Happy 20th Ukraine!
It may have a very long and interesting history, but ironically, this great country we live in is one of the youngest in the world. Later this month, Ukraine turns 20, and we here at What’s On would like to wish the country and every one in it, a very happy birthday. As part of this issue dedicated to this great celebration, we’re taking a look back at the last 20 years, noting the most important events in the country’s young life as it comes of age.

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‘Beauty of Success’ by the Imperial Russian Ballet, Palace Ukraine, 15 November at 19.00
World and European rhythmic gymnastics champion Laysan Utyasheva stars in ‘Beauty of Success’, the latest project from the world renowned Imperial Russian Ballet. This ambitious offering consists of extracts from no less than three ballets; The Bolero, Scheherazade, and Polovenian Dancing. The contrasting nature of each piece allows the performers to showcase their talents to the best of their ability, with the audience able to enjoy both the moving nature of The Bolero and the mystical Orient of Scheherazade in one sitting.Tickets are 50-350hrv, for more information call 237-23-16.

Fashion show ‘Zelinskogo Street’, House of Officers (30/1 Grushevskoho), November 11 at 19.00
Having tried to crack the music business with the avant-garde belle-monde group Colibri, producer, actress, model, and all-round St. Petersburg it-girl Natasha Pivovarova is back in the spotlight with an ambitious project which attempts to unite music, drama, audience participation, and Soviet fashion. ‘Zelinskogo Street’ looks at Soviet chic through the ages, with models of all ages and sizes showing-off outfits from the 1950s till the collapse of the USSR, accompanied by the music of old-school shashlik party staples from the likes of Valeriy Leontyev, Alla Pugacheva, and Led Zeppelin. Tickets are 50-200hrv, for tickets call 493-5715.

Pur in concert, Lysenko National Art University (11/13 Ploscha Konstytutsiji), Kharkiv, 12 November at 17.00
Since forming fifteen years ago German vocal group Pur have been winning plaudits for the depth and richness of their sound as well as the sheer variety they bring to a genre which, by its very definition is somewhat limited. This Kharkiv date is part of a world tour which takes in North America, Africa, and Central Asia besides stops around Europe, with the holders of the prestigious German ‘ECHO Klassic’ award expecting to draw large crowds. If your in Kharkiv this week this is one show well worth checking out. To book tickets call 496-1283.

The Manhattan Transfer, Ukraina Palace, 14 November at 19.30, and Take 6, Kyiv National Opera, 15 November at 19.30,
Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s the DO#dzh jazz festival was one of the highlights after the Soviet cultural calendar. After a reasonably lengthy hiatus it was brought back several years ago, with organisers looking to treat Ukraine’s many well-informed jazz connoisseurs to artists from all over the world. This time round the capital will play host to two of jazz’s top ensembles; The Manhatten Transfer, named after New York’s jazz hotbed, is widely regarded as leaders in the field of jaunty jazz-pop fusion and have no less than nine Grammy awards to their name while singing ensemble Take 6 draw on the sound of the late nineteenth century, a time when soulful gospel began to break out of the church and fuse with other genres, laying the foundations for the development of jazz which would explode some decades later. It doesn’t come much smoother or cooler than this! Tickets are 40-1500hrv, for more information call 528-9250.

The victims of a Nazi programme designed to breed a ‘master race’ went public with their stories last week for the first time, breaking a sixty year silence over the ‘Lebensborn kinder’ scheme, and in the process confirming fears that many children who were considered suitably ‘Aryan’ were stolen from their families here in Ukraine during WWII and brought up in Germany. Many children who fell victim to the scheme, which also involved special homes where Aryan mothers were encouraged to have multiple children who were often then given to appropriately Nazified families to be raised in an ideologically-sound environment, did not find out the truth about their origins until reaching adult life. “There was always the feeling that something wasn’t quite right,” said Folker Heinicke, who was taken from occupied Ukraine as a toddler and raised in Germany. He discovered his true identity after checking out irregularities in his birth certificate, but has yet to find any relatives in Ukraine as the Germans destroyed all records. Support groups are now helping the sixty-something Germans to come to terms with the reality of their origins.

