Andriy Khlyvnyuk sings "A red Guelder Rose" in the streets of Kyiv
From the beginning of the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, a traditional song called "In the Meadow, a red Guelder Rose" (Oi u luzi chervona kalyna) has become the symbol of the Ukrainian resistance
I stayed in Ukraine for five weeks in April-May 2022, volunteering with a Swiss NGO based in Transcarpathia. From there, I travelled with a Ukrainian volunteer to various cities in the country. Among other objectives, our trip aimed at delivering basic necessities to a shelter in Zaporizhzhya and to meet local volunteers in order to set up food and beverage supply points intended for refugees fleeing Eastern Ukraine, where fighting has continued ever since.
At this time, I discovered the immense popularity of an old song called In the Meadow, a red Guelder Rose. The lyrics tell the story of the one who sees a Guelder rose tree, laden with its blood-coloured fruit and bent down in a meadow, and who wishes to straighten it up. The metaphor is simple: straightening up this tree amounts to fighting for the freedom of Ukraine, one of whose symbols is the Guelder rose. Here is the story of how this song became a national and international symbol of the Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion.
From Kyiv to the southern hemisphere, the world tour of a traditional song
On 27 February, 2022, Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk posted a video on his Instagram account, in which he sings the Guelder Rose on Sofiyivska Square in Kyiv. The singer, who became famous in the 2000s in Ukraine together with his band Boombox, had just cancelled a tour in the United States and Canada to join the Ukrainian forces. At the moment, the capital city was under imminent threat of being seized by Russian forces. As one can imagine, his video sent a strong message of hope and combativeness to Ukrainians. In a few days only, it spread like wildfire on social networks. Ever since, Andriy Khlyvnyuk‘s performance inspired various initiatives all around the world, raising awareness on the Ukrainian cause.
On 4 March, South-African musician David Scott from the band The Kiffness released a remix of Andriy Khlyvnyuk‘s performance, met with a large success on social networks and Youtube. Then, less than a month later, on 2 April, a dozen of Ukrainian stars filmed themselves singing the already famous song. The videos, including Andriy Khlyvnyuk‘s original one, were put together to create a flashmob which, in turn, achieved great success.
The story of the Guelder Rose, however, is not over yet. In all probability, the song’s popularity reached its peak when the famous British band Pink Floyd released their own version entitled Hey Hey Rise Up , which samples Andriy Khlyvnyuk‘s original performance, on 8 April.
A tune of unknown origins
The exact origin of the Guelder Rose song has remained unclear. For some people, the current version derives from a Cossack anthem from the 17th century, as several Ukrainian volunteers explained to me during my trip. At this time, Ukrainian Cossacks (also known as Zaporozhian Cossacks), were free men (as opposed to serfs), generally serving as auxiliary soldiers on behalf of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Living in autonomous communities, they defended the eastern borders of the kingdom, to which a large part of the territories now making up Ukraine belonged. Their capital city was located on the Khortytsia Island, on the Dnieper River, now in Zaporizhzhya.
In Ukrainian national history, Cossacks are remembered as the founders of the first independent – or at least autonomous – Ukrainian state. Under command of their leader Bohdan Khmelnytsky they rose up against the Polish rule in 1648 and formed an alliance with Russians in 1654 – an episode which remains a controversial issue between Ukrainian and Russian historians today. By doing so, Cossacks regained part of the autonomy they had been deprived of. However, Russians in turn progressively curtailed Cossacks’ privileges and ultimately took control over the lands east from the Dnieper. These territories approximately correspond to those over which Moscow is claiming sovereignty today.
Whether inspired by a Cossack hymn or not, the current lyrics of the Guelder Rose were probably composed by Ukrainian author and journalist Stepan Chernetsky in 1914. This version of the song then became the hymn of two distinct military units composed of Ukrainian volunteers and bearing the same name: the Sich riflemen.
During World War I, the riflemen fought the Russian Empire on the Eastern front, as part of the Austro-Hungarian army. A few years after the creation of the first corps, some of its former officers set up a new Sich riflemen unit, serving this time the ephemeral Ukrainian National Republic (1917-1920). The riflemen then took part in the Ukrainian-Soviet war (1917-1921), during which the young Republic confronted the Russians (Red and White) as well as Poland for a time. After the Russian Revolution of February 1917, the Russian Provisional Government had initially recognised Ukraine’s autonomy and main political institutions. However, relationships with Moscow quickly deteriorated after the Bolshevik coup during the same year in Saint Petersburg. The Ukrainian National Republic was eventually defeated and Ukraine became a Soviet socialist republic until 1991.
Strong symbolic significance
Both historical episodes linked to the Guelder Rose imply Russia as an actor playing a controversial role and eventually putting an end to the autonomy or independence attempts of Ukrainians. Besides this, singing the Guelder Rose was forbidden during the whole time Ukraine was a soviet socialist republic. Even today, it seems that the song still appears on the Russian list of censored works, at least in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. According to Ukrainska Pravda , it was blocked on some music platforms. In addition, several people were fined or jailed in Crimea in October and November for singing the Guelder Rose in public or releasing a video of them singing the anthem, The Guardian and the Kyiv Post report.
The tune has presently become so famous in Ukraine that petitions online started, seeking to make it the new national anthem while, in July, the National Bank of Ukraine issued a special coin celebrating the role of the Guelder Rose in the history of the country. On one side, one can observe a Cossack, a Sich rifleman, and a soldier from the current Ukrainian army straightening up a Guelder rose tree. The other side is adorned with a Guelder rose branch, leaf, and fruit.
The Guelder rose has not only been the object of military anthems. On the contrary, in Russia, this tree inspired one of the most famous songs of the country – Kalinka – a love story not devoid of humour. Let us hope that the Guelder rose will inspire other works of this kind in the future, which can be sung on both sides of the border.
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