Kozak Talks Podcast
Ми знайомимо вас з українцями, які побудували тут неймовірне життя - підприємцями, професіоналами, громадськими лідерами та відомими українцями.
Їхні подорожі та інсайдерські поради покажуть вам, як боротися з викликами, відкривати можливості та реалізовувати свій потенціал - і все це з повагою до свого українського коріння.
Kozak Talks Podcast
Демонструвати українську культуру світові через музику та перформанс
Алла Сіренко, видатна українська музикантка, засновниця та директорка Української культурної асоціації у Великій Британії (UCAUK).
Алла прийшла, щоб поділитися своєю натхненною історією з України до престижних музичних залів Великої Британії, розмірковуючи про свій досвід з Львівською філармонією та різними яскравими фестивалями. У нашій розмові Алла обговорює виклики культурної адаптації та стійкість, необхідну для підтримки українського духу за кордоном. Як культурний промоутер через музику, вона відіграла ключову роль у просуванні української культури.
Вона також занурюється в успіх симфонії "Червоний каліпсо", яка символізує солідарність. Цей епізод — не тільки заглиблення у всесвітню привабливість української музики, але й слугує орієнтиром для українців у Великій Британії, відзначаючи багате культурне спадщину, яку вони привносять у свій новий дім.
Приєднуйтесь до нас, коли Алла підкреслює важливість безперервного навчання та співпраці у збереженні та діленні української культури.
Української культурної асоціації у Великій Британії (UCAUK)
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Alla Syrenko, episode 37. Thank you very much for being on my podcast, Kozatalks Life with Ukraine was in Great Britain and you are now in the studio of Kozachok Radio. I know this is not the first time. It's the second time I want to ask you about your life in Ukraine, who you are and why you came to Great Britain. Good afternoon.
Speaker 2:It's very nice to be here again. I'm a Lvivian. I graduated as a professional musician from three conservatories Kyiv as a pianist, lviv as a composer and Tallinn as an organist. Then I got into Lviv Philharmonic. We had many interesting tours. Then it was already possible to go abroad. I was also invited to several festivals here in England and I also had the also to study in Cambridge. I took advantage of these wonderful opportunities and I had a lot of friends and colleagues here.
Speaker 2:I met my future husband in my travels, who also shared my love for music. He is a sound engineer and also makes films, and that's how my life went. But I never broke my relations with Ukraine. I always came here For me as a musician, as a creative person. This is my inspiration. The Ukrainian land, the Ukrainian people, and I always came back with love, helped. If I could, I invited our musicians to tour. Several tours of our opera theatre in Lviv took place here in England and also some concerts. Such interesting festival performances of our musicians were also. That is well. How could I help? I love people and I am always glad to help our Ukrainians.
Speaker 1:When you first moved to Britain, what was your impression of Britain?
Speaker 2:You know, I really liked Britain. I never thought I would have to live here, because then it was easier to go out with concerts. I traveled around the world. I liked other countries.
Speaker 2:I still wanted to go to other countries, but I never thought I would have to stay in England. But I really like England. It's very pleasant to come to Ukraine, but then it starts to irritate such a disfigurement and learn in some order and in other ways. We all have to learn one by one. I had a very interesting professor in Estonia. He studied at the Paris Conservatory and when he told me that despite the fact that I wrote many books, I'm still an old fool, I said how can you say that you know? No matter how many books I wrote, I always learned something that needs to be learned, and this is such a credo. For that we must learn all our life. Nobody ever. For example, I graduated from three conservatories, but I don't care. The more a person knows, the more they have to learn in that world.
Speaker 1:It's interesting because I was talking to Oleksandr, who was also on the podcast, an Ukrainian Angle, and he also said that when a person says that you have already learned everything, it means that a person is already dying, and a person, when he says that he is always learning something, he is always growing and thriving. Look, I want to ask you another question. When you came to the UK, what challenges or even difficulties did you face here?
Speaker 2:challenges or even difficulties you faced here. When I was flying in a plane and started speaking English, I was just terrified because I didn't understand anything they were saying. They were speaking too fast In the subway, too too fast, and you're just terrified. How is that possible? You're angry at yourself. How is that possible you learn so much and don't understand anything they're saying? I don't understand what they're saying to you, but over time because I, for example in Cambridge there were only English people there and in general, only English people came to concerts. Everyone wanted to talk to you. Well, you can't go anywhere. You had to learn on the go very quickly. So if you already live in this country, you have to know the language you have to speak. And also, at that time we are talking about the 90s there was no such thing as special exams to be given in history. But despite this, it was interesting for me to learn more about the history of England. Every district, every town has its own history and I learned a lot from it.
