Editor’s Note: Previous version of this article contained a mistake. Stepan Pasicznyk is a British resident of Ukrainian origin, not American. We thank our readers for being attentive and acknowledging the mistake. We sincerely apologize to Mr. Pasicznyk.This man has a mission. It’s nothing to do with being parachuted into the annexed Crimea for a Bond-style operation, but for him it’s an important one.
An American of Ukrainian origin, Stepan Pasicznyk, 50, has translated into English and released a dozen popular Ukrainian songs. And it looks like he’s developing quite a following.
Pasiczynk’s English version of the famous Ukrainian folk song “Dearest Mother of Mine” (“Ridna Maty Moya”) counts over 132,000 views on YouTube. The video features a middle-aged man dressed in a Ukrainian embroidered shirt and a straw hat playing guitar as he sits on a bench by the house. This is a typical setting for Pasicznyk’s videos, and he stars in them himself.
Among his translations is the legendary Ukrainian song “Chervona Ruta,” (Red Rue) written in 1971 by Volodymyr Ivasiuk, western Ukrainian folk song “Halychanochka,” (A girl from Halychyna), and a few Ukrainian Christmas carols.
He says it was a Russian folk song translated into English that gave him the idea to translate Ukrainian ones. “Ukraine has such a great culture and I thought English is my first language and Ukrainian is my second one, so why don’t I translate Ukrainian songs so a wider audience can understand them,” Pasicznyk says.
His father moved to the Great Britain during World War II, though his mother is Irish Pasicznyk says he was brought up Ukrainian. Even though he works as a swimming teacher, his passion for music goes back to his young years.
“In 1990s I used to be in a band called The Ukrainians and in 1993 we even did a tour around Ukraine,” he recalls.
Pasicznyk says he’s been to Ukraine four times, as a single man, then with his family, on a cultural program of the Ukrainian government and as a musician. He even wanted to move back to his homeland once.
“But kids got roots here and it appeared I am not such a free man,” he says, laughing.
As a Russian invasion followed the EuroMaidan revolution in Ukraine, Pasicznyk says he and others from the diaspora community even got involved in a propaganda war between Ukraine and Russia.
“We have been monitoring foreign media, checking how reliable the sources of their information about Ukraine were and stuff like that,” he says.
Pasicznyk says British Ukrainian diaspora has always tried to stay on top of Ukrainian events, helped spreading the idea of boycotting Russian goods. In his free time, Pasicznyk holds charity concerts with his two daughters, 12 and 15 years old. The money from the concerts is donated to various initiatives in Ukraine.
“We here feel kind of an obligation to get involved in what’s happening in Ukraine,” he says.
Pasicznyk is sure that music is not less important in the information standoff and ensures he is not going to give up on translations and singing.
“Once a musician, always a musician,” the man says.
The newest one to be released is a translation of a lullaby by Ukrainian Poet Vasyl Symonenko.
“I almost got the words singable,” he laughs and says his next plan is to translate a couple of popular songs from EuroMaidan.
Kyiv Post staff writer Daryna Shevchenko can be reached at [email protected].