After weeks of dithering preliminary plans have finally been announced to mark the second anniversary of the Orange Revolution on Independence Square. Nasha Ukraina party reps have declared their desire to hold a celebration on 22 November, which they want designated as ‘Freedom Day’ but Yulia Timoshenko has already refused to participate. President Yuschenko is expected to be invited along with pro-democracy forces from Poland, Belarus, Georgia and all the musicians who played during the Orange protests of 2004, but there is expected to be little popular enthusiasm for the holiday.

The annual Bribe Payer’s Index, which ranks the world’s thirty top exporting nations in terms of their readiness to offer bribes, has awarded Russia with a bottom three finish, confirming suspicions that bribery practices honed in the chaos of the post-Soviet economic environment are now being exported from Russia wholesale. The index, which is compiled from information submitted by more than 11,000 executives worldwide, has found that bottom of the pile are India, China and Russia. The least corrupt countries were Switzerland, Sweden and Australia. Ukraine was not included in the survey. The head of Transparency International, the people behind the survey, Huguette Labelle commented on the findings ‘bribing companies are undermining the best efforts of governments in developing countries to improve governance, and thereby driving the vicious cycle of poverty.’

What does the Soviet UNI0N mean to you? If pushed on the subject most foreigners would probably cite political oppression, drabness and consumer deficits, with the possible addition of bread queues, Big Brother censorship, and shoddy workmanship. In other words, it is not a place that has a very good reputation in the international arena. This is important because these negative assumptions continue to shape our attitudes towards and understanding of today’s former Soviet republics and the processes they are going through. They create a false impression which inevitably clouds any deeper appreciation of what motivates and drives people in the post-Soviet space. In my experience most former citizens of the Soviet UNI0N have a far more forgiving attitude, which is telling. For the vast majority of the population there remains a qualified fondness for the Soviet idyll, which, compared to the rough and tumble of post-Soviet capitalism now seems an innocent time of sing-alongs, summer camps, social security and shared community life, with everyone very much ‘in it together’. Even allowing for rose-tinted reminiscences, it is clear that there were many admirable aspects of the Soviet existence. No doubt you’d have a very different attitude if you were a nationalist or dissident, but of course most people weren’t. This week we’ve put together a Top Ten list of Soviet films that every expat should see (turn to page 26 for details), with the idea being that these films offer a taste of the real USSR, complete with satire lampooning the state, jokes about all the buildings looking the same, and so on. They are a window on the popular culture of a whole society that collapsed in 1991 and which many people still miss. If you are interested in understanding why people could vote for a man like Viktor Yanukovich, why they might regard Putin as a good leader or favour order over intangible civil liberties, and especially if your work involves supporting Ukraine’s integration into the wider world community, then these movies are literally essential viewing. Until people get beyond the idea of Reagan’s ‘Evil Empire’ they will continue to misunderstand the historic events shaping this part of the world and miss the opportunity of making a useful contribution.

Cheers,
Peter Dickinson,
Editor

Classical Music

Symphonic Orchestra National Philharmonic Friday 3 November at 19.00 Information tel. 278-1697

 An Evening with Laura Mikkola (Finland) National Philharmonic Saturday 4 November at 19.00 Information tel. 278-1697

 State Academy Orchestra National Philharmonic Sunday 5 November at 19.00 Information tel. 278-1697

SOUND PLANET An international crowd of What’s On readers gathered 28 October to celebrate the scariest holiday of the year. English DJ Matt Hardwick provided the tunes as guests in a wild array of fancy dress costumes danced the night away and swapped gory make-up tips.

 Natalia Marianchyk

A Man of Many Words
Young, good-looking and successful. But enough about me – let’s talk about Andriy Danilevych. At the tender age of 30, this baby-faced assassin is an editor at TRK Ukraina. He hosts political debates and interviews VIPs, up to and including presidents. He’s just finished for the summer, and What’s On caught up with him before he jetted off to New York.