Cossack songs are a distinctive layer of Ukrainian folklore celebrating the life, military campaigns, valour, and death of the Cossacks. They are mostly lyric-epic works, full of drama, longing for home, reflection on death in a foreign land, and loyalty to the homeland.
They are usually performed in polyphony, with a solo opening, after which a second singer enters in an upper voice, followed by the rest of the ensemble in middle and lower voices. In 2016 the Cossack songs of the Dnipropetrovsk region were inscribed on UNESCO's List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding — recognition of their unique singing manner, which had come under threat of disappearance. These songs are not only an artistic treasure but a powerful source of national identity, in which the spirit of freedom, dignity, and the unbowed nature of the Ukrainian people lives on.
