Wernyhora is a world music/folk band from Sanok, and won 1st Prize in the Folk Music Contest at the Festival Nowa Tradycja (2021), as well as the Main Prize and the Audience Award of the Festival. The band mainly focuses on the traditions of the Polish-Ukrainian borderland, especially the music of the inhabitants of the Carpathians (from the Lemko region to the Hutsul region). In 2021, Wernyhora had the opportunity to present their interpretation of Boyko’s music at the most important folk and world music festivals in Poland: EtnoKrakow/Crossroads in Cracow, EthnoPort in Poznan and others. At over 20 concerts in 2021, the music of the Sanok band was enthusiastically received by the audience, who were amazed by the beauty of the instrumental arrangements (including lira, a Ukrainian version of the hurdy-gurdy) and the sensitivity of the Wernyhora’s vocalist. At the end of 2021, the band released their debut album Boyko Voice of the Bieszczady, which included six Boyko songs in arrangements perfectly showed the musical artistry of the three Sanok musicians. In the beginning of June 2022 they released a new song titled Zhurba, which is a protest against the current war in Ukraine.
Albums:
Boyko Voice of the Bieszczady (self-released, 2021)
Zhurba (EP, self-released, 2022)
Band members:
Daria Kosiek – main vocal
Anna Oklejewicz – string instruments, including vielle and viola da gamba
Maciej Harna – lira (the version of hurdy-gurdy), arranger, musicologist, educator, creator
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Michal Smetanka – multi-instrumentalist, guest musician
