Bubny in Ukraine — Kaitlin Vitt

A billboard in Kyiv’s metro changed Andrii Levchenko’s life.

“Hear the voices of our ancestors!” the billboard read. Pictured on it was a photo of an elderly musician. It was an advertisement about Bozhychi, the folk group from Kyiv that has gone on expeditions across the country, studying traditional songs and dances to preserve that part of Ukraine’s history.

In high school, Levchenko played guitar, mainly death metal. But he knew the musical landscape extended beyond distorted guitars and aggressive drums, and he started learning about other types of music, like instrumental rock, jazz, classical, and, eventually, traditional Ukrainian.

After seeing that billboard, Levchenko sent Bozhychi an email and joined the group’s expedition the next summer. That was eight years ago. Since then, Levchenko has continued to research and promote Ukrainian folk music, like through his multimedia project Bubny in Ukraine, where he shares the playing techniques and peculiarities of bubny. A bubon (the singular form of bubny) is Ukraine’s version of a tambourine or frame drum.

Screenshot from the Polka from Vertiivka video on Bubny in Ukraine’s YouTube channel.

Bubny in Ukraine has been the soundtrack to my life lately, always able to put me in a good mood, especially during these times when we seem to need it most. I learned about it a few months ago through some random Facebook post (I think?), and I became so intrigued by the videos and by all the work that went into this project. The Bubny in Ukraine website has a catalogue with photos and details of bubny from private and museum collections. There’s also a page with photographs of people and their folk bands in Ukraine throughout the 20th century.

But the real fun part is the YouTube channel that features videos from Levchenko’s Bubny in Ukraine expeditions. These videos give you a glimpse into these people’s lives in Ukraine, plus you can watch them play these incredibly underrated instruments.

There’s so much more to playing the tambourine than just shaking it around a bit and smacking it once in a while. And I think that’s sometimes overlooked, yet this is an instrument that rounds out a band, pulling it all together.

Here are a few of my favourite Bubny in Ukraine videos sure to have you smiling, trying to sing along, and running around your home to build a makeshift bubon.

To learn more about Levchenko and Bubny in Ukraine, read my story “Mr. Tambourine Man” in What’s On Kyiv.