Plast Malanka 2014

The PLAST Ukrainian Scouting Association of Calgary will be holding its Annual Fundraiser MALANKA on Saturday, January 18, 2014 again at the prestigious Calgary Petroleum Club.  

This sparkling evening of great ambiance, delicious food, really entertaining guest artists, and amazingly good dance band music is simply so enticing you cannot miss it! Featured performances by Vasyl Popadiuk and the Vohon' Ukrainian Dance Ensemble will bring a cultural flair to the evening!  In traditional fashion, PLAST celebrates dance diversity too by hosting two bands for the MALANKA dance floor! The musicians of ZHYTO for the unique jazzy, rock and classic Ukrainian style of Western Canadian polka favorites, and Calgary's own The Real Deal for blues, R& B, funk, soul, swing and beyond.  Really, it is time to plan for this fabulous contemporary MALANKA New Year Eve Gala!

Plast Ukrainian Scouts has an amazingly dedicated body of volunteers working to create a truly vibrant scouting experience for children in Calgary. Quality programs for encouraging Ukrainian identity on the western plains are extremely important for many families - language, culture, the scouting rule, and great community!  

Tickets are available online at  http://www.plast.ca/calgary/malanka/ but you can always contact Roman at 403-241-1781 or Paul at 403-249-3157.   

Zhyto Band CD Release Party

Zhyto Band of Calgary is having
a CD release party this Friday at Lord Nelson Pub located at
1020 8 Ave SW, Calgary AB, Phone: 403-232-6704.

Friday night is a time to be a booster for our friends in the Ukrainian Community of Calgary!  You may have heard of Calgary's most recent Ukrainian Band, they are great!  Band members Stephan Bots, Toma Lebedovich, Erik Smistad, Jordan Welbourne (yes he is Ukrainian too) have created a unique sound, a hybrid of sounds like Gogol Bordello, Great Big Sea, Mad Heads XL - УкраїнSKA / UkrainSKA, Flogging Molly, Vopli Vidopliassova.  This Friday evening is Zhyto's Home CD Release at Lord Nelsons Bar, with some Special Guests! 

Bring your friends and remember to purchase a CD for the parents!!  Or maybe take the parents out to the bar!!

They are also performing in Regina on August 25th at the Victoria Park, and at the Toronto Ukrainian Festival on September 14th!  Get your dancing boots on!

http://www.reverbnation.com/zhyto

Debut Album for Zhyto - Calgary's Ukrainian Zabava Band

Another reason to celebrate Zhyto!


via Jordan Welborne on Facebook

The traditional melodies and rhythms of a people's music contain deeply embedded reflections of the language and culture of its origin.  Kodaly said it, Kolessa said it, Bartok and probably a whole lot of other music people too.  That is why Ukrainian music is so dear to Ukrainian Calgary. And when young people love it, and sing the lyrics to tell the stories, there are a million reasons why that is good!

wisegeek.com

"Zhyto" is a Ukrainian Zabava band based in Calgary, Alberta. Actually the root word probably says "life" too. To live, to enjoy, to prosper, to pass it forward!!  The group brings together flavors of rock, dance, pop and classical into Ukrainian folk music to create a sound entirely their own. Delighting audiences across Canada, the band has an uncanny way of understanding their audience needs, and delivering high energy performances that make guests very happy.  Excellent communicators, with great stage chemistry, Zhyto is a young band with an already impressive list of satisfied festivals and zabava audiences.  http://www.reverbnation.com/zhyto

Zhyto is proud to be releasing their debut album on Friday, August 3rd at the 2012 Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival at Selo Ukraina in Dauphin Manitoba.  www.cnuf.com 
If you haven't been at the festival yet, perhaps this is the year!!

If you are in Calgary or Edmonton, you could catch a ride on the OHUCS Dauphin Bus Tour and party the entire trip there and back! 


Later in August, Zhyto will also perform at Ukrainian Day at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village east of Edmonton.  See you there!!

Calgary's "Zhyto" at Toronto Ukrainian Festival (September 14-16,2012)

They say it takes a village to raise a child.  Well, Ukrainian Calgary has contributed in some small way to the successful rise in  musicianship for some of our young community members.  Support, enthusiasm, appreciative audience!  But we all know it it the dedication of family and the home that helps children get a footing in life.  Still, this Calgary Ukrainian village has for years enjoyed watching Cathy and Bill's kids grow up and become the generous people they are!  Amazing musicians with big hearts, and enthusiasm to share!   Raised in a Ukrainian Calgary home, the violinist and her brother have gathered friendships and together formed a great band that now gains accolades across the country!  The last time I saw them was in Edmonton and the kids kept the dance hall hopping until all hours - but a friend in Chicago heard them and loves them too!  I suspect their list of performances has grown considerably in the past few years - time to check out their website!  http://www.reverbnation.com/zhyto  You can also find them on Facebook. 
 

Formed in the fall of 2008, Zhyto brings together musicians and sounds of every style, including jazz, rock and classical to create a unique sound in the Western Canadian polka scene. With such versatility, Zhyto is as comfortable playing the polka favorites everyone knows and loves, as well as english hits, both new and old.

Toronto's Ukrainian Festival really knows how to pick their bands!  Calgary's own "Zhyto" is playing for the September annual Ukrainian festival on Bloor West Village - great east west community building!

If you haven't planned for January of 2013 - maybe you should!

This is the same band that will play at PLAST Calgary's Malanka in January of 2013.  See you there!!

When is MALANKA 2013? Not too early to book the date!!

The Calgary Plast Ukrainian Scouting Association (PLAST) is again planning for their annual MALANKA!  A really special event, the PLAST MALANKA brings a Calgary Western Flare to the Ukrainian New Year celebration called Malanka.  Plast has a lot of experience with this event, it has been on the calendar each year for.....well at least over 10 years - and each year we dance til the band begs to go home!!



uocvancouver.com

A Ukrainian Malanka is a formerly rural celebration of the New Year. In the deep winter in Ukraine, people would perform traditional plays and skits marking the mystical turn of time.  Calgary PLAST Ukrainan Scouts is also a mix of old and new traditions - each year their program of activities seems to broaden its vision of what is means to be Ukrainian and Canadian.  Calgary PLAST's MALANKA is really a very impressive black tie event in modern downtown Calgary!  It's a special, dress up affair!

Calgary PLAST is again hosting two bands for their 2013 Ukrainian New Years Malanka. Performing that evening will be the two Dance Bands from Calgary, "Zhyto" and "The Real Deal". Also performing will be Stephania Romaniuk, Tanya Chumak, and TRYZUB Dance Ensemble.  Non stop dancing is guaranteed - with a mix of blues, R&B, funk, soul, swing and beyond, and then enthusiatic toetapping traditional Ukrainian dance band sounds, how can you beat it?

I always have such a fun time at Malanka - it's a good party, good company and such a lot of fun seeing friends after the family clutch of the Christmas holidays.  Time to kick up a kolomeyka or something. 

PLAST’s Malanka 2013 will be held on Saturday, January 19, at The Calgary Petroleum Club.

Here's a sample of Zhyto playing - Komaryk - The Mosquito!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v2LKVCbTvM