"Chervona Ruta", 1971So, I've Been Obsessing Over This 1971 Ukrainian Musical So Much That I Decided

"Chervona Ruta", 1971 So, I've been obsessing over this 1971 Ukrainian musical so much that I decided to reanimate my tumbler account and create this little video extract with English subtitles. I would love to share this with the Internet mostly because I find this movie absolutely legendary, for multiple reasons. The film's name is Chervona Ruta ("The Red Rue") and it was inspired by one of the most famous Ukrainian song of the same name written by an iconic composer Volodymyr Ivasiuk. "Why is he iconic?", you might ask. Well, first of all, he made such a huge impact on Ukrainian music like no other composer ever did. His songs were inspired by popular Western music and Ukrainian ethnic motives, primarily by Hutsul culture. Together with an ensemble "Smerichka", and some other really cool composers of the time, he played a tremendous role in saving Ukrainian culture in the time of Soviet oppression. Moreover, he always composed in Ukrainian, which was very sassy for that moment in Ukrainian history, for a lack of a better word. He wasn't a political activist, like many other Ukrainian creators of the time, who were repressed for their worldview, yet he did a lot only using his own tool - music. Soviets knew that his impact is huge so, as it is widely stated today, he was murdered by them.

However, his death can only be a subject of much more professional investigation, not a post on tumbler. So, let's go back to "The Red Rue". The song itself was a huge success at the time and became a hit sung all over the Soviet Union. The lyrics, inspired by the legend of the red rue, a flower which brings love and happiness to one who finds it, is probably the most widely known text in the modern Ukraine. So the film was kind of a spin-off for this song, which is a masterpiece on its own. The plot of the film is fairly simple: a miner and musician Boris (played by Vasyl Zinkevich) from Donetsk (by the way, the city has been occupied by Russians since 2014) meets a singer Oksana (played by Sofia Rotaru) from the Western Ukraine on his way to the Carpathian Mountains. The couple fall in love with each other, but get departed after arriving to Yaremche, a famous town in the Carpathian Mountains which remains a popular tourist attraction to this day. The music, however... You guys, the music is perfect. I honestly believe that there are no fitting words to describe the beauty of the music in the film. Every song is an absolute treat to one's ears, very well written and wonderfully performed by lead actors and different ensembles of the time, including Smerichka, Karpaty and Rosynka. Even Ivasyuk gets a cameo in the movie. If you are in anyway interested in Ukrainian culture, art or music, I highly recommend watching this film, as it is available on the Youtube. There are no English subtitles, but I assure you, all of the songs are understandable whichever language you speak, if one listens to them with their heart. And don't mind the quality - the equipment that the crew possessed was far from perfect and the version you see on the Youtube is one of the few versions which survived, as most of the copies of the film were destroyed after Ivasyuk's death. Still, it's a wonder, but it's watchable and gives off this perfect retro vibe. Here's the link to the musical - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av3FZVui6fQ&t=598s

Imaginary pictures from an occult flea market.

Pszczyna, Homestead of the Pszczyna Village (x)

Vasyl Zinkevich, Volodymyr Ivasyuk and Nazarii Yaremchuk, circa 1970

They look like a team from some animated series - the handsome one, the brainy one and the goofy one. I can't believe they still haven't received their own crazy tumbler fandom.

I'll be the first one to step onto that dangerous path😵‍💫

“This week Bob Dylan will be playing in Provence, home to his acclaimed ‘Rail Car’ Ironwork sculpture @chateaulacoste. ‘Rail Car’, his largest sculpture to date, is an immersive, ironwork freight car installation set on train tracks and was created in 2019 for permanent installation at the Château’s outdoor art estate in collaboration with @halcyongallery.” - from Bob Dylan official Instagram account

source - https://www.instagram.com/p/CuAVbteuXp_/ 

Yennefer of Vengerberg - my interpretation

I've been looking through my old paintings lately, and I found this one. It's quite rare for me (as probably is for the most of the artists) to like my old paintings months after I painted them. But I still enjoy this one.

In my head, Yennefer's beauty might be comparable to Hedy Lamarr's - I used her photo as a reference for the body and hairstyle. And since I am a sucker for everything ~old~ I tried to paint this one as if it was an old photo made at the beginning of 20th century.

I love the Witcher book series so much that I'm thinking about revisiting it in my paintings. Maybe in the future I would add some ethnic motives, inspired by Polish folk culture. Why not?