Ancient spiritual songs and traditional songs of Ukraine.
Concert by Natalia Polovynka (Ukraine)
„Hold a candle over your head, while the hand is tired - whole life…” - Vasyl Stus
Irmos – from Greek, means: “link, tie, connection”. It is a prayer that sits at the heart of ancient Ukrainian spiritual singing. Irmos – spiritual chants from the early Christian liturgy will be performed in conjunction with traditional Ukrainian chants. During this special evening, the cry of the earth to heaven will meet with the gift descending from heaven to earth, thus the human being will be healed and the whole world with him.
When Ukrainian singer-actress Nataliia Polovynka came to Wrocław in Poland following the onset of Russian invasion in Ukraine she began to sing irmos and pray in churches of Wrocław, gathering around her friends-artists connected with the Grotowski Institute.
After that, she returned to Ukraine and continued to sing IRMOS in Lviv churches to support people suffering from the war.
On the 28th of March, thanks to help and support of Monika Blige and Magdalena Mądra from the Grotowski Institute, Natalia, came again to Poland and joined by various singers, sang in a beautiful space of White Stark Synagogue of the Jewish Community of Wrocław. This is how Irmos for Ukraine: a concert of ancient spiritual songs and traditional songs of Ukraine, came to life.
"IRMOS for Ukraine" is a continuation of the international cultural and diplomatic tours "Word and Voice", which have been taking place regularly in 2022 since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine. Working in Lviv, from the first days of the war, the theater became a shelter for internally displaced persons, did not stop playing the repertoire and made trips with performances, workshops, meetings to European countries - Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, England and France - to present modern art, based on the Tradition of Ukraine, for a joint prayer for Victory, to collect funds for the assistance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and to support the activities of the theater.
Thanks to these tours, "Word and Voice" preserves and revives the cultural heritage of Ukraine, remaining a shelter and a warming point for internally displaced Ukrainians, as well as providing necessities for the people of Ukraine during these stormy months. Thanks to the support of Europeans and colleagues, "Word and Voice" created two new performances in Lviv this year, in which immigrants, widows, and mothers of fallen soldiers took part - "Under the pear. Singing marathon of peace" and "For their own". The theater also created a theater singing school for immigrant children and started work on a new project based on the texts of the outstanding Ukrainian philosopher of the 18th century Hryhoriy Skovoroda "The Garden of Divine Songs. Skovoroda". The project envisages the creation of seven performances that reveal the philosophy, consciousness, and art of the Ukrainian Baroque era, thus gathering the Victory of Man, which already is and will be forever. The premiere of the first performance of the project took place in December and January and was dedicated to the 300th anniversary of Skovoroda's birthday.
We dedicate the concert to the people-warrior of Ukraine, who stands as a shield for Europe and the whole world and protects from war of Putin's Russia.
“My land is a Song. Always and today, it is full of the will to live! Because life always wins over death. We will win together with you!” - Natalia Polovynka