Speaker 1:Wonderful. And what other difficulties did you have here in the UK? Not only language, but what other difficulties did you have Mental health, culture?
Speaker 2:metal sculpture. Well, for example, english food is quite different from our Ukrainian food and you just have to accept it and somehow even love it. There are very interesting traditional English roasts, as we know. Yookshire pie roasts roast Yukshapai roast yes, yes, If you make it in English, it's very tasty. What I don't take is take-away food. It's absolutely useless, it's terrible and I don't advise Ukrainians.
Speaker 1:Alla, when you came to the UK at that time, did you maintain relations with Ukrainians here?
Speaker 2:Quite a few, because I did not live in London. In London, of course, there was always a community. I had several concerts here. I knew our old Ukrainians in a very interesting town called Seren Cester and there were no Ukrainians in Seren Cester at all At all. Yes, there were no Ukrainians at that time.
Speaker 2:It was the beginning of the 90s, someone told me oh, there is a Ukrainian church in Gloucester. Well, we went there and and I made friends with Stefan, a priest. He was a holy man, but even his parishioners were very few at that time. It's just that the English knew that I would like to meet Ukrainians somehow, and they always searched for me. They say there is a girl in another place, here's your phone, call her. And somehow, literally in a few dots, you could talk to the Ukrainians, find out who they were. There was almost no one.
Speaker 1:So you had a English-speaking family? Yes, english, there was almost no one, so you had English students in your dormitory. Yes, english students. But you came from Ukraine. You are a composer right.
Speaker 2:Yes, a composer, a pianist.
Speaker 1:And when you came here you went to study at Cambridge right and you went to the same profession that you did in Ukraine and this was very interesting for me because we were not taught English music in the conservatory.
Speaker 2:At that time we were taught Ukrainian, russian, european English music. Very little was divided.
Speaker 1:Is there any difference between English music? There is music. If it's a good melody, then you understand.
Speaker 2:Folk songs are very good, english ballads are very good, but it's specific music. I like English music. I like Algar Walton, english choral composers.
Speaker 1:Wow. So you come here, live in Gloucestershire there are no Ukrainians there and you study. Do you go to work? Already? I was invited Then I was lucky.
Speaker 2:They opened a college in the Seren Sestery, a new college. And since I gave concerts in the Seren Sestery, they invited Kulich I, tak jak ja davala koncerty v Seren Sestari, to vene zaprosili vykladate fortepiano v tomu kulichi I s czasom. Takož mene zaprosili, buti artistichnym direktorom festivalu my organizuvali festival, na jaki meni vdalo se zaprositi nasz balet z Lvivskoj opery, wow A. And how did the British look at Ukrainians at that time? How did they look at Ukrainians who came from Ukraine? I said that since I'm Ukrainian, I would like to talk about Ukrainian music and Ukraine. The first phrase I had from the lecture was do you know where Ukraine is?
Speaker 1:And that's among the intellectuals, that is, they all thought for some reason, that Ukraine is Russia.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's what I thought. Yes, and you had to start with geography, where Ukraine is, and also with history. And it was a little funny and weird for me, but I had to do some educational work. Back then we did educational work, gave concerts. We were doing educational work. Back then we were doing educational work, giving concerts. I invited our Ukrainian musicians, we did concerts, but it was a closed society. It wasn't open for all the English people, let's say, so that the English knew it. It was more among their own people. But for me it was important to open doors for everyone so that the English knew the Spaniards, italians etc. Would know where Ukraine is, our music and everything. We needed a global recognition.
Speaker 1:And that's what we did. Then we you opened it here. You are the founder of the Ukrainian Cultural Association in Great Britain. I want to ask you where did you get the idea that you opened such an organization? Maybe, as you just said, for the fact that you opened it, for the fact that you wanted not only Ukrainians to know, ukrainians who live in Great Britain, but also other nationalities who live in Great UK that know about Ukraine and know about Ukrainian culture.
Speaker 2:Yes, it was somehow logical because, as I told you, I gave many concerts, lectures about Ukrainian culture, ukrainian music and so on. I had the honor of being invited by the artistic director and producer of concerts in our Catholic Cathedral in London, at Mayfair. It was Volodymyr Hlieb. Then he came to one of my concerts. He liked it and he asked me to organize concerts in the church, and so I organized different concerts every month for six years. We also invited musicians, artists from different countries, from France, from America, from Italy. But despite the fact that they were not Ukrainians, we had the main idea that they would perform one or two artists. It is very important that foreigners learn our Ukrainian culture and that singers learn Ukrainian language and sing our songs. If you want to perform in the center of London, please learn Ukrainian songs, ukrainian songs. And at one of these concerts came the director of the organization called Federation of International Women in London. That is, she gathers diplomats, doctors, very honest women, and she asked me if I would like to organize an organization.
