A Ukrainian Christmas Carol

Susan and Erin sharing the headphones

A few weeks ago my cousin, Erin, asked if I would be willing to work with her to create a special Christmas gift for our Baba (that's our 97 year-old Ukrainian grandmother and there's a more recent pix of her here).  

Erin doesn't live in Victoria so we planned to get together when she came home for some pre-Christmas visiting this week.  We had a couple of hours to explore different instruments and our voices and this is what we came up with.  Erin is playing ukulele, I'm on guitar and we're both singing.  Of course, our families are loving it:).  

We presented this song on CD to Baba last week just before Christmas.   Baba immediately began singing along to the recording in a strong voice.  It was moving and wonderful!  It seemed her singing was coming from deep inside her...truly magical.

This is a song I grew up hearing my grandmother, her sisters and their daughters sing.  It seems to embody a connectedness between the generations for me and it holds a special place in my heart for sure.  Neither Erin or I speak Ukrainian so we recorded it as best we could and it turned out to be the perfect way for our grandmother to sing along to.

I am sharing it with you along with a wish that 2012 be filled with as many beautiful,   c r e a t i v e,   musical,  meaningful,  festive!, celebratory moments you can possibly squeeze in!  

Happy New Year!