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Arsen Mirzoyan: I’ll never flaunt my friendship with Stas Pyekha or Grygoriy Leps…
Travels: Zhovkva, an Ideal European Town
Secrets of the icon painter: «Angels are painting with my hand…»
Nikolai Gogol: 205 years’ anniversary of birth
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2 | guest
He is known as “the country’s steel voice,” he has a powerful charisma, and writes song lyrics with a deep philosophical message. He admires Vladimir Vysotskiy’s legacy. Arsen is simultaneously a star in the Ukrainian show business horizon and a foreman at a shop of Zaporizhstal metallurgical enterprise! He admits that it’s easier to work in a factory than to be a national favorite. Nevertheless, Arsen Mirzoyan became a finalist in the singing competition “The Voice” and sang a duet with some very famous singers. Russian singer Grygoriy Leps even sang a song with lyrics by Arsen Mirzoyan… Yet, Mirzoyan’s rise to fame is largely due to good luck: he has no professional music education, and once he completely lost his hearing. In an exclusive interview for Bulba NEWS newspaper, he revealed some of his secrets.
Arsen Mirzoyan:
«I’ll never flaunt my friendship with Stas Pyekha or Grygoriy Leps…» – Arsen, earlier today, when I was on my way to do to the interview with you, your song “Winnie the Pooh” was on the radio. Then I understood one thing: your songs live independently from you. That is, people listen to your songs, discuss them vigorously, but not all of them know who sings them… – There is something to it, and I like it. Once, I was in a coffee shop, and my song “Kapronovi Banty” was playing, and then a man turned toward me and said, “This song is performed by Mirzoyan.” I laughed and said, “Yes, I know!” It got me thinking whether it was good or bad. Finally, I decided that it was good, because I can walk freely along the city streets (he laughs). But one day people will begin to recognize me. My PR managers want to speed this up, but I prefer my songs to walk ahead of me. I don’t care about that so much. – Could it be that you intentionally avoid the publicity?
the stage for years, and you appeared suddenly and asserted yourself within a short period of time… – I’d rather say that everyone appears suddenly. There are a lot of such examples. I believe that when a composer, a singer works as a real artist, doesn’t follow an established pattern, and shares some of his philosophy with the public, people believe him more than an artificially created product. – Rumor has it that besides your show business work, you have a completely unrelated job – you work at the enterprise Zaporizhstal. How do you manage to combine such opposite careers? Was it difficult for a factory worker to break into show business? – I didn’t break into anywhere. My main ambition is to write and to sing, and I don’t want to go into any more details. I have a sound producer, he has been working in the show business for a long time and now he takes care of all the technical stuff for me.
– No, I can’t say that I avoid it, I just don’t want to get involved in something consciously… I believe that everything should be balanced. There is no sense in making a mountain out of a molehill.
– In the competition “The Voice” you were in Stas Pyekha’s team. Do you keep in touch with him?
– In my opinion, you’ve made quite a meteoric music career, because there are singers “sticking” on
– Yes, we still work together. I couldn’t have even imagined that I would ever sing with
Stas Pyekha on the same stage… I’ve also never thought that I would speak freely with Grygoryi Leps on the telephone. I don’t make a big deal out of it, I don’t think this is my achievement. I take it as part of the job. Of course, sometimes it makes me happy, because this is a small victory, but it’s not something I want to flaunt. It is regular business for me, just an artist working with other artists. I’m not interested in their status. The thing is that when a pop star wants to sing my song in a duet, it means that this song must be worth something. – Is it true that Grygoriy Leps has performed one of your songs? – Yes, that’s right. It was аn anthem that I composed for Yalta Rally Fest 2013. At first I didn’t know that Leps would perform the song. I was told about it later. I asked what singer it would be for me to know what tonality and manner of presentation I should expect. When I was told that it would be Grygoriy Leps, I said, “Cool, so tonality will be this and presentation this. It should be a very male text.” I don’t attach much significance to this, because it’s not like he himself wanted me to compose a song for him. It was the organizers of the Rally who commissioned the song. I wouldn’t say that this is a certain artistic achievement for me, it’s rather a promotional event.
guest | 3
with music…” It was such a blow. I asked my surgeon whether I would be able to continue, but he said nothing. Later I found the answer to my question… – What happened? – This is… not even a disease. It sometimes happens that a process starts in the body when the brain transmits wrong signals and you cannot control this. The brain starts to treat the ear stones that transmit sounds as broken and they begin to knit. Then one of the stones should be removed and replaced by a plastic one for them not to knit any more (he laughs). – And the last question. You position yourself as a good cook. Do you really like to cook?
– When did you get interested in music? – Everything started with the vinyl records of Alexander Rozenbaum and Vladimir Vysotskiy. At that time I found a guitar in my house. Once my mother bought it for me, but I told her I didn’t want to play it. So it was another four years until the first guitar players started to appear on the streets. They played songs by DDT, Kino, and I understood that I liked it. In the evenings, all my friends would sing very loudly, but after midnight, when patrols appeared, it was my turn. I took the guitar and sang something quiet and lyrical, Rozenbaum’s songs, for example. I had about five hundred of his songs in my repertoire. I don’t even know how I could remember all of them.
