Chornobyldorf Partita
Performed by Roman Grygoriv (Performer), Illia Razumeiko (Performer)
Chornobyldorf Partita, considered lost for the past 300 years, is presented to the general public for the first time. The discovery of an entire collection of Urtexts (The Codex of Chornobyldorf), dedicated to post-apocalyptic instrumental music, allowed Roman Grygoriv and Illia Razumeiko — senior researchers of the Performative Archaeology department of the Chornobyldorf Institute — to reconstruct the Partita. Chornobyldorf instrumental music is a unique phenomenon of post-apocalyptic culture, formed after the death of conceptual art and new music (end of the 21st century) and becoming a traditional practice during the development of ritual theatre and new folklore (mid-24th century). Originally performed on a set of string microtonal instruments (bandura, dulcimer, gusli, cantele, guitar) using a wide range of percussive and extended techniques, the Partita in its original form includes seven parts formed as a mix of German, French and Ukrainian instrumental and dance suites: Toccata, Allemande, Chronos, Ricercar, Minuet and Fugue, Air, and Hopaque. The final dance, Hopaque, emerged as a post-genre based on the Ukrainian folk dance Hopak, and is characterized by unique techniques including cossack pizzicato, sagaidachnyi multi-glissando and ricochet de Baturyn. The Partita is part of a large-scale opera production — Chornobyldorf. Archaeological Opera, a contemporary media-opera combining folk and classical singing with physical theatre, dance, unique instruments and cinematic video-novels — whose premiere was produced in 2020 in Kyiv by Opera Aperta, the laboratory of contemporary opera led by Grygoriv and Razumeiko.