Remembering Volodymyr Ivasiuk (1949 – 1979)

8 24 жовтня 2009 р. КУЛЬТУРА Remembering Volodymyr Ivasiuk (1949 – 1979) song, “Chervona Ruta”, (Red ruth). The first public performance was Who murdered Volodymyr Ivasiuk? on September 13, 1970. This was followed by “Vodohray”, (Fountain). “Chervona Ruta” was performed with Olena Kutnetsova, a young music According to M. Masly, ‘the details of Volodymyr Ivasiuk’s death, teacher, as a duet. Olena Kutnetsova recollects: “We were to sing at an however, do not support the official view that he killed himself. They open-air gig in Teatralna Square in Chernivtsi. It was to be broadcast live waited and searched for Volodya for 24 days. Following the mysterious within the framework of a popular TV programme. A big crowd gathered. disappearance of the composer, the search for him was not disclosed In fact, the square was packed to capacity. We sang. The crowd was to the public, the explanation being given that such an announcement ecstatic, and we woke up the next day to find ourselves famous.” would create a disturbance. However, the mass media are daily used Olesya Sandyha continues with the story, Volodymyr’s ‘fame spread not only to help locate people, but sometimes even their pets. [...] It was fast indeed. In 1971 his “Chervona Ruta” won the Best Song of the Year not until May 18, 1979 that Volodymyr Ivasiuk’s body was accidentally award, and his “Vodohray” was the best song of the next year. Not only discovered in the heavy forest near the village Briukhovych near Lviv. One the best in Ukraine but in the whole of the Soviet Union, of which Ukraine couldn’t bring oneself to believe it. The parents were allowed to identify was then part. “Chervona Ruta,” sung by the Ukrainian superstar Sofiya their son only on the following day, even though it was only a five-minute Rotaru, became a megahit; particularly after it featured in the first walk from the apartment where Volodya lived to the morgue; and the Ukrainian music film “Chervona Ruta”, directed by Roman Oleksiv (it identification was conducted with gross violations of law. The father was was practically plot-less, with one song following another). Sofia Rotaru allowed to view the body only after he repeatedly telephoned the Oblast sang Ruta in a duet with Vasyl Zinkevych. Such an overwhelming success Procurator threatening to send a telegram of complaint to the General Volodymyr Ivasiuk of a song written by “an amateur composer” (by the Soviet standards, Procurator of Ukraine. The local authorities eventually gave in with the a composer, or a musician, or anyone else for that matter, without exasperated reply: “Take your son home, and look at him there for at Volodymyr Ivasiuk was born in the city of Kitsman, Chernivtsi Oblast specialised or higher education to back the claim of “professionalism” least a hundred years!” His death certificate reported that he died 24-27 on 4th March 1949. He is best known as a composer and poet, however was considered to be “an amateur” and as such lacked privileges that April 1979 at the age of 30. The cause of death: mechanical asphyxiation. he was a man of many talents, having earned a degree in medicine, and “professional” composers were entitled to; in this sense, say, The Beatles Hanging from a noose – suicide. The death certificate was issued on May he also demonstrated a talent in art, photography and cinematography. would be considered “amateurs”) caused a measure of discomfort 21, 1979, and even back then, a mere three days after the body had been His father, Mykhailo Ivasiuk, was a well known writer from Bukovyna among the bureaucrats “responsible for music.” Their primary task was discovered, without any evidence or investigation it had been written in and his mother, Sofia, a teacher from the Zaporizhia Oblast. to make sure that “the Soviet people” listened to music prescribed – or at black and white that Volodymyr Ivasiuk had committed suicide. Olesya Sandyha in her biography of Ivasiuk wrote ‘in 1949 when least approved of – by the Soviet authorities. Rock bands, that were given This immediately raises the question that if the composer had indeed on March 4, a baby son was born into the family of Mykhailo and Sofia. the unusual name of “vocal and instrumental ensembles (VIE)” found hung himself on 24-27 April, and was not found until 18 May, whether “My joy was darkened somewhat by two black trickles that appeared, as themselves under heavy pressure and were obliged to sing “politically he could have remained hanging from a tree for 21-24 days. Volodya though burned into his skin, on both sides of his nose. It was as though correct,” “patriotic” songs, and songs “glorifying friendship between the weighed 80 kg (176 lb), such that hanging for so long; the noose would our boy was crying with black tears (the nurse put the wrong medicine peoples of the Soviet Union.” VIEs repertoires could not include more have cut into his neck to the depth of the bones. Also during May the from an eye dropper into his eyes — O.S.). The thought that my son than three songs by “amateurs” and Ivasiuk was one (since most of the weather was warm and dry. The body would have decomposed during could have lost his eyes in black tears is so horrifying that it makes VIEs were “amateurs” it also meant they could not sing their own songs). this interval, and from it would have emanated an intolerable odour. me faint,” wrote Mykhailo Ivasiuk, a writer, well-known in Bukovyna, To survive in such an atmosphere you had to do a lot of adjusting and All these substantiating signs were missing, and missing too were the describing the day when he brought his newly-born son and his wife compromising – which Ivasiuk hated to do.’ autopsy photographs.’ home from hospital. The child, almost miraculously, did not lose his sight, Volodymyr moved to Lviv to formally study composition at the Lviv Furthermore, according to Olesya Sandyha, ‘neither his parents, nor but the story of what had happened shortly after his birth, told him by conservatory of Music. Upon graduating from the medical institute, he his friends accepted the conclusions of the investigation. They categorically his parents, must have inculcated the young Volodymyr with a desire to worked as a doctor, and even joined the post-graduate courses at the denied rumours that for some time before his death Volodymyr had been become a doctor.’ Department of Pathological Physiology for his next degree. However talking about killing himself, or even had chosen a tree on which to hang As early as the age of 5, Volodymyr began to learn to play the violin his life took in many disappointments. This distressed immensely. The himself. It is so hard to imagine Volodymyr would go to a beech forest at a music school, he later also learnt to play the piano. His father was composer who supervised his studies at the conservatory, refused that gave the name to his native land (beech is buk in Ukrainian; hence offered a teaching position at the University of Chernivtsi when his to attend a show at which the “Smerichka” rock band (“vocal and Bukovyna, the land of beeches) to look for a tree to hang himself on – it family moved to the city, and Volodymyr, who has already graduated instrumental ensemble,” that is) played his songs. The composer’s refusal would have been so out of character! from secondary school, went to study, quite unexpectedly at a medical upset Ivasiuk. Even more upsetting was the failure on the part of the Among the more probable causes that led to his death, two are centre. It is difficult to understand why, but maybe it was due to pressure authorities to put his name on the list of those who contributed to the considered most likely – a Lviv criminal grouping wanted something from from his parents ‘to become a respectable citizen and have a good staging of a play based on the novel “Praporonostsi” (Standard-bearers) him and when he refused they killed him; and the KGB machinations that profession’. However he studied at the institute for only a short time for by Oles Honchar, a writer of a considerable prominence. Ivasiuk wrote eventually resulted in his death. The Soviet secret service had kept Ivasiuk a very honorable reason. Olesya Sandyha takes up the story, ‘Volodymyr a suite for the play at the request of the director, Serhiy Danchenko, a under surveillance for quite some time – he must have been regarded was expelled for taking part in “an act of criminal desecration.” The well-known figure in the Ukrainian theatre. The play was well received as a dangerous “purveyor of nationalist ideas.” His death could have “act” had taken place when Volodymyr had lived in Kitsman. He and and was even nominated for the top state prize. The coveted Shevchenko been planned as a warning to those who saw in him a champion of the several other young people, in whose company he spent much of his free prize was awarded but Ivasiuk’s name was absent from the list of those Ukrainian national spirit.’ time, overturned the plaster bust of Lenin in a park, probably accidentally who had taken part in staging the play. Whether it was deliberately M. Masly continues the sordid tale, ‘and truly, the administration rather than with “a premeditated, malicious intent to besmirch the overlooked or it happened by chance will never be known, but Ivasiuk hated him while he was alive, and feared him once he was dead.

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