Ganna - Dykyi Lys - Jazz Thing Next Generation Vol. 84 (2020)

This album by Ganna Gryniva is the result of their research to Ukrainian folklore, supported by the New Liszt Foundation scholarship, and features Musina Ebobisse on tenor saxophone. Ganna cleverly combines different sensory worlds from jazz and Ukrainian folk to classical and experimental music and dance.

"Dykyi Lys", the title of the debut CD by Ganna Gryniva, for example, can only be deciphered immediately by those who understand Ukrainian. It means "Wild Fox". Ganna comes from a small village of 375 inhabitants near the capital Kiev, surrounded by nature as far as the eye and thoughts can go. It was a shock when she arrived Berlin in 2013. Or, as she puts it, "a challenge for someone like me who likes silence. I gradually found quiet, undisturbed places in Berlin, and now I see the city quite differently. I've adapted. The foxes, who roam the streets of Berlin time and again, have donethe same. They manage to live here. Yet they are wild animals and will always remain such."

One of the group's specialties is to expand lyrics of old folk songs and compose new music for them as in "Witer". Composing is a form of self-reflection for her, Ganna stated. She likes to use texts written by others. Nadiia Telenchuk, a Ukrainian poet who also lives in Berlin, wrote the verses for "Song For Mons", while "Rika" comes from her father's pen. She used an excerpt from the well-known poem "Mij Shlyakh" (My Way) by Lesya Ukrainka from 1890 for "Waiting", in which she gives shape to her dream of freedom, equality and fraternity for Ukraine. This is a painfully timeless theme that also comes to life in Lebidonka, where Ganna sings of the Cossacks, those warriors who have dedicated themselves to protecting their homes and loved ones.