2 minute read
Afternoon Oldtime Dance
Afternoon Oldtime Dance
Rosanne Fortier - News Correspondent
Rich and melodious music with driving rhythms and spirited tempos brightened the day of 110 enthusiastic folks at this event at Vegreville Elks Hall on March 30.
The Brandon Hachkowski and Ukrainian Tradition Band delivered this entertainment, with Brandon on fiddle and accordion and bandmates: Kevin Hachkowski on accordion, Terry Kotyk on guitar, and Irene Pankiw on tsymbaly.
This band aims to promote and preserve the older Western/Canadian Ukrainian music.
Brandon Hachkowski, a resident of Vegreville, was born in St. Catharines and spent most of his life in the Niagara region of Ontario.
His background in music goes back to his Ukrainian background; Brandon followed in his father’s footsteps by playing the fiddle, for which he started taking lessons at four years old. From there, he took up the accordion when he was seven.
He performed with his family since he was seven years old.
Brandon likes to entertain the older crowd by performing old-time music as not many musicians still play this music. “When I go to perform and play with the band, it is nice to see the older folks get up and dance and smile,” Brandon expressed.
This event raised $550 for the Ukrainian Musicians Association, a non-profit organization out of Dauphin, Manitoba. “They honour and celebrate past Western/Canadian Ukrainian musicians. My father belongs to them. They need as much funds as possible as they are raising funds to build a new hall in Dauphin, Manitoba. They have a hall there with a bunch of memorabilia and displays of those past musicians to honour them. So, they are trying to get a new hall that will be a bit bigger to add more musicians to it.”
Attendee Richard Marchenko expressed that the music was very good. “I like the way the instruments made a unique sound.”
