In the fall of 1989, ethnomusicologist William Noll came to Kyiv for a nine-month research project, recording instrumental rural music and interviews with the musicians, at the invitation of the Rylsky Institute of Art History, Folklore and Ethnography (IMFE). Noll recorded musicians in Central Ukraine, the Hutsul region, Volyn, and western Podillia, Bukovyna.
Noll was helped and informed by experienced researchers-musicologists Mykhailo Hai, Bohdan Lukaniuk, Larysa Saban, Mykhailo Myshanych, and others. Sometimes they share with Noll their research, the records preserved in his archive, and we present them on the platform.
Noll’s research focuses on musical practices of rural instrumental performers in various regions as well as women’s vocal ensembles (primarily ritual songs). He has published his findings in articles in Ukrainian and English and is preparing a monograph on Ukrainian instrumental music in English.
