The Magic of Ukrainian Traditional Music - with Mariana Sadovska and André Erlen

Explaining Ukraine · Sep 17, 2026 · 46m

Ukrainian traditional music has preserved one of the richest traditions of polyphonic singing in the world. It has survived centuries of oppression, oblivion, marginalisation, and even physical extermination. Despite all this, there have always been people in Ukraine who travelled to villages, talked to local singers, listened to their songs, and recorded them. Thanks to their work, this tradition remains alive — not only in the villages themselves, but also in archival recordings, on stage, and increasingly in modern interpretations. Today, we are going to talk about this extraordinary…