Folk rocker from Kyiv, with love

Winnipeg might not seem like a great place to celebrate Ukraine's birthday as a free country. It is, after all, 7,000 kilometres away. But on Tuesday we celebrated Ukraine's 19th birthday with Oleh Skrypka, and that's about as close to home as you can get.

Skrypka, whose name means "violin," is a musical legend back in the old country. If Winnipeg were Kyiv, fans would have been hanging from the rafters of the Silverado club in the North End to hear Skrypka croon.

So the opportunity to share the Skrypka experience with only a couple of hundred fans was a treat.

About the same number of people went to city hall earlier on Tuesday to sing the national anthem as Skrypka and Mayor Sam Katz raised the Ukraine's blue-and-yellow flag. Ukrainians in Winnipeg have been singing that anthem for at least half a century, while Ukraine adopted it only after shedding its Soviet vestiges on Aug. 24, 1991. Ukrainians in Winnipeg have been laying memorial wreaths at the monument to victims of Stalin's man-made famine since the 1980s; in Ukraine, the truth of the Holodomor surfaced only after Independence.

As the Soviet Union was coming apart, Skrypka and his band were playing subversive punk rock with a cult following throughout the USSR. The band's subsequent success in Europe ensured a level of artistic and financial freedom that allowed Skrypka to become a major cultural force and leader.

Flashback to 2004, to the summer before the "Orange Revolution." It was July when Skrypka launched an annual folk music festival in a Kyiv park.

A day earlier, in the same park, a banker-turned-politician named Victor Yushchenko launched his campaign for the presidency, challenging then-premier Victor Yanukovych. Thousands came out for the celebration of art, culture and music organized by Skrypka.

Grandparents and toddlers proudly wore their vyshyvanky -- embroidered traditional shirts -- and danced in defiance as police crept through the crowd videotaping festival-goers, as if documenting a crime.

It was that sort of absurd intimidation that led hundreds of thousands into the streets when the government tampered with the election and declared Yanukovych the winner. Seventeen days of standoff ensued. Riot police were issued bullets. Cooler heads prevailed, bloodshed was avoided. Peaceful people power won the day and repeat elections delivered Yushchenko the presidency.

Five years later, Yanukovych got his revenge and is the president. It would seem that the Orange Revolution failed and the counter-revolution has succeeded.

Still, speaking during his solo set in Winnipeg on Independence Day, Skrypka spoke fondly of the Orange Revolution and thanked Winnipeg for sending so many election observers in 2004.

Since 1991, Ukraine has had four presidents, six parliaments and 19 cabinets. There are over 200 political parties and the political process is ruthless. In his Independence Day address, President Victor Yanukovych could not resist blaming his predecessor for the country's woes and claimed that all Ukrainians reject "the course... of the orange team."

His choice of the words shows that Yanukovych still disregards half of the country that did not support him (more than 12 million voters) and still harbours grudges from 2004.

Skrypka's message in Winnipeg was that Yushchenkos and Yanukovychs come and go, but Ukraine is on the map to stay. An annual poll conducted over the last 10 years ahead of Independence Day shows that 60 per cent of Ukrainians would vote "yes" in a referendum on independence in 2010. That number is down from the 90 per cent who voted for independence in 1991 and Ukrainians are today evenly split on the question of whether or not their country is genuinely independent. But the majorities across all ages and regions would still say "yea" to independence.

That majority has been stable for the last five years, unlike the approval ratings of presidents. And after less than a half year in office, Yanukovych's approval rating has fallen considerably after his government backtracked on promises of cheaper natural gas for the population in exchange for prolonging the Russian Black Sea Fleet's lease of its naval base in Crimea.

Independence broke down borders and today Canadians can travel freely to Ukraine without visas and travel restrictions.

Star performers from Ukraine like Skrypka can come to Canada -- without a KGB escort -- speak their minds publicly and go back home. In 2010, the presidents of Ukraine and Russia laid wreaths in Kyiv honouring the victims of Stalin's man-made famine. The same anthems and flags are today sung and hung in Winnipeg and Kyiv. All this was unheard of even 20 years ago.

Stephen Bandera is a freelance journalist who has returned to Winnipeg after 12 years in Ukraine, most recently reporting for the Kyiv Post. He blogs at http://kyivscoop.blogspot.com

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 27, 2010 A14