Later I started to sing Vladimir Vysotskiy’s songs. Now I compose my own songs. My priority is in the lyrics though, because it’s very important what you are singing and popularizing. – In one of your interviews, you mentioned that you completely lost your hearing twice. Did it happen when you were already a singer? – Yes, I already started to make some steps in music. I had to abandon music for some time, because I really lost my hearing. I remember that when it happened for the second time, my friend Anatoliy Pashynin, a film and theater actor, came to the hospital and said, “This is a revenge because you, bastard, have stopped
Yes, I like and know how to cook. For me, this is also an art, that’s why I can call myself a gourmet. But I won’t eat Brazilian worms. I tried them once and didn’t like the taste (he laughs). However, I am a connoisseur of European cuisine. I think it’s a “cuisine of leftovers.” In my opinion, this is how pizza, Swiss fondue, bogrács, and many other dishes appeared. I like to busy myself with cooking, but it’s important to understand how a dish was initially created. Then everything is easy and you don’t need any recipe. For example, cooks know that beef shouldn’t be fried. It’s a rule. It’s necessary to know what meat can be served with blood and what meat can’t… In most cases I figured this out myself. I like to improvise: to come to a supermarket, set myself a budget, and considering this, choose the products. On the one hand, the dish shouldn’t be expensive, and on the other hand, it should be a masterpiece. In such a way, imagination flows. I don’t like when bread is added to cutlets, I always prepare them with vegetables. This is much healthier. And I make pancakes from pumpkin, not potato (he laughs)! I adore banosh, I even rated the places which serve the tastiest banosh. Text: Stepan Hrytsiuk Photo: Yuriy Helytovych
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4 | interview
Head Coach of the Ukrainian National Boxing Team, Dmytro Sosnovskyi, on his Family, Job, and Philosophy of Life
In life, you have to get ahead, not lag behind For almost five years the Lvivian Dmytro Sosnovskyi has been coaching the Ukrainian National Boxing Team. Boxers trained by this coach have achieved incredible results – Vasyl Lomachenko was recognized as the best boxer of the Olympic Games and the national team won the team rankings at the World, European, and Olympic Championships. The exclusive interview with the Bulba NEWS newspaper revealed some of the specialist’s secrets.
Bio Note: Dmytro Sosnovskyi was born on April 11, 1958, in Norilsk in the Krasnoyarsk region. As a boxer, he took second place in the Championships of the Central Union of one of the greatest USSR societies – Labor Reserves (1980). He has been training sportsmen for more than 30 years. Mr. Sosnovskyi started his career in the Lviv Labor Reserves in 1979. During these years he trained five Masters of Sports of International Level, out of which two are Merited Masters of Sports (Andriy Kotelnyk and Heorhiy Chyhayev). Dmytro Sosnovskyi is proud of such trainees as Roman Dzhuman, Andriy Kotelnyk, Andriy Khamula, Yuriy Zolotov, Heorhiy Chyhayev, Yaroslav Midyk, Volodymyr Lipskyi, Pavlo Vanyk, and others. While he was the head coach of the Ukrainian National Boxing Team, his team won the team rankings in the European, World and Olympic Championships. In 2011, Dmytro Sosnovskyi became the first and so far the only Ukrainian, whom the International Boxing Federation recognized as the best coach of the year. The AIBA reached this decision by taking into account the phenomenal results of the Ukrainians at the World Championship where they won four gold and one silver medal, setting a world record.
– Dmytro Dmytrovych, your family was repressed, wasn’t it? – Yes, that’s right. My mother, God rest her soul (she died in 2002), was repressed in 1947. She was only 16 at that time. Early in the morning, she heard a knock on the door, she was ordered to pack some things and board a train. So, my mother found herself in Norilsk. There, she was condemned to 8 years of imprisonment for helping the nationalists. On that morning, about 17 other girls were taken from the village of Vodnyky, where my mother lived. The eldest of them was 20, and my mother was one of the youngest. In 1953, she was transferred to a penal settlement. This was right after Stalin’s death. Later, my mother was rehabilitated, but she did not have the right to return to the big continent. It means that at that time they were released from prison, but forbidden to move anywhere. No one wanted to live in Norilsk, but somebody had to work there. Thus they did. In 1951, my mother gave birth to her first son. But he fell ill and died at an early age. Later, her second son was born, and in 1958 I came.
Did you know…? All the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame are embedded into the sidewalk. The only exception is the star of the boxer Muhammad Ali, which is installed on a wall of the Dolby Theatre. It was Ali’s personal request: he didn’t want the passersby to tread upon Prophet Muhammad’s name.
During the filming of Rocky IV, Stallone suggested that Dolph Lundgren, who played the role of the Soviet boxer Ivan Drago, fight for real in the fighting scene for it to look more authentic. As a result, after one of Lundgren’s punches Stallone was rushed to the hospital, where he spent 8 days recovering.
interview | 5
– When did your family return to their home country? – First, we went to Uman, where my father was from. But my parents somehow didn’t get on and divorced. After that, my mother and I came back to the Lviv region. That was in 1969. We moved to the village of Vodnyky, near Lviv. – Did the status of a son of the former political prisoner hinder your career? – In my youth, I wanted to enroll in a military school. But taking into account my brother’s experience, I gave up this idea. He wanted to enroll in a police school, but he was prohibited to even apply. They saw that he was born in Norilsk and denied him the right to study to become a policeman. My brother tried to get to the faculty of law, but there he also was rejected. Knowing that, I didn’t go along this path. I chose sports, and had no problem entering the Institute of Physical Training. – When did you become a coach? – I started to work as a coach when I was 21. Little by little I was absorbed by this. At the time when I was boxing, step by step, I was pursuing my ambitions. First, I wanted to become the champion of the Lviv region. When I succeeded in this, I set myself another goal. The same was with my work as a coach. At first, I wanted to train a winner of the Regional Championships, then a winner