The Kubasonics are a Ukrainian-Canadian speed-folk band based in St. John's, Newfoundland. Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, The Kubasonics are honoured in the Ukrainian Canadian community for recreating traditional Ukrainian melodies, with a twist. Humorous or surprising alterations to time-honored songs create a sound that is often described as a "folk fusion." To create their unique sound, the Kubasonics incorporate traditional Ukrainian instruments such as the

tsymbaly The tsymbaly () is the Ukrainian version of the hammer dulcimer. It is a chordophone made up of a trapezoidal box with metal (steel or bronze) strings strung across it. The tsymbaly is played by striking two beaters against the strings. The ...

, drymba and

Hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-turned crank, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin (or nyckelharpa) bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar ...

into the context of a western rock band.

History

Formation and Alberta

The Kubasonics première performance was at Edmonton's Hopak in the Park in June 1996. Leading member Brian Cherwick had met many of his soon-to-be bandmates as he studied at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...

earning a PhD ("Polkas on the Prairies: Ukrainian Music and the Construction of Identity") from the Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies. The founding members of the Kubasonics were Brian, Brian's brother - Paul Cherwick (

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

), Brian's late wife - Beth Cherwick (

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

), Jay Lind (

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

) and Bill Yacey (

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

).Brian, Paul, Jay, and Bill all contributed to the band's 2005 album titled "Big Beet Music." Additionally, Thom Bennet (

), Rod Olstad (vocals and

), Taras Zakordonski (

), and Maria Cherwick (

) worked on "Big Beet Music."Of the band members who contributed to "Big Beet Music", only Brian Cherwick, Paul Cherwick, Maria Cherwick, Bill Yacey, and Taras Zakordonski are of Ukrainian origin. Individually, the band members have had a wide range of musical influences. In particular, D-Drifters 5, known for playing traditional Ukrainian

polka Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...

music, were an inspiration for Brian who started playing

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

at a young age and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

in university. The Kubasonics have played renditions of some songs by the D-Drifters 5. Over the years, they added more of Brian's writing and contemporary pieces to the folk music of their performance repertoire. The track "

Giants of the Prairies The Giants of the Prairies are a group of "world's biggest" roadside attractions found in Western Canada, especially in small towns populated mostly by Ukrainian Canadians. List In popular culture These attractions are referenced in the Kubason ...

" from their album of the same title exemplifies one of their sillier songs. They sing about landmarks like

Vegreville Vegreville () is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is on Highway 16A approximately east of Edmonton, Alberta's capital city. It was incorporated as a town in 1906, and that year also saw the founding of the ''Vegreville Observer'', a week ...

, Alberta's enormous

Easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian holiday of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are commonly used during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The ...

, Glendon, Alberta's giant perogy, and

Vilna Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, Alberta's massive mushroom. This track was even played on a

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

program about gigantic landmarks. "

" was not the only Kubasonics song to be played on national television. Another song off "

", "

Billy Mosienko William Mosienko (November 2, 1921 – July 9, 1994) was a Canadian professional ice hockey Winger (ice hockey), right winger who played 14 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Chicago Black Hawks from 1942 to 1955. He is best noted ...

", was played on

Hockey Night in Canada ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') is a long-running program of broadcast ice hockey play-by-play coverage in Canada. With roots in pioneering hockey coverage on private radio stations as early as 1923, ...

as a tribute for the 50th anniversary of Mosienko's 21-second hat-trick. Despite some silly songs, the Kubasonics retain a sense of traditionalism on their albums. Songs like "Early Bird Of Spring," from their "

" album appeal to some of their more conservative listeners. The popularity of the Kubasonics is not limited to the Canadian music community. In the summer of 2008, the band performed in major Ukrainian cities including

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

and

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. The band also performed at the 2008 Canadian National Ukrainian Festival. For the CNUF, held in Dauphin,

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

, the Kubasonics are appropriate performers since one goal of the festival is to present the unique Ukrainian culture of Canada. The band has performed at Toronto's annual Ukrainian Festival (held on Bloor Street). In contrast to performing in front of thousands of festival attendees at Toronto's annual Ukrainian Festival, another one of the band's memorable gigs was their smaller-scale 10th Anniversary Concert. In the summer of 2011 The Kubasonics hosted a 15th anniversary concert at Queen Alex Hall in Edmonton. It marked the 15th year of the band's history and the last official Kubasonics concert "for a while", before Brian Cherwick moved to St. John's Newfoundland.

Relocation to Newfoundland and "Kubfunland"

In 2011, bandleader Brian Cherwick relocated to St. John's, Newfoundland, where he became involved in the local music community. In September 2015, Brian formed a new iteration of The Kubasonics featuring past member, Maria Cherwick on

, past guest musician, Jacob Cherwick on

, Darren "Boobie" Browne on

, Matt Hender on

and Paul Bendzsa on

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

and

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

. In March 2017, The Kubasonics were selected to travel to Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, as part of the Club One New Releases television program presented by

Bell Media Bell Media Inc. (Canadian French, French: ) is a Canadian media conglomerate that is the mass media subsidiary of BCE Inc. (also known as Bell Canada Enterprises, the owner of telecommunications company Bell Canada). Its operations include nati ...

and FLOW TV. In April 2017, The Kubasonics released their fifth album, titled "Kubfunland." This was the first Kubasonics album to feature music sung entirely in Ukrainian. The band then proceeded to tour in support of the album throughout the summer of 2017, including stops in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Members

Current members of the Kubasonics are: * Brian Cherwick * Maria Cherwick * Jacob Cherwick * Darren Browne * Matt Hender Past group members include:Brian Cherwick, phone interview, 1 May 2017 * Beth Cherwick * Paul Cherwick * Bill Yacey * Jay Lind * Taras Zakordonski * Thom Bennett * Paul Bendzsa

Discography

*''Miaso'' (1999) *''Giants of the Prairies'' (2002) *''Big Beet Music'' (2005) *''IV Play'' (2010) *''Kubfunland'' (2017) *''Winter Carols'' (2018)

References

External links

Miaso (1999)

Giants of the Prairies (2002)

Big Beet Music (2005)

Kubfunland (2017)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubasonics Musical groups established in 1996 Musical groups from Edmonton Canadian world music groups Canadian folk music groups Kobzarstvo 1996 establishments in Alberta Ukrainian-Canadian culture