Conceptual electroacoustic suite for bandura and live electronics. Release 28 May 2026 on Important Records label.
Alla Zahaikevych presents the suite 'Bandura: Electroacoustic' on 28 May 2026 on the American Important Records label (Brooklyn). This is a 7-part electroacoustic suite (total duration 58 minutes) for solo bandura and live electronics. Bandura performer is Volodymyr Kushpet (one of today's most renowned academic kobzars, director of the Kobzar Museum — see separate PR5 news about the Chyhyryn museum). Conceptually the suite is an electroacoustic reimagining of Ukrainian dumy of the 16th-19th centuries, where traditional bandura performance enters dialogue with real-time electronic processing. Structure: I. 'Duma about Samiilo Kishka' (8:42 — historical preservation + minimum electronics); II. 'Sulima' (7:18 — more electronics layering); III. 'Banduryst' (10:24 — full electronic immersion); IV. 'Kobzar Orphan' (8:15 — minor mode meditation); V. 'Oleksiy Popovych' (7:55 — historical drama); VI. 'Marusia Bohuslavka' (8:18 — female voice echo); VII. 'Sun Rises' (7:30 — finale, sunrise hope). Recording took place from 2024 to 2025 at the Kyiv Conservatory (Studio of Electroacoustic Music, founded by Zahaikevych in 1997) in live format (without overdubs — Kushpet played bandura, Zahaikevych processed sound in real-time through MaxMSP). Sound engineer — Serhiy Voitsekhovskyi. The album releases in formats: digital streaming, CD digipack with 28-page booklet (Zahaikevych's essay on methodology), 180g vinyl in gold-foil version (limited 400 copies, price 48€).