of the Ukrainian Championships. And so on. Later, my trainee Andriy Khamula met a qualifying standard of the Master of Sports. Then, Roman Dzhuman became a finalist of the World Championships, Andriy Kotelnyk became a silver medalist of the Olympic Games, and two years ago Oleksandr Usyk became the Olympic Champion. – Is the wok of a coach of a national team significantly different from the work of a personal coach? – Of course, it differs very much. I learned this long ago. A personal coach has his trainee, always works with him, and isn’t interested in other boxers. The coach focuses on the victory of his trainee. I worked like this with Zhora Chyhayev. But soon I began to care for all the members of the national team. After all, we had been spending a lot of time together. That’s why all our boxers are mine, and I care for all of them. A coach of the national team has to unite not only boxers, but also their personal coaches. As every coach is an individual, a personality, and everyone needs an individual approach. – In the 1990s, it was difficult to make your living as a coach. Were you tempted to go into business? – I tried several times, but my guardian angel saved me from this path. I didn’t manage to earn anything out of boxing. Besides, I was very passionate about my work and didn’t want another job. I knew that every day I had to open the gym, train Kotelnyk, Dzhuman, Khamula, and others. The 1990s were difficult not only for coaches, but
In 1998, Mike Tyson earned $20 million in 91 seconds. That was the time it took him to knock out Michael Spinks
also for their trainees. I had to think all the time what Andriy Kotelnyk would eat. I had to address different people, ask for their help. We searched for funds for food, training sessions, uniforms. And business was out of question. – Have you ever wished to work abroad? I had many offers, but I never wanted to and still don’t want to accept them. I have a firm stance and convince my children in its rightness. You don’t choose your motherland. Every parent wants their son to be trained by a good coach. And if everyone chases money and goes to train Poles, Turks, Germans, or Irishmen, who will be left to work with our children? If all our good doctors go abroad, who is going to treat us? – Where did your offers come from? – At the tournament in Kazakhstan, the head of the local boxing federation came to me during the competition closing party and offered me 3,500 euros per month to work as a consultant. I told him, “How will I consult you? Instruct you on how a Kazakh can win over Vasyl Lomachenko? And at the same time be happy that your boxer will defeat ours? Who will I be after this? It’s worse than becoming a traitor. I put my heart and soul into the guys, to just betray them for 3,500 euros… Never.” Not long ago I was invited to work in Azerbaijan and Russia. They offered me a large sum of money, accommodation and a car. But I refused. Not everything in Ukraine is so bad, we should help one another, and not think how to go abroad and help foreigners to build their country. I’m glad when our boys win and the national anthem of Ukraine is played in their honor. It disturbs me very much when people say that we are different, some speak Russian and some Ukrainian. It isn’t true, we are one nation. In 2008, we won the European Championships, and at the closing ceremony of the tournament there was a boy from Kryvyi Rih. He placed his hand over the heart and sang the national anthem from the beginning till the end. Tears welled in my eyes. Life is worth living for such moments, and not for the chance to get rich
in a strange land. Sure, money is important, but it doesn’t solve everything. – In the national team you work with experienced boxers. Have you thought about taking a 16-yearold boy and making him an Olympic Champion? – Then I need to decide to leave the national team, take on a boy and teach him. But there won’t be a second Kotelnyk. Let me give you an example. Oleksandr Kotov trained the boxing legend Oleksandr Yagubkin, who won all the possible boxing titles. Before Yagubkin, Kotov had a whole constellation of good boxers. Later, he was given talented boys with the idea in mind that he would train another Yagubkin. But there was no other boxer like him, no one achieved such results. The same is with Kotelnyk, he is the one, there aren’t two boxers like him. Similarly, there is one Dzynzyruk, Sydorenko, Dotsenko, Lomachenko. In 2008, we had a good team and won the European Championships. At that time, I said that let’s hope to God that this will happen again, but there is a slim chance that Ukraine could repeat its victory at the Boxing Championships of the Old World. It never happened again even at the time of the Soviet Union. As for your question, I think there should be no return to the previous achievements. To find a boy and pass all the career stages with him means to spend a lot of psychological health. I have already been there and done that… Also, a lot of my health has been spent on the national team. If I leave the national team, I will change something in my life. Maybe, I’ll get involved in professional boxing, maybe I’ll start teaching at the University of Physical Training. In life, you have to get ahead, not lag behind. At the Olympic Games in Sidney, I enjoyed the success of my trainee Andriy Kotelnyk, with whom I went through everything. For me, it isn’t new. I would be glad to take children, teach them elementary things for 2-3 years, and then hand them over to other coaches. I’d prefer to work with a child than to live through all the stages with a boxer.
Great mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras became famous not only for founding the School of Philosophy and for his amazing mathematical discoveries. In 588 BC, during the 48th Olympic Games, Pythagoras won the first place in a fistfight tournament. At that time, fist fighting was very cruel. Exactly because of this, sculptures of ancient Greek fighters are made with damaged faces.
Text: Gleb Kurkov Photo: Yuriy Helytovych
6 | Travelling
Zhovkva: Ideal European Town
The history of this town, situated in Western Ukraine, was made by kings and military leaders. The first bricks of its foundation were laid by Stanislaw Zolkiewski, the Crown Hetman of Poland, while he constructed his family residence. Later, the town hosted King Jan III Sobieski, Hetman Ivan Mazepa, and even Russian Tsar Peter the Great – three representatives of the three biggest European powers of that time. However, the town is famous not only for its visitors, but for its legends, personal stories, and architecture. Zhovkva – a small town with great history is the focus of this issue’s Travels column.
