BEREZA / BERYOZE with Zozulka Trio

TEMPO Lounge. Doors at 7 PM; show at 7:30 PM.

Old Ukrainian and Yiddish songs in a new song cycle from Zozulka Trio, featuring Eva Salina, Willa Roberts, and Maria Sonevytsky.

The trio has been singing together since 2011, when they came together as an offshoot of The Chornobyl Songs Project, led by their mentor, Kyiv-based ethnomusicologist Yevhen Yefremov.

The program will run approximately 55 minutes, followed by an artist-and-scholar talk-back with the audience.

Many old songs brim with ecological awareness. Old songs from the territory of modern Ukraine tell stories about plants like the birch tree—bereza in Ukrainian, beryoze in Yiddish—that bend, break, and heal, becoming metaphors for human fragility and tenacity. Birds mark the turning of seasons and shifts in our internal weather as well.

Since 2011, Zozulka—a trio named after the Ukrainian word for cuckoo bird—has interpreted songs from a wide range of Ukrainian village traditions. With BEREZA / BERYOZE, the trio branches into a new cycle of songs that speak directly to ecological themes. Zozulka reaches into Yiddish song repertoires from Ukraine, matching and contrasting Jewish and Ukrainian song traditions that coexisted and drew upon grounded ecological knowledge. This song cycle reimagines old songs by rooting them in new sonic and cultural landscapes. Through expansive and bold arrangements, the works in BEREZA / BERYOZE illuminate how folk wisdom can deepen our awareness of the interdependence between human and more-than-human worlds. In an era marked by global climate change and devastating acts of ecocide in wartorn Ukraine and beyond, BEREZA / BERYOZE celebrates variegated and interlinked song traditions and the cathartic, regenerative power of singing old songs in the present.

A portion of proceeds will go to the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group: https://uncg.org.ua/en/

More music: zozulka.bandcamp.com

Tickets:
- $15 community
- $25 standard
- $35 supporter
- Free for kids 12 and under

All tickets are general admission seating. A beer, wine, and cider bar is available. Choose the ticket that feels right for you. Every option supports TEMPO in its own way, and we’re grateful to have you with us.

The event is held in TEMPO Lounge. Enter through the side door on Hunter St. Street parking only, including two public parking lots off Broadway. Accessible ramp entrance on Hunter St, to the right of the main door.