среда, 9 ноября 2016 г.

London stories


"Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."
— Samuel Johnson

It was another day at my home. I took a book of maps from my parents library and opened a random page. The country  depicted on the picture was not like others, it was an island surrounded by blue ocean waters with red spot in the bottom-right, bordering the capital.  How could I imagine  back then that from all cities above this planet my fate would move me to London, one of  the most influential cities in the world not only for being  major economical center, but also for giving birth  to historical heritage, art and culture.
Since London was established  it has witnessed stories of  love and sin, devotion and treason, mercy and cruelty, hope and desperation.
This blog would be dedicated mostly to  the heart of London - City of Westminster and its former inhabitants.
Any city in the world  needs exploration, respect and love. Therefore here I am going to outline the stories far too good to be forgotten.

Carol of the bells...is ukrainian pagan song?

There is month and half still left for Christmas.  However everything around is already decorated in Christmas style and we feel the festive mood in the air. As we pass by windy streets we already visualize the warm atmosphere of Christmas Eve with people we love and care about.  With food we love, with stories we share and songs we got used to. We think about presents for our dear ones. We give ourselves promises fo the next year. We loose, we achieve, we fight, we dream. We live.
How can we imagine Christmas without our  favorite  traditional song? Moreover, could you ever guess that the song which is associated with warmth of the family evening turns out to be originally ukrainian?

"Carol of the bells" is Ukrainian folk song  sung by Ukrainians  in pagan times to celebrate the New Year, which was in April those days. It tells the tale about swallow flying over to the household.
The song is based on a Ukrainian folk chant, re-worked by Mykola Leontovych with lyrics by Peter Wilhousky
It was introduced to Western audiences in 1918 and by  October 1921 it reached the American continent. By 1936 the song became so popular that Peter Wilhousky created English version of it.

Since then it is associated with Christmas around the world.

Nowadays this Ukrainian song is videly used  on  TV ads, movies, perfomances and shows. For instance you can hear it in  "Christmas Carol" and " Home Alone 2" movies, Wall-mart ,Victoria's secret and NBA store TV ads and Bellagio fountain (Las Vegas) show.

Original song in ukrainian can be found on this link:


Tv ads : NBA


Victoria's Secret

Tv ad


Home Alone 2
                                                     Pink Panter cartoon

                                                   Christmas carol movie



                                                             Wal- mart TV advert
Victoria's Secret
Bellagio fountain show