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Almost every city in the world has something it is famous for, but with Zhovkva it is impossible to say what was the beginning of its history. Its relatively small territory contains so many architectural gems that it makes your head spin: a castle with centennial history; the Church of St. Lawrence; family mausoleum of the Polish Crown Hetman and his family; the Hlynsk Gate; an ancient Jewish synagogue; and the ruins of fortifications. Let’s begin our journey. We start out from the Zhovkva Castle, more famous for its history rather than its architecture. The foundation was laid by Polish Hetman Stanislaw Zolkiewski in 1594, after winning one of his victorious battles. The man was famous for his outstanding military talent, therefore the king rewarded his military leader generously by paying him silver and golden coins and giving large land plots. This is how the brave warrior came into control over property in the village of Vynnyky situated on the border of the Zvenyhorod and Belz principalities, on the southernmost borders of Poland. Significant trade routes passed through this territory, which was a sweet pot for the Tatars and Turks. So the wise king killed two birds with one stone: he rewarded Zolkiewski and at the same time strengthened his frontiers. He knew that Stanislaw would heavily defend his private lands. After that, Zolkiewski’s fortune still favored him. He defeated the Swedes and the town was given Magdeburg Rights: selfgovernance and the highest possible independence from the central authorities. This was when the settlement was named in honor of its brave lord. The first significant building constructed by Zolkiewski was a fortified castle. The building functioned both as a fort and a family home for his young wife and three children: two daughters and son Ivan. It’s no wonder that the wealthy nobleman never pinched a penny on his creation. The invested gold coins weren’t thrown down the drain, because centuries passed and the strong walls are still standing. However, there are very few remains of the original construction. Magnificent columns, exquisite molding, arches, sculptures, and a moat that reached up to seventeen meters in width are long gone. It’s interesting to know that in the construction of the castle the romantic couple tried to bring to life a Renaissance idea by a famous architect Pietro Cataneo. The idea lay in the creation of an ideal town which would combine perfect architecture, life organization, and reliable defense walls. Construction of such cities was a trend brought about by the novel Utopia by Thomas More. From his castle Zolkiewski set off to a victorious war, where he defeated the Russian army and entered Moscow in triumph. He was the only person who conquered the white-walled capital and for four months he was its headman. Tsar Vasiliy Shuysky was taken prisoner and enslaved in Zhovkva Castle for a long time. In 1620, Zolkiewski also went to fight the Turks and Tatars. At that time their devastating invasions were occurring more and more often. They destroyed many villages and towns, enslaved people. Indignant Polish nationals complained to the queen about Zolkiewski, threatening to confiscate his property and divest him of his title. Despite the fact that he was 73 years old and that he had lost his previous strengths, he had to prepare for a military campaign. His son Ivan set out with him. In the battle of Cecora, on the territory of contemporary Romania, military talent betrayed Zolkiewski for the first and the only time. He was tragically killed; the Turks put his severed head on a pike and carried it for a long time around the town as an absolute symbol of their victory. A black cloud of sorrow covered the castle. The Turks demanded three million zlotys for the Hetman’s head and the prisoner Ivan. It was an enormous amount enough to build several towns like Zhovkva. Despite that, the local citizens gathered the necessary ransom. It was a sufficient amount to return Stanislaw’s ashes and to redeem Ivan. However, soon he also died because of the injuries sustained in the battle. Both of them were buried in the Church of Saint Lawrence. In time, Zolkiewski’s wife Regina and the family of King Jan III Sobieski found their eternal rest there too.
It’s worth mentioning that the church took twelve years to construct. At the beginning it was erected as the town founder’s family mausoleum. As a result, the church is called “Little Wawel” by the number and significance of the people buried there. There are unique sculptures of Zolkiewski, his son Ivan, wife Regina and elder daughter Sophia, made with red Hungarian marble. Zolkiewski and his son rest in an undercroft. Rumor has it that a little bit farther in the wall is a golden chest with the very head that was redeemed from the Turks for big money. A memorial headstone of Maria-Carolina, the last lady of Zhovkva, is also of great interest. She was buried in Paris, although according to her last will, her heart was also walled-in in the church. When in 1661, young Jan Sobieski inherited Zhovkva, the city became the center of his possessions. He decorated the castle with pictures of Cossacks, hussars, coats of arms, and weapons. On the façade, instead of traditional scenes from the Bible, we can still see hussars chasing the Tatars. The church is a real museum of rarities, because even its wooden benches date back to the 17th century! In the second half of the 17th and the first half of the 18th centuries, Zhovkva was considered to be the best private residential
town in Europe. It was a center of book printing, arts, and religion. Besides supporting the Catholic and the Orthodox Church, Sobieski generously financed the Jewish society. Thanks to his support, a beautiful stone synagogue appeared in the town. It is a unique case, for one of the best Jewish holy places in Europe was named after a Catholic parishioner. Nowadays, the synagogue is in very bad condition, since it was greatly destroyed during the German occupation. The former greatness of the construction is shown on old photos; it is also evidenced by the fact that it was included in the New York World Monuments Fund list of monuments that are in a critical state and have to be immediately reconstructed. The architectural gem is famous for the fact that synagogues in other cities of the world are constructed according to its design. For example, in Tel Aviv, several synagogues were constructed according to the design of the Zhovkva synagogue. From December 1706 through April 1707 Zhovkva was a site for Russian Tsar Peter the Great’s military headquarters. There he prepared for a war with King of Sweden Carl XVII, received Hetman of Ukraine Ivan Mazepa, who defected to the Swedish side. Rumor has it that in Zhovkva Peter the Great worked on a grammar reform and adopted a new writing of the Cyrillic script, which is still used today. In the Soviet times, Zhovkva was renamed Nesterov after Pyotr Nesterov, a military pilot of World War I, who was the first to fly an airplane in a loop and who died in a plane crash outside the town trying to attack an enemy’s plane… Text: Stepan Hrytsiuk Photo: Yuriy Helytovych
8 | personality
Angels are painting with my hand… His creative work is a real miracle. He paints icons on old church boards that are 100 and more years old. He likes to say that angels lead his hand, and he just watches. He isn’t afraid of experimenting and constantly surprises the world with his imagination. Recently he set a unique artistic record and painted 365 icons of Our Lady for each day of the year. Although they have the same composition, they are completely different: sad, happy, dreamy… Lev Skop isn’t just creating something new, he is also restoring the old. Moreover, his patience and perseverance border on Buddhist serenity, since he has been restoring the ancient Saint George’s Church for more than 28 years. We talk about this with the icon painter in his small workshop under the rooftop of a multistory building.
The Inception of Painting 365 of Our Ladies For as long as I can remember, I liked to paint on the boards taken from old churches. Often, during renovation, some pieces are thrown away. I bring this material to my workshop. For already 28 years I’ve been restoring a church in the town of Drohobych that is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The wood shingle roof was changed there and thousands of boards where just burnt and thrown away. I was so sorry for them that I picked them up and brought them home. Everybody laughed, since they were broken and smashed.
