Lemko folk singer to perform tonight at Columbia

Thu Sep 8 14:17:01 UTC 2005

Below please find an article published recently in the Ukrainian Weekly 
newspaper about tonight's concert by Lemko singer Julia Doszna, 
organized by the Ukrainian Studies Program.

Details of the concert are as follows:
When: Thursday, September 8th, 7:00pm (with a wine/cheese reception
beginning after concert)
Where: 301 Philosophy Hall (in the Student Lounge, located on the first
floor to the left), 1150 Amsterdam Avenue, Columbia University, New 
York, NY 10027

ADRIANA HELBIG, who recently received her PhD from Columbia
University's Department of Music, will offer a brief introduction
before Ms. Doszna's performance.

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Lemko Folk Singer to Perform at Columbia University
by Diana Howansky

	43-year-old Brian Ardan never knew his grandfather, Stefan Ardan, who 
was born in the Lemko village of Polany in the Carpathian Mountains. But 
Brian often heard stories from his father about how Stefan left their 
farm in the Lemko region around 1919, emigrated to the United States and 
spent the rest of his life working in a coal mine in Marion Heights, 
Pennsylvania, until he died of black lung before World War II. Being an 
amateur musician himself, Brian was particularly interested in the story 
of how his grandfather, a fiddle player, would come home from work and 
sit in his shack-like home in Marion Heights, playing music with his 
Lemko friends.
	“What kind of tunes would they play?” Brian asked his dad.
	“Songs from the old country,” his father replied.
	Brian wanted to learn more about these songs and his cultural 
background, so he traveled to Polany and the greater Lemko region 
(located in current southeastern Poland) for the first time in 1992. He 
returned there many times over the years, collecting Lemko music, 
attending the Lemko “Vatra” annual festival in the village of Zdynia, 
and listening as his new friends in Polany sang Lemko folk songs. Brian 
also started to research old songs about immigrants who, like his 
grandfather, had worked in the Pennsylvania mines. He dug up such 
century-old pieces as “Moja zena v starym kraju, a ja tu” (My wife is in 
the Old Country, and I’m here), and realized that, as far as he knew, no 
record or CD existed that chronicled these immigration songs.
	So, Brian decided to produce such a CD.
	He contacted the Lemko folk singer Julia Doszna, whose album “Tam na 
Lemkovyni” (There in Lemkovyna) he loved because of the slow and moving 
way that Julia sang. Her music did not incorporate the usual fast beats 
and accordions that Brian associated with polkas, the chardash and other 
Eastern European music. Julia consented to cooperate on the creation of 
the CD and, with Brian’s financial support, flew from her home in the 
Lemko region to record in an American studio in early 2005.
	“It’s really my way of kind of putting myself in touch with 
grandparents I never knew,” Brian said. “That’s why I went back to 
Polany to find out where [my grandfather] lived. This whole project has 
been trying to make another connection. I’m a very romantic person. I do 
feel that he was there, and is here throughout this project. I kind of 
felt that he was there, watching over. Make of it what you want. But the 
CD is about the immigrant experience and what they went through. Those 
early immigrants, they basically just gave it all up. [My grandfather] 
came off of a nice farm, he was a healthy man, a smart man who stuck 
himself in a hole for years. This is a tribute to him. To all immigrants.”
	And, now, on Thursday, September 8 at 7:00pm, as its first event of the 
2005-2006 academic year, the Ukrainian Studies Program at Columbia 
University will host Julia Doszna for a performance of songs from this 
newly-released album, titled “Immigrant.” The performance will take 
place in the Student Lounge of Columbia’s Philosophy Hall (1150 
Amsterdam Avenue), followed by a wine and cheese reception, during which 
audience members will have the chance to meet Julia Doszna informally.
	“I grew up in the mountains, and there was music everywhere,” said 
Julia, who was born in 1960 to a mixed Lemko-Polish family in the Lemko 
village of Bielanka, but now lives in neighboring Losie. “At that time, 
people still sang at work and after work. It was different than now.” 	
	Julia started singing professionally in the ensemble “Lemkovyna,” but 
went solo approximately ten years ago, because she wanted to express her 
personal emotions and to preserve the Lemko songs she had heard in 
childhood and still loves, she said. She has performed in numerous 
theaters and festivals in Poland and Ukraine, and previously produced 
albums, such as “Choho plachesh” (Why are you crying?). To maintain the 
purity of these songs from her childhood, Julia first chose to sing a 
cappella. However, not unlike Brian, various musicians approached Julia 
suggesting cooperation, so she has also performed with musical 
accompaniment.
	Julia’s newly-released album, “Immigrant,” in fact, includes musical 
accompaniment and, for the first time in her work, the piano. On the 
album, Julia is accompanied by pianist David Libby, who has worked 
professionally in the United States for over 20 years and who, while 
earning his Master’s of Music Degree from Rutgers University, studied 
with jazz piano legend Kenny Baron. David Libby will be performing 
alongside Julia at the September 8th concert at Columbia University.
	“Piano is not very traditional with this kind of music. There are early 
Lemko recordings from the late 1920’s to early 1930’s with piano, but 
people weren’t sitting back in their khata [house] with the piano. We, 
at a certain point, decided that we liked the sound of the piano,” Brian 
said.
	“This CD is the biggest leap [Julia] has taken in terms of being 
accompanied by people,” he added, explaining that “Immigrant” mixes 
Julia’s emotional voice with David Libby’s Baroque and classical-style 
piano arrangements, as well as elements of jazz from bass player Ken 
Filiano. “In her other CDs, she’s either singing by herself or with 
another musician. This CD comes with a lot more musical interludes, a 
lot more instrumentation. It’s more of a refined sound. It’s also 
different from other CDs I’ve heard, because others are electronic 
sounding, even the folk ones. This differs from all of them strictly in 
terms of character. It’s deep. It’s a deep CD.”
	Julia agrees about the gravity of the new album, forewarning that the 
songs she performed on “Immigrant” and will perform at Columbia 
University are sad and melancholy, because that is how she interprets 
immigration. But she also believes that, given the large amount of 
people who immigrate from Ukraine and Poland to places like the United 
States and Italy, the songs on the album continue to be relevant.
	“I found a lot of happy songs too, but immigration never seemed to me 
to be a happy thing,” Julia said. “This is separation from one’s land 
and loves ones. So, I chose those songs that are close to my heart. I 
didn’t mix sad songs with happy songs. That would be chaotic. Now is the 
climate for listening, and maybe crying. Next time, I can do a happy CD.”
	And, while Julia hopes that individuals will walk away from the 
Columbia performance either wanting to return to or visit the Lemko 
region, Brian wants them to walk away with a greater appreciation for 
the continuity of culture.
	“These songs were written a long time ago, but they can still move 
people to tears,” Brian said. “It just shows the power of human 
feelings, of human emotions, over time. These are not just names in my 
family tree, but people who came over and had life-altering experiences. 
You’re just part of this long line, and you just have to respect that, 
and you have to remember that.”

	For more information, or to RSVP for Julia Doszna’s performance at 
Columbia University, please contact Diana Howansky at (212) 854-4697 or 
ukrainianstudies at columbia.edu. Details about the CD “Immigrant,” which 
will be available at the Columbia performance, can be found on Julia 
Doszna’s website www.juliadoszna.com.

-- 
Diana Howansky
Staff Associate
Ukrainian Studies Program
Columbia University
Room 1209, MC3345
420 W. 118th Street
New York, NY  10027
(212) 854-4697
ukrainianstudies at columbia.edu
http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/ukrainianstudies/

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