Difference between revisions of "Мамо (Майданек)"

Варіянт[ ]

• Хто бачив Майданек, той бачив ті стіни,
• Хто бачив майданчик, той бачив ті стіни,

• Мамо, чи чуєш ти мене, Мамо,
• Мамо, чи чуєш мене ти, Мамо,

• Бараки, бараки, важкі домовини.
• Бараки, бараки, живі домовини.

• Чи бачиш, чи чуєш, двайцятий мій віче,
  Як спалена пісня, щовечора кличе.
• Чи бачиш, чи чуєш, двайцятий мій віче,
  Неспалена пісня, щовечора кличе.
• А сонце, як рана, спливає за гаєм.
  Ще крок — і могила, а хлопчик співає.

• Люди, чи чуєте мене, люди.
• Люди, чи чуєте ми, люди.

• Хто був цей хлопчина - Василько чи Янек.
• Хто був цей хлопчина - Василь чи Янек.
• Хто був той хлопчина - Іванко чи Янек.

• Хай скаже вам попіл
• Хай скаже нам попіл

• той сивий Майданек
• цей сивий Майданек
• той сивий майданчик
• цей сивий майданчик

• Ще й мить... ще секунда, і постріл лунає,
  А хлопець вмираючи тихо співає...
• Ще й мить... ще секунда, лиш постріл лунає,
  А хлопець вмираючи тихо співає...
• Я чую, я чую, двадцятий мій віче,
  Як спалена пісня щовечора кличе:

Історія[ ]

It's unclear when (and if) Богачук wrote this poem. I suspect if he was the author that it would be found in his "Незабутнє" (1958) collection, but I've yet to be able to track down a copy to confirm. The song does have some vague resemblance to his poem "Крик Попелу" which is about the Majdanek camp.

There are at least 4 melodies for this poem:

• Маруся (nee Юрків) Яроцька / Marusia (nee Jurkiw) Jarockyj of the band "Тріо Конвалія"
  • This is by far the most common version sung in the diaspora today (and is often misattributed to the other composers).
  • Mаруся Юрків-Яроцька was originally from the UK when she composed the music, but moved to Australia in 1981, where she is an active member of the Ukrainian community in Melbourne.
  • According to Яроцька (phone interview 15/16 October, 2020 by Danylo Centore), this poem was smuggled by unknown means from Ukraine to Ukrainian Publishers on Liverpool Road in London in 1969. It was included in a handwritten collection of poetry mainly by Василь Симоненко, though "Мамо" itself was uncredited.
  • This version of the words (unlike the other 3 compositions) says "майданчик" instead of "Майданек" and "Василь чи Янек" instead of "Іванко чи Янек". The understanding of the words, as provided to Marusia via the editor of Визвольний Шлях at Ukrainian Publishers (editor's note - probably Григорій Драбат), was that the "майданчик" was in reference to a pile of ashes of Vasyl Makuh and Jan Palach ("Василь" і "Янек"), two dissidents who burned themselves alive in protest of communism in the late 1960s, and that the song was written in a Siberian camp in reference to these current events. This is in contrast to the alternate understanding of the song as about the Nazi Majdanek concentration camp (where "Ivanko" and "Janek" are stereotypical Ukrainian and Polish-Jewish names, effectively saying "Was this boy Ukrainian or Polish/Jewish? Only their grey ashes can tell us"). This understanding is also vaguely consistent with "Крик Попелу" by Богачук ("Якої ж національності ... Попіл з усіх однаковий").
    • It is not currently known for certain which version existed first (Майданек or майданчик). We've chosen to use the "Майданек" understanding of the lyrics as our primary version because it seems like an overall more consistent storyline. However, we use "Василько" instead of "Іванко", to allow people to use either understanding with the same set of lyrics.
  • The lyrics were brought to a CYM camp (Tarasivka in Derbyshire) that same summer (1969) where the kommandant gave them to Marusia Jurkiw who then wrote the music in a single night and performed it at the bonfire (ватра) the next day with her sister Olia Jurkiw.
  • It was then recorded in Manchester at Indigo Studios in 1970 with her band "Тріо Конвалія" for their album "Конвалія". They were given one Saturday to record all the songs of their first album from 9am-5pm and Мамо was the very last song they recorded. Jurkiw says it was not their best performance of the song because they were "knackered" by this point.
  • The band also regularly performed the song at gigs in "practically every country in Europe".
  • Patriarch Josyf Slipyj heard a performance of it in England and invited "Konvalia" to Rome for the "Ukrainian Holy Year Celebrations" where they performed it at the Vatican in 1975.
  • Some additional published resources:
    • Юнак 1982-5 (ст 6)
    • Австралійські українці: пів на half чи half на пів
    • Новій Обрій Альманах ч11 1999 (ст 186-187)
    • Аванґард - Журнал Української Молоді - ч94 (1970р) (ст 119-120).
• Василь Чинч
  • This version probably dates back to at least 1974 source (unclear if this is the same one but seems to be)
  • This version was arranged by Василь Кардаш with a soloist Ярема Цісарчук by 1987
    • Source: Свобода 1987-103 (ст 2, article "Збережімо гагілки!", 5th-to-last paragraph)
    • Source: kardash.info
• Георгій Мірецький. The sheet music can be found in his collection Пісні Романси Том 4 (ст 31).
• Володимир Верменич. (Sheet music) sung by Хор Хлопчиків М. Львова "Дударик" on this LP.

Словник[ ]

• Двайцять - Двадцять. This is the correct historical Galician spelling+pronunciation. See Forgotten Galicia - "The Vanishing Galician Lexicon and How It Lingers in the Diaspora")

Виконання[ ]

• Юрків
  • Тріо Конвалія
  • Voloshky Singers (on the album "Crimson Flower") / Волошки (на альбомі "Червона Рута")
  • Darka & Slavko
  • Іскра
  • A Celebration of Ron Cahute - Jaroslaw Palylyk (1:17:30 - 1:21:54)
  • A Celebration of Ron Cahute - Jaroslaw Palylyk (recording 2)
  • Jaroslaw Palylyk (from Iskra - live) (alternate post)
  • Ансамль "Сузір'я" (8:07-12:43)
  • Olya Fryz & Slau Halatyn
  • Marko Farion
  • Вечірній Дзвін (11:28 - 15:45)
  • Zirka
  • Zirka (live)
  • "Досвітні огні", СУМ Елленвілл '13
  • Віртуальний табір 2020 "Любимо Сонце, Рух, Життя" (45:44 - 48:58)
  • Журавка
  • Ліда Постолюк (Ніна - Україна) (1:24 - 4:21)
  • Данило Сенторе (English translation)
• Чинч
  • ВІА "Коломияни" (1986)
  • Подвиг (2020)
  • Toronto Kardash Choir
    • This is on the c.1982 album "Мамо! Чи чуєш мене?"
  • Yaroslav Schur
    • This is on his LP with the label YS-33
• Георгій Мірецький
  • There is a synthesized version of this melody on pisni.org.ua (you need to make an account and log in to see it under "ЗАПИСИ, MP3, НОТИ").
• Верменич
  • Dudaryk (1976)