But I didn’t mind. I glued them together. It was interesting for me to bring back to life the material that protected a church. Later, I decided to paint icons on them. Once someone told me, “You know, they are all identical…” I was offended a little bit. I thought: “Well, if they are identical, I’ll show you identical…” So I started to paint Our Lady. The composition is almost the same, but I tried to make each work differ from the other. At that time I cooperated with the charitable foundation Kryla Nadiyi (The Wings of Hope). I gave them my icons, they sold them, and all the raised money went to the treatment of children with diseases. I thought: “If I’ve painted a small number of Our Lady’s icons, then why can’t I create a lot of them?” I wrote about my plan on Facebook. Everyone liked the idea; TV and newspapers began to call me. So the project started with
personality | 9
a quite successful PR campaign. This encouraged me. I wouldn’t have given up anyway, but everyone was waiting for the final one, and this inspired me. The aim of the project is to number each icon. There are numbers and dates on them. It’s interesting that in all the works Our Lady is praying, but as everyone says, She is different. Smiling, sad, thoughtful. Completely different emotions. Within a month we sold more than three hundred icons. People bought the icons with the date of their birth, gifted them to others. All the raised money went to treat children. I don’t know how much money was raised, I’m not interested in this. Sure, it’s more than 100,000 hryvnias. Icons were bought by people in Canada, Australia, and other countries of the world via the Internet. Many people simply transferred money to the charitable project, so it’s difficult to speak about sums.
Saint George’s Church and Subtleties of Restoration I’ve been restoring the old wooden church in Drohobych for 28 years. I remember the first time I saw it. It was a heavenly miracle. At that time I worked at a Roman Catholic church and quarreled all the time, because the local people were destroying paintings and ancient memorials. Later they became great national heroes. At that time I was interested in culture, art, and once I came to Saint George’s Church. You know, I was taken aback. I stood in the center and said the words: “Oh my God, I will never work here…” I was deeply convinced in this. Half a year later, I was already working there. I even cannot say what exactly astonished me. It’s not only beauty, it’s some miracle-working power, spirituality… I don’t know how much work is left there, because I’m restoring not only the church, but also icons and paintings. I also paint and play music. Restoration cannot be done in a hurry. It’s easy to spoil something and repaint it quickly, isn’t it?.. After a while you come back, you look and you are horrified. Having analyzed and seen how many destroyed churches we have, it’s getting terrible. Is the work of a restorer difficult? And is the work of a surgeon difficult? I think it depends on the operation. There is simple work, and there is such work that make you think whether to work on them at all in order not to spoil them. I think: “Maybe, someone will come and do better. There are plenty more fish in the sea. New specialists will come, new technologies…”
The Destroyed Churches I’ve often said that in the years of independence, the Ukrainian church culture has been destroyed more than in the last 300 years… Priests, citizens, and money are to blame. Everyone takes a license for restoration and spoils a
The Church of St. George in Drohobych. 15-16th centuries.
church. And then a priest flaunts, “Our iconostasis is shining…” Or they throw away old icons and paint some daubs instead of them. That’s what we have. The very community sells rarities. They don’t become state property, but the property of private collectors and then you won’t find them. More churches have burned down now than during the times of Communism. Monuments are burnt, but nobody bears responsibility for this. They are just pulled down and new ones are built, because cash is raised and clergymen are interested in this.
Creativity I am just a painter, the angels paint with my hand. I tell this to everyone. It’s not a joke. I’m not a robot or a Xerox. All I have is a paintbrush and a board, that’s it… There are days when I can paint twelve icons, and there are days when I can paint none. When inspiration comes to me, I don’t sleep the whole night. I say, “Icon is a prayer.” If you realize this, it’s very easy to paint. Everything is much simpler. I cannot say how much time I devote to creative work. I wish I could say my whole life. But of course when I’m riding a tram, I cannot paint. I can say that I do what I want: today I paint an icon and tomorrow illustrations for Ivan Franko’s or Vasyl Stefanyk’s literary works.
On Fame I have seen plenty of people who have become obsessed with fame and money. In such cases God turns away from them. When He does this, people become incurable invalids. They pay journalists, TV workers to be promoted, commission articles in newspapers and journals. They do everything except creating. That’s why their works are bad, everything they do is horrible. Poorer and more miserable people cannot be found in the world.
The Attitude to Money I’m not indifferent to money, my attitude toward it is normal. I’m just not pathologically dependent. There are things that cannot be overstepped. Love cannot be bought, and this isn’t my invention. Of course, all of us need money, but when we make it a goal in itself, then we are poor and miserable people. Very poor and very miserable… The “keeping-up-with-the-Joneses” syndrome kicks in: “I have 100,000 and he has 200,000, I have 200,000 and he has 400,000. I’m poor and miserable.” God gives me as much money as I want. He gives me all that I wish for. Up there, everything is known, so I don’t worry very much. Text: Stepan Hrytsiuk Photo: Yuriy Helytovych
10 | Jubilee
Nikolai Gogol.
The 205th Anniversary of His Birth ‘There is no death in the literary world… The deceased also interfere in our life, act together with us, as much as the living do’
He is the most enigmatic writer in the world. His life was always intertwined with mystique, phobias, and superstitions, which in some way or other appeared in his works. Gogol believed in the existence of primordial Evil and was always struggling with it. Moreover, he had been struggling since childhood, when as a 5-yearold boy, he drowned a black cat in a pond as he thought that in its image the devil came to his house… He was afraid of being buried alive and during the last years of his life he slept only in a sitting position. He also heard voices from the other world that accused him of sins and was obsessed with his creative work. All this provoked the appearance of Dead Souls, Viy, Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka… April 1st, in the new style, is the 205th anniversary of the birth of Nikolai Gogol. On this jubilee date, we have prepared for you the most interesting aphorisms and biographical facts of this writer.
