Birdsong, Kaimuki, O'ahu, Hawai'i, 12 March 2017, 6:20 am

Birdsong, Kaimuki, Hawai'i, 12 March 2017, 6:20am

This was a group of amateur singers who gather nightly near the main plaza in the spa town of Truskavets, Ukraine, where one can drink the local mineral waters, considered to derive health properties from their proximity to the nearby oil reserves discovered in the Nineteenth Century.  Water from the main spring is called "Naftussia."  There seemed to be one or two leaders of the group who brought photocopied song sheets with the words, a number of regulars, and then anyone who walked by and wanted to join in, headed home from work or visiting the spa, shopping bags in hand.

The song is the Russian chanson, "Plat'e" (Платье) from the Soviet era, originally performed by Yosyf Davidovich Kobzon.  Many thanks to ethnomusicologist, Maria Sonevytsky for the identification.

David A. Goldfarb