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Bandura and Juneau Community Chorus concert offers a cultural exchange
- Jasz Garrett
- May 23
- 2 min read
'Strings Through Time: An Evening of Ukrainian and World Music' in the spotlight Saturday evening at Juneau Arts and Culture Center
By Jasz Garrett
Juneau Independent
The Juneau Community Chorus will perform with Ukrainian bandura musicians Ostap Stakhiv and Solomia Stakhiv in a special concert on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center.
The Bandura musicians, a father-and-daughter duo, previewed the evening concert with a small pop-up show at Hearthside Books and Toys in the Mendenhall Mall on Saturday afternoon.
Solomia Stakhiv showed the audience her traditional instrument, a bandura, and invited children to touch it after her performance. She said it is a part of her mission to show the traditional bandura to communities that are unfamiliar with it.
"This is a very old, historical instrument," she said. "It started back in 15th, 16th century when blind singers would travel across Ukraine and beyond and would sing epic songs or storytelling. They used to carry a very similar bandura, the first prototype of this instrument with them, because it was fun to sing. Music was the type of work they picked."
The bandura she held on Saturday "evolved dramatically" since then, she explained. It is a 65-string instrument. She said the complicated instrument is usually played in a solo or ensemble performance.
"The way we play it is we pluck the strings and we have special nails to do that, so the sound is more bright," she said. "This instrument is best when it comes with singing."
Solomia Stakhiv and her dad said they love to sing as much as they can. They wore embroidered shirts that represent their Ukrainian identity.
"Today is a special occasion," Solomia Stakhiv told the audience at Hearthside.
Solomia Stakhiv said even before performing Saturday evening, she and her father were impressed with the amount of interest Juneau showed in their music. They presented at Riverview Senior Living on Friday.
"You play and you see people smiling back, it's just amazing," she said. "It's a cultural exchange for us, there's a lot of musicians here and very open-minded people."
As of Saturday afternoon, there were still tickets available online for the evening concert. Youth 12 and under are free.
• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz@juneauindependent.com or (907) 723-9356.
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