Interesting Bio Facts about Nikolai Gogol According to his family’s legend, the writer was a descendant of the ancient Ukrainian family of the well-known Cossack Ostap Gogol, Hetman of Right-Bank Ukraine. Nikolai Gogol was born in the village of Sorochyntsi in the Poltava province. Besides him, there were six more children in the family. His father was a landlord, who owned more than 1,000 desiatynas (2,700 acres) of land and about 400 serf souls. The writer had a sweet tooth. He always collected sugar that was served with tea. He carried it in his pockets and at every good opportunity he treated himself to it. Nikolai Gogol loved to offer his guests varenyky and dumplings, prepared by him. Goat’s milk was one of his favorite drinks, which he always drank with rum. In jest he called this experimental drink “gogol-mogol.” When he
was in high spirits, he would say: “Gogol likes a gogol-mogol!” On a visit to Rome at the age of 30, he fell ill with malaria. The doctors of that time said that the illness affected his brain. He started to have febrile paroxysms and often lost consciousness. This can be proved by his letters to his sister Liza, where he wrote, “My body started to cool down very much: days and nights I just couldn’t get warm. My face turned yellow, my hands swelled up, turned black, and were like ice. This frightened even me.” At that time mental disorders started to appear. In 1845, he burned several chapters of the manuscript of the second volume of Dead Souls… On the whole, Gogol believed that his fate differed from the fate of the others. He often spoke about prophetic signs, which he believed in very much. Nikolai Gogol wasn’t married and never had intimate relationships with women. Many researchers state that he died a virgin. The writer was afraid of storms and thunder. He used to say that they affected his nerves. Nikolai Gogol was distinguished by his shyness. When a stranger appeared in his company, he tried to quietly slip away. Gogol was ashamed of his big nose, which had an unusual shape. When artists portrayed him, he probably asked them to paint his nose differently. Perhaps, because of this, he looks different in all his portraits. He was so concerned his nose that his worries eventually were expressed in the story “The Nose.” At the height of illness, Nikolai Gogol often heard voices from the other world. He was tortured by hallucinations, in which he was accused of sinning. He worried that he would be buried alive that the last 11 years of his life he slept in a sitting position: he associated the horizontal plane with a deathbed. He indeed sunk into a lethargic sleep several times, and that’s why there were some reasons behind his fear of being buried alive. Gogol starts the first chapter “Testament” from Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends with the following words: “Finding myself in full possession of my memory and in sound mind, I here set forth my last will. I bequeath not to bury my body until clear signs of decomposition have appeared. I mention this because already in the course of this illness there have been moments of numbness of my vital organs, my heart and pulse have ceased to beat…” Nikolai Gogol died in his sleep. According to old beliefs, people who were loved by God died in such a way. For more than half a century there was a legend that Gogol was indeed buried alive. Seventy-nine years after his death his ashes were reburied. According to witnesses, the position of his remains indicated that the body was bent, and the inner lining of the coffin was scratched. It was decided to place a bust on his new grave, but in the end the gravestone ended up on Mikhail Bulgakov’s grave. And so a symbolic link was established between the two most enigmatic Russian writers.
After this, the words of Bulgakov, addressed to Gogol are perceived in a completely different light: “Teacher, cover me with your overcoat.” Text: Maria KRASNA
Nikolai Gogol’ Aphorisms Look whether you love others and not whether others love you. It is terrible for me to live in the world and not mark your existence. In every word there is an abyss of space, every word is limitless. Pity never possesses us so strongly as at the sight of beauty touched by the corrupting breath of depravity. Beauty works perfect miracles. All inner shortcomings in a beauty, instead of causing repugnance, become somehow extraordinarily attractive; vice itself breathes comeliness in them; but if it were to disappear, then a woman would have to be twenty times more intelligent than a man in order to inspire, if not love, at least respect. But nothing lasts long in this world. Even joy grows less lively the next moment. And a moment later, again, it weakens further. And at last it reemerges insensibly with the normal mood, even as the ripple from a pebble’s impact becomes reemerged with the smooth surface of the water at large.
news from “Korchma” | 11
To celebrate the 15th birthday of the Korchma «Taras Bulba» chain of restaurants we present a CD of Ukrainian classical г.Москва, ул. Пятницкая 14 тел.: 8 (915) 222-15-18 (495) 953-7153, 951-3760 music in modern arrangements from Bulba Press.
www.tarasbulba.ru
кн и га- мен ю
To celebrate its 15th birthday
‘Korchma Taras Bulba’ reveals its secrets! The exclusive new disc will be available for sale in our restaurants! Find time in your life for our music!
We offer you a recipe book
Not by the salo alone
PHOTO CONTEST!
Yevgeniya Baluda: Bulba NEWS magazine is unputdownable even during the performance of Queen of Spades in the Musical Theater named after Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko
Bubla NEWS is pleased to announce the start of a competition for its readers: “We are read around the world!” To take part, please pick up a free copy of our newspaper at any restaurant of the Korchma Taras Bulba chain and take an interesting picture with it. It can be a travel photo, vacation photo, or any staged picture. The best pictures will be published and the winners will get Korchma “Taras Bulba“ gift certificates of 15, 10 and 5 thousand RUR. You can then use them at any restaurant of our chain. Email your photos to bulbanews.ru@gmail.com
12 | calendar
April 1
April Fool’s Day
April 2
International Children’s Book Day
April 6
Geologist’s Day Day of Investigation Authorities Worker
April 7
The Annunciation Internet Day in Russia
April 8
International Romani Day
April 12
World Aviation and Cosmonautics Day
April 13
World Rock-n-Roll Day Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) Day of the Russian Troops of the Anti-Aircraft Warfare
April Fools’ Day Jokes, trickery, and funny pranks. This how every year on the 1st of April we celebrate the most fun day in the year – April Fools’ Day. This is a holiday which isn’t marked in red on a wall calendar and probably isn’t considered to be a real holiday, but nevertheless it is a favorite one. No wonder, because when else can adults and children play practical jokes on one another and laugh at theirs pranks. But most of us don’t know about the origin of this tradition or whether it is celebrated somewhere else in the world, apart from the post-Soviet space. That’s why the Bulba NEWS journalists decided to study who was the first to celebrate April Fools’ Day, what were the best hoaxes, and how merrymaking affects our health.
