MBZ's Festival for CHILDREN: The Singing Stories

A giggle, a drop of joy; without fault or sin—these and similar thoughts will be repeated in the texts of Ukrainian stories for children, and adults, translated by a few Croatian translators, and will then be musically shaped and performed by several Croatian composers and interpreters. Wrapped in onomatopoeia, alliteration and assonance, with pictorial depictions of beings, phenomena and places and simple yet profound truths, these texts are dedicated to children but at the same time illustrate the beauty and innocence of this, one could say, vulnerable group. In this case, the children are indeed vulnerable—wounded—and their giggle, a drop of joy (although without fault or sin!), was brutally interrupted and swept away by a war that they, even if they wanted to, cannot fully understand and neither can nor should participate in. Thanks to the co-operation of various parties—with the support of the Solidarna Foundation, the book&zvook platform, the Croatian Literary Translators Association and the MBZ—we are going to try to put a smile back on the faces of Ukrainian children, at least for a while. At the same time, the MBZ audience will be encouraged to take other actions to prolong the child's smile and, ultimately, perhaps even keep them smiling. During the festival, in addition to the concert presentation of musical adaptations of literary works, there will also be a presentation of these stories and their translations, while the corresponding audio versions will be released on the book&zvook platform. All proceeds from the sale through the Solidarna Foundation will be donated to Ukrainian children currently living in Croatia.

Accurate and impressive translations are the work of three translators, regular members of the mentioned Association of Translators, Ana Dugandžić, Dariya Pavlešen and Domagoj Kliček. Ana Dugandžić is a senior lector of Ukrainian language and literature in the Ukrainian sub-department at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Zagreb. In addition to translating fiction and scientific literature, she publishes scientific and professional articles in the field of her scientific interest. Dariya Pavlešen also holds a degree in Ukrainian language and literature from Zagreb and Lviv and is interested in contemporary Ukrainian literature and is also the author of many scientific works. After graduating in Croatian and Ukrainian from the University of Zagreb, Domagoj Kliček began working as an assistant in the Ukrainian language and literature sub-department of the Department of East Slavic Languages and Literatures (the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Zagreb), and along with his scientific work, also translates fiction for the publisher Edicija Božičević.

The stories will be shaped musically by Ivana Kiš, a composer with a particular appreciation for the principle of theatrical expression—visual, tangible and synesthetic—together with three performers (voice, violin and vibraphone), then by Ivanka Mazurkijević and Damir Martinović Mrle, composers and interpreters who do not hesitate to use innovative, alternative and popular musical styles and means, and by Maja Rivić, composer and interpreter with a velvety voice, a distinct vocal technique and a decidedly childlike, sincere sensibility for combining art and human life, and a tendency to experiment with breathing, voice setting, intonation and registers in relation to body movements.

Maja Rivić, composer and performer

Ivasik Telesik
Ukrainian folk tale
translation: Domagoj Kliček
original text read by: Iryna Pronenko
 
Ivanka Mazurkijević and Damir Martinović Mrle, composers
Ivanka Mazurkijević, Iva Močibob, Vlado Simcich Vava, performers
 
A Drop (original title: Капітошка – Kapitoška)
author: Natalia Guzeeva
jointly translated by Ana Dugandžić and Dariya Pavlešen (special thanks to Žarko Jovanovski)
original text read by: Lyudmyla Mudyk
 
Ivana Kiš, composer

Melita Lovričević, glas
Eva Mach, violin
Nicolas Sinković, vibraphone

A Story about Bugs (original title: Ми комашки – My komašky)
author: Tetyana Koval-Vishkivska
jointly translated by Ana Dugandžić, Dariya Pavlešen, Domagoj Kliček (special thanks to Dean Trdak)
original text read by: Valeriia Movenko

program collaboration with the Croatian Literary Translators Association, book&zvook, Solidarna Foundation
We would like to thank the Svoja Association and Tea Cacović for their encouragement, initiative and help with the organization of this project