Speaker 2:I was very busy with my concerts at that time. I said I would think about it. I thought how to find time, but it so happened that the time came because of COVID, everything was gone. It was no longer possible to give live concerts. And then in 2020, I just gathered group of people and we organized this organization. It is a membership organization.
Speaker 2:We already doing Zoom concerts and we had a huge auditorium here. Then the war was going on in Ukraine and people needed help, especially soldiers or hospitals, and the money that we had from the sale of those Zoom concerts we were able to help send to Ukraine. We really liked that we can at least help, and so our organization is active and now I think it will continue to develop. We always now do concerts almost every month and help our Ukrainian people who need help. We help hospitals, houses where children are without parents, organizations that turn to us for help. We check these organizations. I myself provide help so that it is not stolen and those who ask for it get into the hands. So that's how we work.
Speaker 1:So you support Ukraine? Now you support Ukraine. Is it DonateHorosheva?
Speaker 2:Yes, how do you support the Ukrainian community here in Great Britain? And we donated 500 pounds to them for their needs. That is, in this way we helped. Also, if we serve, we look for talented musicians or artists. We include them in our concerts.
Speaker 1:So, let's say, a Ukrainian talented person calls me or approaches me, can I really direct them to you? Yes, we have classical and folk music in our direction.
Speaker 2:Great good this will be good information so I can direct people to you.
Speaker 1:Or even make a small announcement and say that people can turn to you. Thank you for this information. What difficulties did you go through when you opened your organization? What difficulties did you go through when you opened your organization?
Speaker 2:We didn't have any difficulties. We were just busy working and everything went very well. If you work hard and trust the people you work with, I don't think there are difficulties. You just have to work.
Speaker 1:How did you find all these musicians? How did you find them in Ukraine, in the conservatory in Lviv, and I was inspired by the environment of the musician.
Speaker 2:I also studied in Kyiv. I have a lot of friends in Kyiv and Lviv. Well, such a help is quite serious for musicians who work in philharmonic halls and opera theatres and so on. That is, those relationships were supported and are still supported. I am invited to festivals in Ukraine. I came to a festival last year in October and here I have also existed for a long time and since I was the artistic director of the festival and I constantly do concerts. So it's clear that such a field of relations and acquaintances it expands. I am also a member of some public music organizations and I am invited to concerts. I am invited, that is, I have a huge field of acquaintances.
Speaker 1:Wow, yes, I know A lot of people spoke for you. Very good things were said about you. Alek, I want to ask you how do the British react to Ukrainian music and culture?
Speaker 2:They like it very much. If you give it deliciously, it's very well received. Unfortunately, some of the concerts I've been to and some events were very sad and they didn't show Ukrainian culture on the best side, and that needs to be considered. You need to show the best for foreigners.
Speaker 1:What do?
Speaker 2:you have for the best. What's the best? As far as theatres are concerned, the best director must be at the European level, because it's a competitive performance of theatres. I don't want to name the specific performances I've seen, but even those Ukrainians who are performing now you have to consider. You have to prepare very well for the concerts and you have to go to other concerts to know how it is done here and the other nationalities, not only the British?
Speaker 1:how do they look at Ukrainian music or culture in general?
Speaker 2:As I said, if you deliver it with taste, if it is really at a high European level, then it turns out. Not only Ukrainian music, but in general music grows to be international, accessible to the whole world, and we need to strive for this so that the music is Ukrainian and not only closed to the Ukrainian diaspora, but also in the music that will be enjoyed by other nationalities. For example, our song Red Calypso, which received an interesting reputation from Pink Floyd, the whole world started to sing it.
Speaker 1:The new version was also in English. People started to make remixes, dubs and so on.
Speaker 2:Absolutely In other languages. What about your last concerts? As I said, all our concerts, especially the last two years, are dedicated to Ukraine. They all have to be for charity, for the help of Ukraine, to charity to help Ukraine. And, as always, I encourage international English performers, french, american, to join our Ukrainian culture and perform Ukrainian music together with European already known.