April 14
Day of the State Automobile Inspection of the Ministry of Home Affairs of Ukraine
April 15
Day of Criminal Investigation Worker of Ukraine Pesach (Passover)
April 19
The End of the Lent
April 20 Easter
20 april
Origin
Easter April 22
International Earth Day
April 23
World Book and Copyright Day
April 29
International Dance Day
April 30
Day of Fire Protection Service of the Russian Federation. International Jazz Day
If historical sources are true, April Fools’ Day was celebrated in the times of the Roman Empire. Once, a court jester boasted to Emperor Constantine that he could rule the Empire as well as the Emperor himself. The rugged ruler smiled and said that one day a year one of the fools would be given a chance to rule the Empire. The jester Kugel was allowed to play a king, and he immediately forbade any serious actions or serious words on the 1st of April. This is how a new tradition was established and then it spread to other countries of the world. There are some other versions. One of them is that the first April Fools’ Day was celebrated in India. It was connected with the equinox, when on the spring New Year people organized festivals that were accompanied with pranks, games, and hoaxes. One more but no less plausible theory is that April Fools’ Day started in Europe and is
connected to the French King Charles IX. It was he who issued a decree to transfer the celebration of the New Year from April 1 to January 1 (in the Middle Ages, the New Year week started on March 25 and ended on April 1). Therefore, Frenchmen started to celebrate the holiday at the beginning of a winter, but tradition-bound people kept celebrating the holiday in the beginning of spring and exchanging presents. Since the tradition was already ineffective, presents were also rather fake than real. For example, a gift for April 1 could be air in an empty box or a collar for a make-believe dog... The 1st of April holiday was brought to Russia from Europe. In 1703, Peter the Great, famous for his love of European fashion, organized a massive 1st of April celebration in Moscow. He ordered his servants to walk around the city streets and call the locals to come see a “neverbefore-seen performance.” When people came to the announced place, a curtain was lifted and
calendar | 13
everybody saw a huge sign: “It’s April Fools’ Day, so don’t trust anyone!” But rather than cheer them up, it petrified them. On their way home, citizens discussed who could have come up with such a bad hoax... Anyway, the first steps were taken. From year to year the tradition became increasingly popular among the Russian people and their jokes became funnier and funnier. On the territory of the Former Soviet Republics, the greatest celebration of the April 1 is in Odesa. Every year the festival of humor Humorina is held there. Since 2009, this day has been a day off. The local authorities had one purpose: to let people have fun without any troubles or daily business to distract them from it. As a result, during this day people participate in a carnival procession, visit comedy concerts and parties, and of course make jokes and play pranks on friends and neighbors. People in Odesa just can’t live without humor.
The Funniest Hoaxes Of course, in the many centuries that April Fools’ Day has been celebrated, a ranking of the best and the most unique hoaxes has appeared. It came to a point that a citizen of California, Alex Beze, developed a special website Museum of Hoaxes, on which he posts all information about celebrations of April Fools’ Day. In just a few years, the online resource became very popular. Thousands of users visit it every day. The most ridiculous situations are described on it and photos of hoax victims are posted. As a result, on the basis of collected information, the quickwitted American published three bestsellers. However, the most interesting is a TOP-100 list of the funniest jokes ever. According to it, news about spaghetti crop in Switzerland is at the top of the list. In 1967, during a BBC news broadcast, an anchor said that because of a mild winter neverseen-before spaghetti crop was harvested in Switzerland. The editorial staff reported false information, laughed, and proceeded broadcasting other news. The radio presenters were astonished when listeners began to call the radio studio and ask where it was possible to buy a wonderful spaghetti tree. The second best in the TOP-100 list is a news item published in 1958 by the Sports Illustrated magazine. It featured Sidd Finch, the player of Mets baseball team who threw a fastball at 168 miles per hour, which was 65 miles faster than the previous record. In the article it was emphasized that the athlete had never played before and mastered inning in a Tibetan monastery. The third place goes to a Swedish television joke. In 1962 there was only one TV channel in Sweden, and it broadcast in
black and white. Once, in a news broadcast the technical expert Kjell Stensson stated that scientists developed a new technology which converted broadcasting in black and white into color. It was said that in order to receive a color reception it was necessary to put a nylon stocking over the screen. Thousands of people believed it... Real color broadcasting appeared in 1970. Russian journalists kept up with their colleagues. In 1994, the information agency ITAR-TASS informed that one of the Russian companies launched the production of vodka chocolates that would compete with Mars and Snickers, since they would be very popular among locals. They would be produced with three tastes: lemon, coconut, and pickle. On April 1, 1995, the newspaper Irish Times reported that the Disney Corporation was negotiating with the Russian government to purchase the body of Vladimir Lenin. He was supposed to be taken away from the Mausoleum to an American entertainment park. They plan was to build a new attraction displaying the leader of the world proletariat and to sell Lenin T-shirts. The journalists stressed that the Russians had already agreed to sell Vladimir Lenin’s body.
Laugh for Pleasure “Laughter prolongs our life” – we know this statement from our childhood. However, does it have real grounds? It turns out that it is true. There is a special science studying healing properties of laughter. Its name is gelotology. The newest studies showed that while laughing, face muscles generate special impulses that positively influence the human nervous system and brain functioning, relieving stress. Moreover, it even works when it is not so funny, but we try to imitate laughing, making a fake smile. Generally, it takes approximately 80 muscles to laugh. That’s why we can certainly say that it is a peculiar workout for our body that improves body circulation. Moreover, a cheerful mood favors endorphin hormone secretion that increases pain threshold and makes it easier for a person to bear physical and emotional. Therefore, if you have an opportunity to make a joke about somebody or became a hoax victim – don’t take offence, just have a good laugh. Remember that you can always find a reason to grieve or cry, but not every day you can have a good time. So make sure there is always a Day of Laughter in your life! Text: Pavel TERESHCHUK
The Heady Taste: Zhigulevskoye Beer Dozens of already legendary labels, hundreds of factories, and an unforgettable taste – all that is left from one of the most popular Soviet brands – Zhigulevskoye beer. Its history dates back to 1880. Back then an Austrian national Alfred von Vacano applied to the Samara Municipal Administration with a request to allocate the land for a brewery. The local authorities fulfilled his request in a month and the foreigner began the construction of a strategic object... The construction was conducted in such a rapid pace that in 1881 the factory already brewed more than 75,000 barrels of beer. That the brewer’s intentions were serious was evident from the following fact: while electrification was only treading in Samara, the brewery was already operating a full-fledged private power station. The word about the heady drink was quickly spreading among people. It’s no wonder because the price was affordable. Taking into account the high demand, Alfred von Vacano expanded his business considerably; at the beginning, he brewed 75,000 barrels of beer per year, and in 1913, the production reached 3.4 million barrels! As a result, the company became one of the top three largest breweries in Russia. However, all the plans were ruined because of the war in 1914. The country imposed a Dry Law, the factory buildings hosted a hospital for the sick and wounded, and the brewery’s shops were producing grenades instead of beer. The brewery resumed its work after the 1917 October Revolution. According to one of the legends, the Zhigulevskoye beer brand appeared in 1934. Rumor has it that at that time Anastas Mikoyan, the People’s Commissar of the Food Industry, visited the factory in Samara and asked the staff why such a tasty beer had such a bourgeois and unpatriotic name: Viennese… Apparently, there was no one bold enough to argue with him. The heady drink was quickly renamed after the city in Samara region, the place of the factory’s location. In a year, the beer, rebranded but brewed according to the good old recipe, won the Soviet Competition, and almost all the breweries of the country started to produce it. At the peak of its popularity, Zhigulevskoye beer was brewed in 735 factories across the USSR. It could be seen everywhere: in shops the beer was sold in bottles, outdoors it was available on tap, and in beerhouses in glasses or even jars. Why was it so popular? The answer is simple – only natural ingredients and an unforgettable taste. Even nowadays we find memories about Zhigulevskoye beer in novels, anecdotes, and songs. “… bored, I was biding my time at this river inn, a very expensive inn, and by the way, famous for its night debauches of merchants, often numbering thousands of them, and without any pleasure sipped Zhigulevskoye beer from time to time, recalling the Rhine and Swiss lakes…” wrote the Nobel laureate Ivan Bunin in the story “The River Inn.”
