The Rhymed Couplet:
[The article below originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1989).] https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CK%5CO%5CKolomyikaIT.htm
Kolomyika [kolomyjka]. The most popular form of Ukrainian folk ditty. It consists usually of two rhyming lines with a set rhythmic pattern: a 14-syllable line with feminine ending and a caesura after the eighth syllable (4 + 4 + 6). Kolomyiky are widespread throughout Ukraine. The Carpathian Hutsul region, however, is considered their epicenter, and the name is believed to be derived from the Hutsul city of Kolomyia.
Tens of thousands kolomyiky have been transcribed and published. The oldest transcriptions are in 16th-century compilations of songs for the lute. The oldest written text—‘Chy ia tobi nemovyla, ne bery voloshky’ (‘Didn’t I Tell You, Don’t Take a Wallachian Girl’)—is found in a 1659 Polish letter from M. Zamoyska to King Jan III Sobieski. Thousands of kolomyiky were written down and studied in the 19th century by Ukrainian and Polish ethnographers (Zorian Dołęga-Chodakowski, Platon Lukashevych, Pavlo Chubynsky, Yakiv Holovatsky, Volodymyr Shukhevych, and others). The largest number (8,622) is in Volodymyr Hnatiuk‘s Kolomyiky (3 vols, 1905–7). N. Shumada and Z. Vasylenko’s Kolomyiky (1969) contains 4,814 texts and 452 melodies.
Kolomyiky treat literally every facet of everyday folk life, both familial and social, in a humorous fashion. Kolomyiky were one of the few folk-song genres improvised in Soviet Ukraine. These versions, however, while also heavily propagandistic, were often similar to the Russian chastushka and were studied in the Soviet Union with the latter as one genre, downplaying the uniquely Ukrainian character of the kolomyiky.
The kolomyka can be a combination of tune, song, and dance with some recordings having a line of singing alternating with a line of instrumental melody, whilst others are purely instrumental. The text tends to be in rhyming couplets and is a humorous commentary on everyday life. Its simple 2/4 rhythm and structures make the kolomyika very adaptable, and the text and melodies of thousands of different versions have been annotated. One collection done by Volodymyr Shukhevych in 1905, contains more than 8,000. Although a very old form they continue to be popular due to their fast, energetic, and exciting melodies, often with syncopation.[5]
The kolomyika-style verse of the song is syllabic, consisting of two lines of 14 syllables (or of four lines: 8 + 6 + 8 + 6). This is typical not only for a kolomyika, but also for historical, everyday, ballad, and other Ukrainian folk songs. It was very often used by Taras Shevchenko.[6]
The National Anthem of Ukraine was also written in kolomyika verse.
Kolomyika is also the name of a mimetic circular Hutsul dance in 2/4 time, of which there are many variants. Author – Mykola Mushynka
MUSIC
DANCE
Wikipedia says, in an excerpt from its article on kolomyika:
The kolomyika (Ukrainian: кoлoмийкa, Polish: kołomyjka; also spelled kolomeyka or kolomeike) is a Hutsul (Ukrainian) music genre[1][2][3] that combines a fast-paced folk dance and comedic rhymed verses (танець-приспівка). It includes a type of performance dance developed by the Ukrainian diaspora in North America.
It is named after the village of Kolomyia, in the Hutsul region of east Galicia, in what is now a western Ukraine. It was historically popular among the Ukrainians and Poles, and is also known (as the kalamajka) in north-eastern Slovenia where some Ukrainians settled in Austro-Hungarian times.[4]
Kolomyikas are still danced in Ukraine and Poland as a tradition on certain holidays, during festivities, or simply for fun. In Ukraine’s west, they are popular dances for weddings.
I could not find any YouTubes of “village”-style kolomyika‘s in Ukraine. Below are some versions by performing groups.
However, many examples of Kolomyjka are available from nearby Slovakia
Many examples of Kolomyika exist among the North American Ukrainian diaspora.
Small excerpt from the Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolomyika
In North America, the kolomyika is primarily a social dance. Participants form a circle, joining hands. The dance begins with the participants turning the circle, usually counterclockwise, then clockwise, or by forming a spiral. Further into the dance soloists will perform in the centre of the circle.
According to Andriy Nahachewsky, a former professional stage dancer, Director of the Kule Centre for Ukrainian and Canadian Folklore, and Huculak Chair of Ukrainian Culture and Ethnography at the University of Alberta, kolomyiky as practised in Canada are a separate genre of dance from what is known in Ukraine. The diasporic kolomyika developed from the old country folk dance but with a prevailing influence from stage dancing.
(code words for the ballet-inspired choreography pioneered by Ukrainian actor, conductor, composer, voice teacher, amateur musicologist, ballet master, choreographer and dance ethnographer Vasyl Verkhovynets, brought to North America by his pupil Vasyl Avramenko and further refined by Soviet apparatchik Igor Moiseyev DB).
Originating in Western Canada in the 1950s and 60s, the kolomyika is considered the highlight of Ukrainian weddings and dances in Canada: when any attendees who have experience as stage dancers perform their favourite “tricks” involving lifts, spins, high kicks, even building human pyramids. It is a chance for individuals and groups to “show off” their most impressive or dangerous moves so as to entertain the audience and win approval. Nahachewsky suggests that despite being a relatively new tradition the Canadian kolomyika is an important symbol of Ukrainian culture in Canada and that the dynamism of this type of Ukrainian dance helps to interest young people in Canada in retaining Ukrainian culture.[10]
Folkdance Footnotes 