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Describe the atmosphere and live music at a local pub, restaurant, festival, church or temple, club night.... inspire other people to check it out!
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Musician: Len Liggins
Location: Leeds
Instruments: voice, skipra (fiddle)
Music: Ukranian
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HOW I CAME TO THIS MUSIC听听听听听听听听听听WHERE I PLAY听听听听听听听听听听A FAVOURITE SONG |
  
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 听听Listen (3'20) to a track by Len Liggins' band The Ukrainians called Zavtra taken from their album: Drink to my Horse! (Zirka Records - ZRKCD1).
'It is about a kozak (cossack) who has to ride off to war on his horse and leave his sweetheart behind.'
How I came to this music:
At school I had Polish friends and I was fascinated by the newspapers they brought in - words with strange clusters of consonants and cartoons with an unfamiliar brand of humour. I was hooked! It was the beginning of a love affair with all things Slavic. When I was eighteen I went up to Leeds to study Russian and Czech. After getting my degree I indulged a music obsession by playing in a few Indie guitar bands, but it wasn't until I got a phone call from Pete Solowka from Indie darlings The Wedding Present that I got the chance to combine Slavic languages and music - the two biggest interests of my life.
'Hi Len', he said, 'you play violin, don't you? And you know some Slavic languages? We've been offered a Peel Session in two week's time and we want to do some Ukrainian tunes! Will you join us?'
From then on Peter and I started collecting tapes, records and old books of Ukrainian folk tunes. We went round to each other's houses and learned to play our favourite ones. We even started to write our own songs! Meanwhile John Peel asked us back to do another session three months later, such was the response from listeners to the programme. After that Peter left The Wedding Present so that we could start The Ukrainians.
Since then Peter and I have recorded four albums and are just about to start on the fifth. What we enjoy is not simply reproducing old folk tunes and styles but creating our own blend of Ukrainian and Western Indie Folk Punk! So, as well as using accordions, fiddle and mandolins we use electric guitars and drums - and as well as recording traditional Ukrainian folk songs we have done our own versions of songs by Western groups such as The Smiths, Prince, Kraftwerk and The Velvet Underground. What is very flattering for us, though, is that some of the songs we have written ourselves have been performed and recorded by folk and rock groups in Poland, Russia and Ukraine.
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