14 | news from “Korchma”
Sweet fifteen!
Chain of Ukrainian restaurants ‘Korchma Taras Bulba’ has celebrated its fifteenth anniversary. The long-awaited event was celebrated with a big bang – so that the party would be remembered by every employee and customer of the restaurant chain. Guests took part in a lottery where they won a LCD TV, were presented with fragrant honey and delicious salo, and every client received a 15 per cent discount! Naturally, there was entertainment. The guests were met by Cossacks, gypsies, Ukrainian bands and a ballet troupe. Even the guests who couldn’t imagine their life without Korchma Taras Bulba’s delicious dishes took an active part in the celebration. They greeted the employees of the favorite restaurant with flowers and presents.
news from “Korchma” | 15
To the pleasure of all cyclists! From 1 April all restaurants of the chain ‘Korchma Taras Bulba’ will be equipped with bicycle parking facilities!
We h av e o n l y fr e s h an d s av o r y n e w s !
www.bulbanews.ru Bulba NEWS has its own website now
We offer only fresh and savory news! Share the news in social networks, and leave your comments. Send your news to: bulbanews.ru@gmail.com EVERYBODY READS US!
The newspaper office is open for cooperation! Call us at 8-968-665-12-07 or write to: bulbanews.ru@gmail.com Children’s encyclopedia, a fairy tale ‘The Cat and the Fox’, as well
Moscow Kyiv New York 15 years together!
C
st i r h
as poems, riddles and crossword puzzles. Look for the April issue of
is Rise n!
the children’s magazine Tarasik by BULBA PRESS in “Korchma Taras Bulba’ chain of restaurants
воистину воскрес!
We wish you Happy Easter from the bottom of our hearts!
Your kids deserve the best childhood!
Sea bream: recipe
4 4 7 7 0 8 7 (495)
Ukrainian cuisine – made with love! Restaurants’ location:
MOSCOW, Aviamotornaya metro station, 6 Krasnokazarmennaya St., (499) 763 5741
Avtozavodskaya metro station, 6 Velozavodskaya St., (499) 764 1532
Akademicheskaya metro station, 16/10 Profsoyuznaya St., (499) 125 0877
Alekseyavskaya metro station, 3 Bochkova St., (495) 616 6754
Airport metro station, 64 Leningradskiy Prospekt St., (499) 151 9011
Baumanskaya metro station, 23/41 Bakuninskaya St., (495) 956 5580
Borovitskaya metro station, 8 Mokhovaya St., 24-hour, (495) 644 8020
Krasnye Vorota metro station,
Ingredients:
47 Myasnitskaya St., (495) 607 1762
Cooking:
• Sea bream – 1pcs • Lemon – 1 pcs • Dill – 2 g • Capers – 10 pcs • Salt – 3 g • Olive oil – 10 g • Olives – to taste • Narsarab sauce – 2 tablespoon
Leninskiy Prospekt metro station, 37 Leninskiy Prospect St., (495) 954 6466
Prepare the ingredients.
Novokuznetskaya metro station, 14 Pyatnitskaya St., (495) 953 7153
Wash and scale the fish, remove gills, make slits.
Novye Cheryomushki metro station, Nametkina St., 13 г, (495) 331 4211
Stuff the fish with lemon and dill. Olives and dill use for the dish decoration while serving. Salt and pepper the prepared fish. Insert capers, lemon slice and dill. Pour olive oil on the fish and put it in the grill. Roast it on the both sides untill ready.
Smolenskaya metro station, 12 Smolenskiy Avenue. St., 24-hour, (499) 246 6902
Tsvetnoy Boulevard metro station, 13 Sadovaya-Samotechnaya St., 24-hour, (495) 694 0056
Chekhovskaya metro station, 30/7 Petrovka St., (495) 694 6082
Yugo-Zapadnaya metro station, 6 Borovskoye Road, (495) 980 2051
Decorate the prepared dish with lettuce, lemon pieces, olives and dill. Serve fish with Narsarab sauce.
GRILLED SEA BREAM 300 g – 700 RUR
Vystavochnaya metro station, of 1905 year, 27 Shmitovskiy Passage, 24-hour, (499) 256-4660
KIEV, “Teatralnaya”, “Zolotye Vorota”,“Kreschatik” metro station, 2-4/7 Pushkinskaya St.,+38 (044) 270-7248
Look for this taste treat in our menues! Certificate of registration PI № FS 77 — 19940. Circulation is 5 000 copies.
357 West Broadway, NYork City, NY 10013 phone: (212) 510 75 10
Laskavo prosymo!