I think this year the Vancouver Folk Music Festival is going to be about finding those artists I would not have discovered on my own. With that thought in mind, I’m really glad I arrived when I did. The first thing I did was check in with Lorenz Von Fersen in the information booth. He was able to give me a quick “lay of the land” overview, pointing out where to get a program, the general direction of the media tent, and where all the stages were situated this year.
“You better hurry though. There’s someone pretty special on the west stage,” he said.
That someone goes by the stage name Krut. She’s a young performer from Ukraine, and she plays the bandura. And she sings. Man can she sing. In person she’s luminously beautiful. Long fair hair in two tidy braids. Her eyes are a mix of gold and green.
“I almost said no to this interview” Maryna told me, because she was tired, and she had another performance coming up this evening. “But I’m glad I said yes.” We sat on the grass in the shade, and she told me about her childhood in a small town outside of Kiev.
“No one in my family was musical,” she said. “My mother used to sing when she did the dishes and other chores. My father would tease her about it.”
It was her father though who introduced her to the guitar at an early age. She was eight years old when she was introduced to the bandura. It was love at first listen, and she begged her parents to let her go to music school.
“We were so poor growing up, can I tell you a story? I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I remember the first time I saw a banana. I was about ten years old. I didn’t know how to eat it, so I ate it with its cover still on! But even still I begged my mother to let me go to music school. So she brought me to my first music teacher. And she tested me. She had me sing La la la la la la la la, and I imitated her ‘la la la la la la la la la.’ And she said, ‘OK, you have an ear.’ Her name was Maria, and she gave me my first job. I was 12 when I first started making money.”
It’s little wonder to me that she’s been earning money from the age of 12. At 28, she’s a beautiful, accomplished and polished artist. She has another set tonight on the main stage. She’s going to blow everyone away. I’m looking forward to it.
