HrayBery - Poland, Ukraine
Giving new life to forgotten dance music
HrayBery is a Polish-Ukrainian band that gives new life to forgotten dance music from the border area between Poland and Ukraine. The music has roots all the way back to the 16th century, and reflects a time when the area was a mixture of dialects, language and music in a multicultural and peaceful melting pot where Ukrainians, Poles, Jews and Roma people lived side by side.
HrayBery plays authentic instruments; fiddle, chopping board, frame drum and bass, and is an important testament to a bygone era in this area.
The repertoire ranges from waltzes and polkas, to Cossack dances, kolomyjka, mazurkas and more, which they have reconstructed based on archival sources – audio recordings or sheet music.
The musicians in HrayBery have been active on the music scene for a long time, and have been members of several different bands over the years. They are super popular at dance parties and concerts in Poland where they live, but have also played at dances in Sweden and Denmark, Rudolstadt Festival in Germany, Tallinn Music Week in Estonia, Folkfest in Italy and WOMEX in Tampere, Finland, where we experienced them at their peak late, late on a Saturday night.
Førde is our first stop in Norway, and we hope you find your way to the dance floor when we let this fine group in with their lively dance game! HrayBery's own dancer is happy to lead the way – so here you have the chance to learn some dance forms – or let loose, when the Cossack rhythms call. Anything is possible!