Go_A: Ukrainian Folk Group

While studying abroad in Ukraine, I grew accustomed to watching a TV show called Vidbir on Sunday evenings. The name, Vidbir, refers to “selection” in Ukrainian, which is appropriate as the show itself selects who will represent Ukraine at Eurovision, an annual Europe-wide pop-music contest. This year, the 2020 season of Vidbir featured many good acts and a wide variety of musical genres. My personal favorites were the folk bands. One, called Go_A, won Vidbir this year. What made them special was that they eschewed a common tendency in Eurovision to sing English, no matter what the band’s national origins are. Go_A, an innovative Ukrainian electro-folk group, became the first to win Vidbir with a song completely in Ukrainian.[1]

Think traditional folk music and electro dance can’t be meshed and sound good? This is exactly what Go_A has been doing for nearly eight years. They began in 2012 when music producer Taras Shevchenko met singer Kateryna Pavlenko.[2] Shevchenko supplies the electro with his keyboard and soundboard while Pavlenko adds folk vocals. These two are supported by Ivan Hryhoriak on guitar and Ihor Didenchuk on the soplika, a traditional wind instrument. Thus, the group is evenly balanced with two folk artists and two contemporary artists.

The band’s name, Go_A, has a cryptic meaning. The “go” literally means “go” but the “A” is representative of the Greek letter Alpha which is the beginning, or root letter, of the alphabet. So, the group’s name is actually a command to go back to your beginnings, to your cultural roots.[3] This is the goal of the group, to bring folk music and culture to a wide, contemporary audience by blending it with modern music.

So, what makes this music folk? I originally thought the songs themselves were probably all restylings of ancient, traditional songs. The group’s winning entry “Solovey” (“The Nightingale“) is, indeed, a well-known traditional song, However, most of the band’s songs are actually originals written by lead vocalist Kateryna Pavlenko. What makes the band folk is the way the music is styled. Pavlenko is a master of what is known as “white voice,” a vocal style traditional in most Slavic countries. Anyone who has heard it before can usually immediately recognize its powerful notes and sudden movements in pitch. Most “western” singing focuses the voice in the mouth, but white voice focuses on the pharynx or back of the throat, which helps gives the vocals their distinctive qualities.[4] Thus, “Solovey” is a classic song, but has been restyled by Go_A with electro-dance beats while retaining the traditional white voice style.

Go_A first gained notability in 2016 when another of their restyling, this time of the well-known song “Vesnianka” (“The Mayfly”), topped the dance music charts in Ukraine for six straight weeks.[5] Since then, and especially since appearing on Vidbir, their popularity has been growing as their catchy music, full of national identity and pride, has been gaining appeal with youth. However, I believe the group represents something much bigger to the Ukrainian people.

Ukrainians have been dealing with an identity crisis for decades. A part of Tsarist Russia since the 17th century, and then part of the USSR, being Ukrainian was long equated to being Russian by official understandings and the two identities have long mixed. Today, in the now independent country, there is a movement to establish an independent Ukrainian identity. Thus, Go_A’s call to return to one’s roots has been resonating and their stylings, trying to bring ancient traditions into the present, have been popular and are now part of a wider social dialogue that seeks to establish an answer the question of what does it truly means to be Ukrainian.

“Solovey” (“The Nightingale”):

Lyrics to “Solovey” (“The Nightingale”):

“Vesnianka” (“The Mayfly”):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgB6oqECRZs

Lyrics to “Vesnianka” (“The Mayfly”):

[1] “Go_A – Ukraine – Rotterdam 2020.” Eurovision Song Contest. Eurovision. Accessed April 24, 2020. https://eurovision.tv/participant/go_a.

[2] “Go_A – Ukraine – Rotterdam 2020.”

[3] Veen, Renske Ten. “Go_A: 10 Facts about Ukraine’s Eurovision 2020 Group.” wiwibloggs, March 31, 2020. https://wiwibloggs.com/2020/03/29/go_a-10-facts-about-ukraines-eurovision-2020-group/251651/.

[4] Rule, Case. “What Is This Voice Used by Female Singers in Bulgarian Folk Music?” Music Practice and Theory , January 1, 2015. Weblink.

[5] Veen, Renske Ten.

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