Songlines of Ukraine is a research project dedicated to the traditional musical practices of ethnic communities in Bessarabia, a region where diverse peoples and cultures coexist.
In June 2025, the Kultura Medialna team, together with composer and folklore researcher Mariana Sadovska, embarked on the project’s first expedition (visiting Borysivka, Faraonivka, Furmanivka, Krutoyarivka, Tatarbunary, and Utkonosivka). They traveled through Moldovan, Romanian, and Romani villages in the Odesa region to document local musical practices and gather material for new audio works.
In creating this project, it was vital for us to highlight that Ukraine is home to many ethnic communities that continue their traditions today, thereby enriching Ukrainian culture. Our research focused on deep immersion and dialogue with the individuals we recorded.
The second expedition took place in July, during which we recorded the traditional music of Albanians, Bulgarians, and Gagauz people in the Odesa region — specifically in the villages of Karakurt, Stari Troyany, Krynychne, Delzhyler, Vasylivka, Tabaky, and Vynohradivka. For these communities, Songlines of Ukraine became an opportunity to share their culture, which is currently underrepresented and gradually being forgotten. Music was only one part of the expedition; residents also shared stories about traditions and rituals surrounding weddings, christenings, and sydyankas (traditional social gatherings).
The music, oral histories, and video documentations of improvised reenactments of these traditions have expanded Mariana Sadovska’s expedition archive, which she has been building since the 1990s and which recently became available online.
The project’s outcomes were presented through musical events in Dnipro and Cologne. Musicians from various villages of the Budjak region performed alongside Mariana Sadovska, including Magdalena Paskar, Mykola Lupan, Hanna Zheliaskova, Ivan Mladinov, Panas Bakanovskyi, Natalia Kalaianova, and Violetta Shyshman. The events also featured an interactive sound installation by sound artist Mark Medvedev, which blended experimental soundscapes with expedition recordings, video documentation by Olena Misiura, and a small exhibition dedicated to the wedding traditions of Budjak.
The project was created in cooperation with the German platform Freihandelszone, in partnership with the RYŚ platform.
Songlines of Ukraine is supported by the European Union under the House of Europe program.
