Based in New York City, Ukrainian Village Voices is a collective of performers who are preserving and reviving the polyphonic singing style of villages across Ukraine, though many members will tell you they have close connections to the sounds and lyrics of specific places.

“Some of us are really connected to music from one particular region because it just breaks our heart in all the right ways,” singer Natalie Oshukany said.

Since Russia’s war in Ukraine broke out in February 2022, the ensemble has received numerous invitations to perform, including at the 2023 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, as part of the program Creative Encounters: Living Religions in the U.S. For the artists, performing has been a form of solace.

“A lot of us felt overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do, especially being based in the U.S.,” Oshukany reflected. “We have a unique role here, where we are, in sharing these cultural traditions, and staying connected with the people who taught us.”

Managing director Laryssa Czebiniak and singer and ethnomusicologist Brian Dolphin founded the group in 2012. Since then, the ensemble has performed for a wide range of audiences in the United States and abroad. Additionally, the group frequently organizes singing workshops for the public. The choir’s self-titled debut album was released in 2018 on Jalopy Records.

Ukrainian Village Voices is a multicultural ensemble that welcomes both Ukrainian and non-Ukrainian musicians. “One thing that’s really beautiful about the group is that it brings in people who are less familiar with this music,” Oshukany said. “Through the group, they become connected to it.”

The choir also invites singers with varying degrees of musical experience. To align with how these songs are taught in the villages where the traditions originate, the group doesn’t teach from notation. The ensemble also provides translations and transliterations for lyrics that are written in the Ukrainian alphabet to ensure that lessons are accessible. During the group’s weekly gatherings, members share music, rehearse for upcoming performances, and learn songs from the ensemble’s musical director.

“It does have a sort of community choir feel,” Oshukany shared.

The ensemble performs a wide variety of Ukrainian folk songs—from mournful and lyrical songs to more upbeat and ritual-based ones. As Oshukany said, “We try to mix those all into our sets so that people can get a sense of the diversity of the music.”

Much of Ukrainian folk music is rooted in pre-Christian traditions. Many of these songs are connected to seasonal changes, agricultural rites, and holiday rituals. Although the music is deeply spiritual, it is accessible to a diverse range of musicians and audiences. “Everyone finds their own way to connect to it, and to participate in these traditionally religious types of music.”

Czebiniak didn’t grow up with this style of music. Her family is from western Ukraine, where these traditions are less prominent. However, she quickly fell in love with the repertoire after hearing it for the first time. “I feel connected to my ancestors when I sing this music,” she said. “There’s something so ancient sounding about it.” Her favorite songs are ones that are connected to specific rituals, such as weddings and midsummer celebrations.

Oshukany especially loves lyrical songs with complicated, multi-part harmonies. She’s drawn to the music of central Ukraine, characterized by a distinctive, projected style of singing. “There’s something that’s really primal about buzzing together with other people,” she shared.

During performances, members of the ensemble often wear vyshyvanky, traditional embroidered blouses. Just like the styles of folk music, these Ukrainian textilesvary significantly from region to region. During our interview at the Folklife Festival, Czebiniak wore a vyshyvanka from the Bukovyna region of western Ukraine. “I do love wearing it,” Czebiniak shared. “It does make me feel connected to my ancestors. It’s a privilege.”

Since its founding, the ensemble has learned songs from various ethnomusicologists, folklorists, and musicians in the United States, Canada, and Ukraine. Much of the group’s repertoire comes from commercial and field recordings produced by these individuals. In 2018, the ethnomusicologist Ihor Perevertniuk invited the group to visit a number of villages in Ukraine. “We were lucky because we got escorted to villages that were awaiting us—with a very long table full of food every time,” Czebiniak recounted. Many of the songs in the group’s repertoire come from recordings that were taken during this trip.

Ukrainians in these villages were surprised that American musicians—including many who were not fluent in the language—were performing the traditional music. At the time, Czebiniak explained, young people in Ukraine were losing interest in these traditions. “We were sort of blowing peoples’ minds,” she said.

“This music is connected to lifeways that have been—and are, especially now—changing, or [becoming] obsolete,” Oshukany said. Through their performances, workshops, and recordings, the ensemble endeavors to preserve and revive these traditions.

This work is particularly vital now, as violence continues to devastate communities in Ukraine. Since the war began, Ukrainian Village Voices has endeavored to lift up the stories of Ukrainian artists and musicians. The group has also performed at a number of fundraisers. Proceeds from the group’s album on Bandcamp are donated to organizations supporting Ukraine.

During the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Ukrainian Village Voices performed alongside musicians who traveled from Ukraine to Washington, D.C., for the concert De Libertate: Sounds of Freedom and Hope from Ukraine.

“We’re so lucky to be here at the same time as some of these groups that we basically idolize from Ukraine, who do this kind of singing,” Oshukany noted. In particular, the group Bozhychi has inspired much of the ensemble’s work. “We saw them in the crowd in our show. We’re starstruck.”

Joshua Kurtz is a writer, weaver, and educator based in Boston. A former intern at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, he recently graduated with an MDiv from Harvard Divinity School, where he studied Judaism, ethics, and cultural heritage.