In winter 1976, a few years before Olexandr Shapoval headed up the well-known band Vodogray, a jazz band called Shapoval Sextet recorded three pieces "Kobzareva Duma" in live at the Donetsk Jazz Festival. The tape has been lost for almost 45 years, until now. The most radical, experimental and psych jazz recording from the Ukrainian Soviet-era found to date.

Liner Notes
Oh, the bittersweet fate of this record...
If it was not for my pursuit to initiate a jazz program on Ukrainian Radio a year before which, by the way, remained on the Promin's air for almost 15 years, the record would not have existed at all.
Yes, there was an issue of choosing the repertoire among Ukrainian artists which we mainly found at jazz festivals at the time. Dnipro has annually hosted such events since 1968. A year later, in 1969, there was held the first "Donetsk-100" festival timed to the 100th anniversary of the city's foundation. Over time, the Donetsk Philharmonic became one of the organizers of city jazz events. The official status of the festival was the driver for its coverage on national radio.
Concerts of "Donetsk-106" festival took place on January 16-18, 1976, in the Youth and Sports Palace "Yunist", and all its participants and guests were settled at the modern Shakhtar Hotel. Even by today's standards, the infrastructure and organization were excellent due to the team effort of Viktor Dubilier, Chairman of "Donetsk-67" Jazz Club, and his wife Alla, music expert and lecturer at the Philharmonic. We also remembered unique and expressive posters by the talented artist Oleksandr Makarenko giving the festival some grandiose vibes.

The only challenge for our radio team was weather conditions, namely the Epiphany frosts reaching -20°C. It forced our technicians to warm up the equipment around the clock in the mobile control room of the "Skoda" bus. And Valentyn Litnovskyi, our sound engineer, had to wear sheepskin coat, "valenki" (felt boots) and mittens during the recording of concerts...
Not only the ensemble of the famous Donetsk resident Valeriy Kolesnikov but also groups from Riga, Novosibirsk, Voronezh, Taganrog, and Sverdlovsk performed. But Oleksandr Shapoval's Sextet from Dnipro was the real staple of the show. The three-part composition "Kobzar's Duma" with a kind of poetic "epigraph" and the first lines of Shevchenko's "Perebendya" formed on Ukrainian melos and authentic modal structure in combination with jazz-rock style sounded unexpected and incredibly convincing.
Later, Oleksiy Batashov, recognized historian of Russian jazz of the Soviet era, wrote, "Perhaps, it was the first time when jazz sounded so clearly in Ukrainian..."
And soon after the broadcast premiere of that recording, something unbelievable happened... The original film was lost. Only a poor copy was accidentally saved...
Shukai made an incredible effort. They restored, mastered and agreed with the author the full remix of this historical composition and performance.
And I am grateful for their extremely professional approach.


Mykola Amosov,
Honored Artist of Ukraine, “Ukrainian Radio”

Title and tracklist translations

Kobzareva Duma (Кобзарева Дума) = “Kobzar’s”* Duma**

I. Oi Zbyraisia Kozache Pokhid Bude (Ой Збирайся, Козаче, Похід Буде) = Get Ready Cossack There Will Be A Trip

II. Sich-Maty (Січ-Мати) = Mother “Sich”***

III. Povernennia (Повернення) = The Return

*Kobzar — A Kobzar (Ukrainian: кобзар, pl. kobzari Ukrainian: кобзарі) was an itinerant Ukrainian bard who sang to his own accompaniment played on a multistringed bandura or kobza. Kobzar literally means 'kobza player', a Ukrainian stringed instrument of the lute family, and more broadly — a performer of the musical material associated with the kobzar tradition;

**Duma — A Duma (Ukrainian: дума, plural dumy) is a sung epic poem which originated in Ukraine during the Hetmanate Era in the sixteenth century;

***Sich — A sich (Ukrainian: січ), or sech, was an administrative and military centre of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. The word sich derives from the Ukrainian verb сікти siktý, "to chop" – with the implication of clearing a forest for an encampment or of building a fortification with the trees that have been chopped down.


Credits
Composed and arranged by, flutes, saxophone, spoken words: Oleksandr Shapoval
Trumpet: Oleg Anapolsky
Electric organ, piano: Oleg Kosko
Guitar: Igor Kruchinenko
Drums: Anatoli Gurov
Bass guitar: Oleksandr Ishchuk

Recorded live in 1976 at The Donetsk Jazz Festival
Restoration and mastering by Flaty
Liner notes by Mykola Amosov
Compiled by Sasha Tsapenko, Dmytro Prutkin and Dmytro Nikolaienko
© ? Shukai / Oleksandr Shapoval
2020