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Shchedryk Ukrainian Choir Series

Ходить зайчик / The Bunny Walks

arr. Roman Surzha

A Ukrainian folk song with a melody illuminated like a prism by the other voices in the chorus.

Duration:
UK-001
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SSA a cappella choir

“The Bunny Walks” exemplifies how a simple folk melody and child-like innocence can create sublime music. A single solo voice tells the story of a bunny who circles a house, desiring nothing else but to help a young child sleep. A wordless chorus accompanies the melody with Impressionistic tone colors.

Composer’s Notes

“The Bunny Walks” is about a baby named Romtsia whom his family is trying to get to sleep. A rabbit walks past their house and wants to help to get the baby to sleep. The music is characterised by a soaring solo voice.

Danish-Argentinian-Israeli conductor Saul Zaks explains the music: “[This solo] voice sings in the most naive way a folk tone – a lullaby – which is strophic. That is, it’s the same tune over and over again. But each time that melody comes, it is illuminated like a prism in new ways from the other voices in the chorus. The melody stays the same, while the harmonies in the rest of the choir change and colour the melody in new ways. There is a painting by Claude Monet of a French cathedral, in which he paints the same window – and the same cathedral façade – many times. But each time he paints it, it’s a different colour. And it’s exactly the same here. The same main motif – the window, or the melody that the child sings. And every time that melody is repeated, it’s in a different colour, in a different constellation, as if the whole thing is moving without moving, without taking us out of focus. Then the song reaches some kind of climax, then it comes back, and then it dies, disappearing the same way it started.”

Text

Hodytj, hodytj zajtʃyk
Hodytj kruhom haty
Hotʃe vin maloho
Romtsiu kolysaty

Hotʃe vin maloho
Romtsiu kolysaty
A didusj oj bude
Romtsiu zabavliaty

A didusj oj bude
Romtsiu zabavliaty
A babusia j bude
Kazotʃku kazaty

A babusia j bude
Kazotʃku kazaty
A mamusia j bude
Pisenjku spivaty

A mamusia y bude
Pisenjku spivaty
A malenjkyj Romtsiu
Bude sobi spatu

– Traditional Ukrainian Folk Song
With newly adapted English Lyrics by Annabella Gelmetti

Translation:
The bunny is walking, walking,
Walking around the house,
He wants to sway a baby
Romtsia.

He wants to sway a baby
Romtsia
And the grandpa will
Entertain Romtsia.

And the grandpa will
Entertain Romtsia
And the granny will
Tell a fairytale.

And the granny will
Tell a fairytale
And mommy will
Sing a song.

And mommy will
Sing a song
And a baby Romtsia
Will sleep.

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