For Maryna Krut, a master of the 56-string bandura, music is just not only a calling or a profession.
Whether she's performing to international audiences or to soldiers on the front lines in eastern Ukraine, Krut embodies her country's bitter struggle for independence within the face of the Russian invasion in 2022. Although steeped in traditional Ukrainian music, she is an artist who embraces it feels committed to the current moment and accompanies herself on an instrument that’s deeply rooted within the folklore of her region.
“About half of what I play are my originals and the other half are traditional Ukrainian songs, but I try to make them modern and contemporary,” said Krut, 28, who arrived after a 25-hour plane ride from her home little jet lag, western Ukraine seemed like New York City. She is at the start of a North American tour that features two Stanford Live performances on Saturday, January 18, and a concert on Sunday, January 19, at Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley.
With her soaring vocals winding across the resonant lines of the bandura, Krut evokes the cycle of the seasons in her folkloric repertoire. Whether she's singing songs welcoming spring, describing the rituals of winter or celebrating the start of Christmas, “I try to keep it modern,” she said.
“In Ukraine, people play traditional songs in a traditional way. I try to play everything in a contemporary way. Bandura can play anything, any style. Sometimes I use jazz or soul. I try to improvise and do it differently every time.”
It's not only her muse that cries out for musical variety. Shuttling between concert halls and impromptu performances near battlefields, she must toggle between the very different needs of her listeners while bringing music and luxury to the soldiers. Many of her friends are within the military, “and I want to play for them and for soldiers I don't know,” she said.
In the weeks leading as much as Christmas, she called on Instagram to gather relief packages for soldiers and ended up playing the Secret Santa “who goes to the front with all these presents and beautiful baked goods,” she said.
Although she has embraced her role as Ukraine's unofficial ambassador, leaving house is stressful on many levels. There are the logistical challenges of leaving the country and the incontrovertible fact that she never leaves the war behind her. Krut doesn't think she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, “but now I'm still afraid to sleep near a window,” she said.
“I am a civilian. I have no war experience and have never been to the front with a weapon. But we all have a lot of trauma. When I can’t describe my feelings with words, music explains what’s going on inside me.”
Growing up within the western Ukrainian city of Khmelnytskyi, Krut was not raised in a very musical family. But when she was eight years old, visiting her grandmother in a small village, she saw one other girl playing a strange-looking, box-shaped instrument with dozens of strings. She loved the sound and convinced her mother to enroll her in lessons at a neighborhood music school.
She first learned traditional songs after which classical music. As a young person, “I started writing music,” she remembers. “I tried to play and improvise and started writing songs.”
A couple of years later, she got hold of an inexpensive MP3 player and not using a screen and asked her friends to load it up with interesting music. Because Krut had no way of identifying the tracks, she often didn't know who she was listening to, “but I heard a lot of great stuff, like Esperanza Spalding and Diana Krall,” she said, explaining that her influences included numerous jazz and music Soul artists include you continue to attempting to discover yourself.
The normal pressure young artists face to define themselves through their music feels very different in a rustic at war. Composing music is best done in comfort and safety, a luxury Krut cannot take with no consideration. The reality in Ukraine is that all the pieces modified on February 24, 2022.
“I make music now, but it’s more complicated than before,” she said. “When I hear explosions, you understand that this is so important. You can die any day. You have to leave something in this world, at least your music.”
MARYNA KRUT
When and where: 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., January 18 at Stanford University Studio; $15-$45; live.stanford.edu; 8 p.m., Jan. 19, at Sweetwater Music Hall, Mill Valley; $39.66; sweetwatermusichall.org.
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