They are charismatic, elegant and true and, if you hear them singing, you will remember the experience forever. Pikkardiyska Tercia, an inimitable band from Lviv, sounds like a small orchestra but in fact its music is performed by six men a cappella.
Highly
professional and innovative, they have been conquering hearts of thousands of
fans in Ukraine and abroad for 20 years already. In their repertoire there are
over 300 songs in 12 languages, but most of them are in Ukrainian and have deep
Ukrainian character. Among their hits are “Starenky tramway” (“The old tram”),
“Pustelnyk” (“The hermit”), “Sumna ya bula” (“When I was sad”) and many others.
Apart from drums and percussion the band does not use any musical instruments. They
produce all the sounds with a help of their voices and sometimes hands. All
musicians have classical education in their background but like to experiment
with different music styles, from classical and folk to modern ones.
“If song has a rock-n-roll character I can
imitate a guitar,” said Andriy Kapral, band’s tenor and soloist, famous for his
improvisation skills. “If song is melodic and calm then I like to make a sound
of trumpet. If it’s a tune with jazz mood I can try to reproduce trombone,”
said the musician.
Besides
unique music there are also two important things Pikkardiyska Tercia is
respected for. Unlike many Ukrainian musicians the sextet always performs live
music and does not take parts of any political forces during election
campaigns. It is Ukrainian politicians and businessmen who feel proud to
support the musicians.
The list of
people who provided financial or organizational support to prepare for the
band’s 20th anniversary concerts in Vinnytsia, Lviv and Kyiv earlier last month
included Ihor Tarasiuk, former head of State Management of Affairs (DUSia),
Borys Kolesnikov, vice premier minister for infrastructure, Sergiy Tigipko, vice
premier minister and minister for social policy, Petro Poroshenko, minister for
economic development and trade, and Oleh Bakhmatiuk, owner of agriholding
Avangard and a billionaire.
The show
thrown by the band in Palats Ukraina in Kyiv on Sept. 29 was attended by 4,000
people. The band impressed its bands by a bright contemporary video part
created by Mykhaylo Krupiyevsky. During the concert Pikkardiyska Tercia sang
alone and together with popular Ukrainian musicians including Ruslana, winner
of 2004 Eurovision song contest.
“I don’t
like when you talk about your age, guys,” said Ruslana. “Then everyone knows
how old I am as we studied together at Lviv [State Musical College].” The
singer dedicated her extravagant hairstyle, a blond bang and dark tail, to the
band’s leader Volodymyr Yakymets, known as Donald, who has a snow white hair
along with a perfect ear for music.
It is
Yakyments, who keeps a tuning fork, an instrument which emits a pure musical
tone, during the concerts. Also, Yakymets composed or arranged 70 percent of
band’s music.
History of
Pikkardiyska Tercia goes back to Sept. 24, 1992, when, Yaroslav Nudyk, Andriy
Kapral, Roman Turianyn, Bohdan Bohdach and Andriy Bazylykut under guidance of
Yakymets performed together at Ivan Franko Lviv National University. Andriy
Bazylykut was replaced by Andriy Shavala four years later. That was the only
change that happened in the band.
When
Pikkardiyska Tercia was formed there were few a cappella bands in the country.
Therefore musicians had to develop and promote a cappella genre by their own.
Success of
Pikkardiyska Tercia in Ukraine was rapid. In 1993 the band won a diploma at
Chervona Ruta, the most famous local music festival at that time. The next two
years they participated at Tavriyski Ihry, another popular festival. In 1995
they were awarded Grand Prix of TV song festival “Melodia.”
But
popularity did not bring them money first.
“For 8
years we had been knocking our heads against a brick wall,” said Yakymets. “But
we had been knocking against this wall until it fell down. Then we began
earning normal fees, releasing disks almost every year, touring around the
country and abroad.”
Since then,
number of disks recorded by Pikkardiyska Tercia reached 10. The last one,
Etudes, was released in 2009. Geography of bands tours expanded to Poland,
Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Kanada, USA, Belgium, Switzerland and Singapore.
Once,
Pikkardiyska Tercia was crossing a Ukrainian-Polish border. Their car was
stopped by road police at custom.
“What you
carry in your car?” Yaroslav Nudyk, band’s vocalist recalled the policeman
negligently saying.
“Not ‘what’
but ‘whom’,” band’s driver corrected him. “I carry Pikkardiyska Tercia.”
“Ah,” the
driver replied then and let musicians go. “A major at the end of minor.”
Most fans of
the band know that Pikkardiyska Tercia is a music term which means a major
phrase at the end of music composition. Cheer mood and optimism is what
Pikkardiyska Tercia associate with despite plenty of lyric compositions that
the musicians have in their repertoire.
In 2006 the
band presented Ukrainian culture to commissioners of European Commission in
Brussels. The next year musicians performed together with Ruslana and Al Di
Meola, legendary American guitarist, accompanied by a symphonic orchestra
Leopolis.
In 2008
Pikkardiyska Tercia was awarded Taras Shevchenko Prize, the most prestigious
national award in literature and culture.
“We have
our own musical face and this was worth to live for the last 20 years,”
summarized Yakymets.
The band is
preparing for a tour around. The dates of concerts will be announced soon.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Faryna can be
reached at [email protected].
