If you’re in the mood for live Irish folk music, look no further than O’Brien’s Irish Pub, where U-band performs every Thursday night.
The five-member band consist of flutist Maria Khmelkova, violinist Kiril Borodin, guitarist Evdokym Reshedko, drummer Timofey Reshedko, and Danilko Denisov, who plays the accordion.
With the exception of Denisov who teaches at a music school, the four other band members are old friends who are currently studying at the Kyiv Music Conservatory.
“We have a lot of Irish friends who introduced us to Irish folk music and that is what basically got us started. We were playing various kinds of folk music, mostly Irish tunes in clubs, until in 1999 the manager at O’Brien’s invited us to perform on St. Patrick’s Day, which was a good start for our group.”
“We listened to a lot of CDs of real Irish musicians,” Borodin said. “At first we were playing this kind of music because we were getting paid for it. We eventually grew more interested in it, and now, we simply cannot live without it.”
Since Irish folk music has yet to take Ukraine by storm, the band has little if no opportunity to play in Gaelic music festivals.
“This year there was a festival of Irish music,” Borodin said. “Unfortunately we were not there, but people who went to the festival and heard other groups, say we play very well and are able to capture the sound of real Irish folk music.”
After their St. Patrick’s Day debut, O’Brien’s invited the band to play on a regular basis.
U-band also performs jazz. The group is currently recording a CD of Irish folk songs in Reshedko’s home studio and hope to release it by the end of the year. Borodin says their instruments enable them to imitate the traditional sound of Irish folk tunes.
Borodin says that they are only a handful of band in Ukraine that play Irish folk music. He believes the music is magical because it originated with the pagans and because it truly reflects Celtic culture.
“The songs contain tremendous beautiful melodies,” he says. “When we play them, something special comes over us. We can play for hours non-stop and never feel tired.”
“We simply replace traditional Irish folk instruments with the instruments available here. For example, we replaced the fiddle with the violin,” Borodin says.
The group has some musical projects in the works, and is planning on adding a new lead singer as well.
“Her name is Rosava; she is known as an alternative singer,” Borodin said. “She has placed well in many Ukrainian singing competitions.”
But she performed alone and needed a group. U-band agreed to play with her together and this will be their new program, which needs to be worked on very hard, Borodin said.
U-band plays every Thursday at O’Brien’s Irish Pub wwfrom 6 p.m. to closing and every Friday in the Irish Pub at Boryspil airport.
