Robert Bohdan Klymasz (1936 – ) was born in Toronto in 1936 and is a Ukrainian-Canadian folklorist. He was the executive director of the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre, an Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies, and a curator at the Museum of Civilization.

I highly recommend reading the following article, A Visit to the Ukrainian Museum and Library, by Thomas Prymak about his visit to the Oseredok in Winnipeg. His article talks about the treasured texts found there as well as his visits and chats with Ukrainian-Canadian scholars including Robert Klymasz.

The reason I’m sharing this information is because one of my cousins stumbled on to the Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives where our great-grandmother Anastasia Masiowski nee Kotlarchuk (1891-1976) has 32 songs and stories recorded when Robert Klymasz visited Fork River on July 20th, 1964. The archive indicates there are 36 songs and stories but 4 of them have been mislabeled as they are sung by Walter Pasternak.

There were 68 recordings made from Fork River that also included 21 recordings from Dokiia Rozmarynovych and 3 recordings from Mrs. Jacob Harrison. Additionally, Robert Klymasz recorded stories and songs from Plumas, Rorketon, and Winnipegosis as well as in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

You can listen to the entire collection on their website.

I’ve organized the 32 items alphabetically in the Cyrillic alphabet and linked each one separately.

I was curious as to whether any of the recordings were used in Robert Klymasz’ publications and I found 2 songs from my great-grandmother in his books which I pulled from the University of Manitoba’s Slavic Collection at the Elizabeth Dafoe Library. I’ve marked them in the chart for easy identification and included the musical notation and lyrics from the books in both English and Ukrainian.

It’s so interesting to hear my ancestor’s voice from beyond the grave!

There are additional records from the Robert Klymasz collection at the University of Manitoba’s archives that I’d like to pull in the future. I hope there are more translations of her songs and stories that just didn’t make it into a publication.

Romanized Title	Cyrillic Title	Length
A zvidty hora, a zvidty druha	А звідти гора, а звідти друга	2:30
A nash tsisar tsisarivno	А наш цісар цісарівно	3:59
A ia v svoiei matusen’ky iedna iedno bula	А я в своєй матусеньки єдна єдно була	1:34
Zhenyla mnia moia maty	Женила мня моя мати	3:33
Zhuriu ia sie zhuriu	Журю я сє журю	1:55
Kukharochko holubko	Кухарочко, голубко	0:40
My kryvomu tantsi	Ми кривому танці	2:48
Ne teper (2) na hryby khodyty	Не тепер (2) на гриби ходити	0:47
Oi divchyna na hryby khodyla	Ой дівчина на гриби ходила	2:03
Oi divchyno, divchynon’ko	Ой дівчино, дівчинонько	0:52
Oi dube dube kucheriavyi	Ой дубе дубе кучерявий	4:10
Oi vyisie vinochku	Ой вийсє віночку	0:36
Oi letila zozulen’ka	Ой летіла зозуленька	2:55
Oi na horon’tsi dvi zazulen’tsi	Ой на гороньці дві зазуленьці	5:11
Oi popid hai zelenen’kyi	Ой попід гай зеленький1	3:58
Oi u L’vovi na rynochku	Ой у Львові на риночку	4:24
Oi tam na stavi na Iordani	Ой там на ставі на Йордані	5:23
Oi tam v Vyflyiemi	Ой там в Вифлиємі	2:58
Oi chomu zh ty, Marusiu, ne plachesh	Ой чому ж ти, Марусю, не плачеш	1:25
Perepylyn’ko, ta i holovka bolyt’	Перепилинько, та й головка болить	1:35
Pereskochu voboloniu	Перескочу воболоню	1:15
Pid viknamy kalyna	Під вікнами калина	2:25
Po sadochku prokhodzhaie	По садочку проходжає	4:46
Sydyt’ holub na dubochku	Сидить голуб на дубочку	1:02
Syn zamalo buv khoroshyi	Син замало був хороший	4:32
Story	n/a	8:18
Story about Dovbush	n/a	1:58
Story about stupid Bala	n/a	6:14
Ta i narvu ia lionu	Та й нарву я льону	2:46
Ta i shumila lishchynon’ka	Та й шуміла ліщинонька	0:33
Tam na horbochku tam vohon’ hore	Там на горбочку там вогонь горе2	0:36
Khodyt zuchok po zuchyni	Ходит зучок по зучині	0:28

¹ Published in Ukrainian Folksongs from the Prairies. Complied under the direction of the collector with the participation of Andrij Hornjatkevyč, Bohdan Medwidsky, and Paula Prociuk. Collected by Robert B. Klymasz. Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press. University of Alberta. 1992.

² Published in The Ukrainian Winter Folksong Cycle in Canada. Robert B. Klymasz. Ottawa. 1970.

Old Country Songs

Nastja Masiowsky – Fork River, Manitoba – 20 July 1964

Ой попiд гай зеленький Ходить Довбуш молоденький. На нiжечку налягає, На топiр ся пiдпирає. «Бiгом, хлопцi, бiгом, бiгом, Западає стежка снiгом. Та коби ми бай до Дэвiнки, До Штефановоï жiнки.» «На день добрий Штефанова, Ой чи є твiй Штефан дома?» «Ой нема Штефана вдома, Ще вечеря не готова.» «Ой чи вийдеш вiдтворяти, Чи скажеш ся добувати?» «Ой не вийду я втворяти, Не скажу ся добувати. В мене дсверi тисовiï, В мене замки стальовiï.» «Як пiдложу праве плече, Не поможуть эамки твоï, Не поможуть дверi твоï.» Як пiдложив праве плече, Його куля в саме серце. «Ой ви хлопцi бай молодцi, Вiэьмiть мене на топорцi. Эамесiть м’я в Буковину, Де-м ся вродив, най там эгину. Було ходити та и буяти, Суцi правди не скаэати.»

By the small green grove Goes the young Dovbuš. He limps on [one] foot He rests on his ace as on a cane. “Quickly, men, quickly, quickly, Soon snow will fall and cover our path. “Let’s make our way to Dzvinka, To the wife of Štefan. “Greetings, o wife of Štefan, Is Štefan, your husband, home?” “Štefan is not home yet, The supper is not ready.” “Will you open up willingly, Or am I to force my way in?” “I shall not open up, Nor will I let you force yourself in. “I have doors made of yew, I have locks made of steel.” “When I brace my shoulder against the door, Your locks will not help, Your doors will not help.” When he braced his shoulder to the door, A bullet hit him straight in the heart. “O my men, you young stalwarts, Take me up on on your axe [handles], And take me to Bukovyna, Let me die where I was born. I should have gone roaming Instead of telling that bitch the truth.”

NOTE: Singers often grope for the pitch and metre at the beginning of songs. If this song had had more verses, the singer would probably have established a triple metre throughout. The bar 4/8 time would then be sung in 38. [Kenneth Peacock.]

Там на горбочку там вогонь горе Там дiвчина пироги варит. А з стрiхи тиче на ïï пличе, А з носа каптит, пироги мастит!

There on a hillhock burns a fire, And a maiden’s there cooking dumplings. The thatched roof is leaking onto her shoulder And from her nose it’s dripping and buttering the dumplings.

This is a typical ditty sung by the mummers to underscore Malanka’s abilities as a housekeeper and cook.