The Female Cossacks Song & Dance Ensemble “Lyubo”
Program

Act I

1. Borona (Harrow) ceremony – written from the words of Lidia Syomka (Novoplastunovskaya village, Pavlovskaya District of Kuban). This ancient ceremony, which includes performance of songs of the entire calendar cycle—winter, spring, summer and fall—is used to bring an abrupt change in the weather, to end drought, for example, and serves to protect the village around which it is performed.
2. Na more beryoza potopala ... (A Birch Tree Walked on the Sea ...) (incantation, Bryansk region). This very ancient song calls upon the forces of nature to hurry the coming of spring and warmth.
3. Kak poyedesh, milyi, v polye (As You Ride Off into the Field, My Beloved) – dry dance (Novolabinskaya village). The “dry dance” genre means singing and dancing through tears, for example, when the husbands and sons go off to war in service to their country, in other words, to certain death.
4. Ty zarya l moya, zorenka (Are You My Daybreak, My Little Dawn) – wedding song of the Line Cossack Host (Novosvobodnaya village).
5. Rechenka (Little River) – quadrille. Members of the audience are invited to participate in this square dance on stage.
6. Chastushki (Ditties). These are humorous couplets on themes of everyday life.
7. Staroye bandzho (The Old Banjo) – virtuoso instrumental performed by a quartet of folk instruments.
8. V tikhii vecher nepogozhii (On a Quiet Rainy Evening) – historical song of the Line Cossack Host (Vladimirskaya village), performed a cappella.
9. Marusinka pshanichenku zhala (Marusinka Reaped the Wheat) – song of the Nekrasov Cossacks. Vocal and choreographic composition. The songs of the Nekrasov Cossacks, who resettled in Turkey in the time of Peter the Great, have characteristically Eastern flavor and, in spite of their roots in Slavic tradition, are interesting from the point of view of intermingling of the two cultures.
10. U kolodezya voda ... (The Water at the Well ...) – song of the Nekrasov Cossacks. Vocal and choreographic composition.
11. Oy, na gorke kalina (Oh, There's a Viburnum on the Hill ...) – dancing song of the Nekrasov Cossacks (Nrekrasovskaya village).
12. Kak poeydu ya vo Turtsiyu (As I Ride Off to Turkey) – dancing song of the Terek Cossacks (Labinsk). The Terek Cossacks are inhabitants of the Caucasus Mountains, so their songs have much in common with the musical culture of the mountain peoples—Lezgins, Adygs, etc.
13. Za morem Kaspiiskim (Across the Caspian Sea) – plaintive song of the Terek Cossacks (Novolabinskaya village), performed a cappella.
14. Na gore stoit Shamil (Shamil Stands on the Mountain) – vocal and choreographic composition. Intermission

Act II

1. Oy, v sadu vishenka tsvetyot (Oh, There's a Cherry Tree Blooming in the Garden) – marching song of the Line Host of Cossacks (Tsarskaya village). The Line Host are Russian-speaking Cossacks who resettled to Kuban from the Don River. In this composition, the girls demonstrate their mastery of the saber—an indispensable accessory for all marching songs.
2. Nema girsh ne komu (No One Has It Worse) – a lyrical song of the Black Sea Cossacks (Novolabinskaya village), sung a cappella. The Black Sea Cossacks resettled from Ukraine to Kuban during the time of Catherine the Great, so the song is sung in Ukrainian, the most lyrical and melodious of all Slavic languages.
3. Lyublyu ya kazachenku (I Love a Cossack Girl) – dancing song of the Line Cossack Host (Abadzekhskaya village). Vocal and choreographic composition.
4. Oy, Kume, Kume (Oh, My Godmother, My Godmother) – humorous song of the Black Sea Cossacks (Smolennskaya village).
5. Oy, vy moi kury (Oh, You My Chickens) – humorous song of the Black Sea Cossacks (Elizavetinskaya village).
6. Raspisnaya gornitsa (Painted Room) – humorous song of the Line Cossack Host (Belorechensk village). Vocal and choreographic composition.
7. Akh, Odessa ... (Oh, Odessa ...) – medley of popular Odessa songs performed by a quartet of folk instruments.
8. Vinovata li ya (Am I to Blame) – popular urban love song of the 20th century (arranged by A. Afonin).
9. Odnazhdy morem ya plyla (Once I Sailed the Sea) – urban love song, catchily performed in mid-20th century French cabaret style (arranged by A. Afonin).
10. Techyot reka Volga (Flows the River Volga) – popular song of the 1960's, music by M. Fradkin, lyrics by L. Oshanin.
11. Staryi klyon (The Old Maple Tree) – popular song of the 1960's, music by A. Pakhmutova, lyrics by M. Matusovsky.
12. Kakim ty byl ... (The Way You Were) – popular song from the film “Kuban Cossacks,” music by Dunaevsky, lyrics by Isakovsky (arranged by A. Afonin).
13. Zhil da byl chyornyi kot za uglom (There Once Was a Black Cat Around the Corner) – popular song of the 1960's, music by Yu. Saulsky (arranged by I. Murzanaev).
14. Fantasia on the theme from Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, Flight of the Bumblebee, performed by a quartet of folk instruments.
15. Priezzhali kolyadovshchiki (Came the Carolers) – Christmas carol with a modern treatment (Novoplastunovskaya village), arranged by A. Afonin.
16. Ivanko (Ivanko) – modern treatment of a humorous song of the Black Sea Cossacks (Atamanskaya village).
17. Vyd-ka, Olechka, poglyadi ... (Look, Olechka, See ...) humorous song (Bryansk Oblast), arranged in jazz/rock style.
18. Oy ty, Vanka – chyornyi tsygan! (Oh, Vanka, You Black Gypsy) – dancing song of the Line Cossack Host (Labinskaya village), sing-along with the audience.
19. Tak daite, daite mne volyu (So Give Me, Give Me the Will) – plaintive anthem of the Line Cossack Host about their