SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
There are the sounds of war in Kyiv these days - air raid sirens, Russian missile strikes. But one resident of that city would like to bring our ears something hopeful and brave - the rich heritage of Ukrainian music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SHAPOVAL SEXTET'S "OH, GET READY, COSSACK, THERE WILL BE A MARCH")
SIMON: Vitalii Bardetskyi is a DJ, a writer, record shop owner and one of the figures behind a new compilation album called "Even the Forest Hums: Ukrainian Sonic Archives 1971-1996." It features music made when Ukraine was still part of the U.S.S.R. And as he conveys in the liner notes, much of it was created despite the harsh constraints of the official system.
VITALII BARDETSKYI: In the Soviet times, we had so many restrictions and limits, and you could not record your songs if you were not a member of authorized communities - societies of poets or composers.
SIMON: What memories does hearing this music bring back to you now?
BARDETSKYI: It brings me memories from the times in the '70s when I was a young boy. I was too young to attend live concerts. But as my dad was a communist leader, they let me in. And later on, when I was about 30, I was into American soul and jazz music and funk. And to my surprise, I realized that this music sounds pretty similar.
SIMON: Let me ask you about the song "Play, The Violin, Play."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PLAY, THE VIOLIN, PLAY")
TETIANA KOCHERHINA: (Singing in Ukrainian).
SIMON: What did that song mean when you first heard it?
BARDETSKYI: This song - I think it's been recorded, like, in early '80s. It is produced by a friend of mine, Kyrylo Stetsenko, who is, like, a grandchild of famous Ukrainian composer from the 20th century. He's actually playing violin himself on that track.
(SOUNDBITE OF KYRYLO STETSENKO SONG, "PLAY, THE VIOLIN, PLAY")
BARDETSKYI: It sounds like jamming disco from the '70s. It is also very Ukrainian so reminds me of military march of Ukrainian Cossacks when they are going to the war - incredible how it is combined with disco rhythms.
(SOUNDBITE OF KYRYLO STETSENKO SONG, "PLAY, THE VIOLIN, PLAY")
SIMON: Is there a song you can point us to on this album that really underscores a time when somebody said, you know, this is going to be a Ukrainian song; this is our statement against Soviet domination?
BARDETSKYI: I wouldn't say that any song on this compilation is protest song. The biggest protest in this music is aesthetically. It's not any Soviet music. It's got zero Soviet aesthetics into that. They sound like traditional Ukrainian music. And the Soviet authorities - they actually supported traditional music because they believed pop music in Ukraine to be fake traditional...
SIMON: Yeah.
BARDETSKYI: ...Music for tourists. But it was not. This music that we created in the '70s, '80s and '90s was, like, anti-Soviet, I would say, without having any protest lyrics.
(SOUNDBITE OF KOBZA'S "BUNNY")
SIMON: Did music begin to change in the '90s as the Soviet Union began to come apart?
BARDETSKYI: I remember this early '90s, and the things were changing dramatically really quick. We were living in the Soviet economy, and then we had this years of so-called wild capitalism coming out in early '90s. And I would say that, informationally - that it was getting a lot easier for musicians to listen to the music from the world.
(SOUNDBITE OF KOBZA'S "BUNNY")
SIMON: What's your life like now as an entertainer?
BARDETSKYI: It's good, as much as it could be in our circumstances. My business is suffering a lot because I was running a concert promotion, then big-scale war. You might know we have the curfew here. And, basically, promoting gigs when we have so many airstrikes nearly every day - it's difficult.
SIMON: You wrote that music has always pulled Ukrainians out of the abyss. It becomes our kind of gospel - a song that supports us when it seems everything else is lost. Is that true now?
BARDETSKYI: Absolutely. Big part of our identity is located in our music.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
BARDETSKYI: Imagine one day that we Ukrainians don't have our music. I'm afraid we wouldn't be Ukrainians anymore.
SIMON: DJ, record shop owner and journalist Vitalii Bardetskyi talking about the new Ukrainian compilation album for which he's written the liner notes, "Even The Forest Hums." Thank you so much for being with us.
BARDETSKYI: Many thanks. It's been a pleasure of mine.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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