the two nationalities. We have lived in Ukraine for many generations, and we have a tradition in the family where all the women meet up together and sing songs. Ukrainian people are very open and Ukrainian culture is unique in the world.
In the moment of singing Moonlight Night on my own, I wanted to show my love for Ukraine to everybody who came to the concert. The melody is so important. People can know your mood, feelings and emotions. They can get it.
Singing songs helps Ukrainian people be together and feel we are together all around the world. I had to leave my occupied city. The feelings we have in the songs are like a chance to get back. I feel and hope that peace will come as soon as possible.”
Sisters Mariia Demenenko (left) and Olha Baglaenko (right) with their sister-in-law Liliia Domchenko (centre) Photograph by Clare Keogh. Headdresses created in collaboration with designer Alice Halliday.
Olha Baglaenko
“In that moment, singing the song In the Cherry Orchard, I felt proud for my country, for Ukraine. I felt power. The power of a Ukrainian woman. I felt like I wanted to show Irish people about the Ukrainian nation because I think that before the war started, a lot of people knew nothing about Ukraine. In the Cherry Orchard is a traditional song which we mothers sing when our daughters get married. I tried to show my love and my soul in the song. The emotion shows on our faces and our bodies in this photograph. I could see that the audience were surprised in that moment, and they understood everything, they could feel it. They understood and they shared these emotions with us.
The music has no restrictions, between languages or anything. With music you can show emotions and you don’t need knowledge of the language. The song is a treat for the soul and for the heart and it reminds us that we are Ukrainian. Our Ukrainian people really enjoy singing songs, it is a way to keep calm and to grow up your mood. In life the song is a very important thing. By singing you can show friendship, love, kindness, all emotions that you have, you can show in the song.
I have a family song called The Song about the Mother. The mother is the heaven on the earth. My mother sang it to me and I sing this song for all my children and all my grandchildren and all my great grandchildren.”
The Chervona Kalyna Choir from Drimoleague. Ivan Humeniuk (translator and collaborator, the Museum of Song: Ireland and Ukraine project) is first on the left. “In that moment we felt ourselves so happy.” Photograph by Clare Keogh.
Ivan Humeniuk
“For myself, I think that this project is so helpful and needful for our Ukrainian people because at the start of the war we arrived in so many countries for the first time and many of us had never been abroad before. For us in that moment we really need be together and to feel that we can share our emotions and culture with other people and be an important part of the society, together with Irish people.”
Olha Baglaenko
“I would like to tell the Irish Nation really thank you for your friendliness, for your openness. As a nation you were so kind, to give us a chance to be in a safe place. It was all so sudden. The Museum of Song: Ireland and Ukraine project was so needed, to feel that somebody cares about us.”
The Chervona Kaylna Choir and friends (left to right): Liliia Domchenko, Tess Leak, Irina Denysova, Olha Baglaenko, Mariia Demenenko, Ivan Humeniuk, Maiia Solianyk, Halyna Solianyk, Anastasia Karpenko, Sergey Karpenko, Nataliia Sarzhaniuk, Tetyana Karpenko and Liz Clark (front row): Erik Solianyk and Sharon Whooley at the Museum of Song: Ireland and Ukraine Winter Gathering. Photograph by Clare Keogh.
