OLEH
BUT
Ukranian Folk Dance
Oleh But is the leader of the ensemble Buttya a traditional Ukrainian musical group started in 2000 that is made up of the But family. The group has been instrumental in reviving traditional village folk dances in Ukraine by holding weekly dance classes in Kyiv through their "school of traditional dance", travelling extensively to festivals, and making dance instruction available through videos and their online database. They've provided many participants with a reintroduction to the folk music and dance of daily Ukrainian countrylife that has been largely unrepresented, and made great efforts to honour the authenticity of the original sources of their music. The ensemble performs both instrumental and vocal musical pieces, including many tunes for dancing, traditional wedding tunes, lyrical songs, comical songs, ballads, and winter ritual songs.
The group's members have gone on ethnographic expeditions for eight years, collecting musical records all over the countryside. Buttya has participated in festivals such as "Svitovyd" (2000), "Kyiv Rus" (2004), "Dreamland" (2004, 2005, 2006), "Sheshory" (2005), "Skamba Skamba Kankliai" (2005), "Viljandi" (2005), "Mykolajki Folkowe" (2007). http://www.buttia.kiev.ua/