Speaker 2:We had a very interesting concert last summer in St John's Square. It was such a very beautiful church. Now it has become a concert hall. There are 500 seats in that church. We sold tickets completely. We had an orchestra, an English symphony orchestra, our Ukrainian choir, our talented young Ukrainian performers. They performed wonderful Ukrainian songs with the. We also had a concert in the Marlboro Theatre in the center of London. The concert went very well. We had a mixed orchestra of English and Ukrainian musicians from different countries. It's nice to see English musicians of other nationalities and see how they loved Ukraine and loved the world. Ukrainian music is a huge trend now and different nationalities are happy to perform Ukrainian music. It's really nice and for me as a Ukrainian, as a musician, it's very. It makes me happy Because in the first years it was difficult. As I told you, you remember where Ukraine is and you tell about the geography at first.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, yes, but now it's not like that.
Speaker 2:Times have changed.
Speaker 1:yes, yes, yes. Times have changed. A lot has changed in this world.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes and now, what are your plans for the next week, which will sing beautiful Ukrainian songs. I will play my works on the piano which I dedicated to Ukrainian children, and also Kasia Madera from BBC will be a presenter. She will present our concert. So it will be such a big event. Then we will have a big concert on April 23rd, again in the Marlbourne Theatre, which is in the center of London. It will be an orchestral concert. A pianist from Germany will come our Ukrainian and a conductor will come from Lviv. So it will be a big orchestral concert. There will be Ukrainian music, western European music and also my music as a composer. This is such a concert. Then in May I am going to Ukraine. There will have a very interesting concert in the center of London, our talented musicians, which is organized by our organization. So we are constantly progressing our acquaintances with musicians and the public. They are growing, so we look at it very positively.
Speaker 1:So we are looking at it very positively, thank you. But what is your vision? What do you want from your organization? What do you see in the future?
Speaker 2:Our mission in the future is to glorify Ukrainian culture at the highest level. We will continue to do this and we are also very happy that we have the opportunity to help Ukraine. These are two main things that we are developing our task, our idea.
Speaker 1:How can our viewers and listeners help you, or how will it be connected? Join your project.
Speaker 2:We will be very grateful and glad to see them at our concerts. This is the main help. We have a website, wwwucaukcom. There we have concerts, when and how they will be. So support, come to our concerts. Maybe someone will want to be a member of our organization. We will gladly accept. We also have other events for our members, so we are open to all forms of negotiations and relations.
Speaker 1:Thank you. I have a short podcast. If you want to say something to the audience, you can say it. I have four more questions for you. These are questions that I always ask on KozaTalks, Alla. If you have anything else you want to say, you can say it from yourself.
Speaker 2:I'm grateful that you invited me and gave me the opportunity to talk to you and also to talk to the big Ukrainian audience. It's always nice for me. Thank you very much and I think we will continue our successful relationships.
Speaker 1:Thank you. I have four questions for you. I always ask them on Kozatox. Number one what did Ukraine teach you that Britain didn't teach you?
Speaker 2:yet Well, I was born in Ukraine and I will always be a Ukrainian. What did Ukraine teach me? Ukraine taught me to be open. I am open and I always share what I have with joy. If I can help someone, I help.
Speaker 1:What did Britain teach you? What did Ukraine teach you?
Speaker 2:Britain taught me discipline, clarity, Well, such features that are not in Ukraine yet and that are produced, but it comes with the years. For those all more than 30 years, I learned a little.
Speaker 1:Thank you. This question will be for Rosyna Dviakovskaya. What advice would you give to Ukrainians who live here for a long time and Ukrainians who have recently come here?
Speaker 2:Those who live here for a long time must open up to those Ukrainians who have come here and, if possible, help them give advice, and those Ukrainians who have come here must also learn and listen to those advice.
Speaker 1:Thank you. And the last question what advice would you give to Ukrainians who want to come here or plan to come here to the UK?
Speaker 2:To be yourself.
Speaker 1:That's all. We all have different situations in life, right? We can't say what will happen to those who will come. We don't know what their situation is, how they will come, why they will come. Everyone has their own dreams. They learned the history of this country and adopted it and assimilated it, but did not forget that they are Ukrainians as well. I live in the UK for a long time. I founded the organization Ukrainian Culture Association in the UK. You can find me on the website, instagram and Facebook. You can also find Alla on Facebook. I will also post the links below. Dear Ukrainians, if you like podcasts, if you listen, you know where you can find it on the website kozatoxcom, and if you watch it on YouTube, please subscribe to the YouTube channel, like share. Also, leave your comments on who you would like to listen to or to invite to the podcast. I also want to ask you, dear Ukrainians all podcasts are recorded on the Kozatox Studio radio. Thank you for watching.
