As Lux would have it….
By Gretchen Ammerman
Oregon Coast TODAY
Although his English is quite good, Ukrainian clarinetist Volodymyr Gitin was a bit befuddled when I told him that the group he is touring with, Kommuna Lux, is being billed as “high-energy Big Band sound from the bygone days of speakeasies and rum runners.”
The classically trained musicians from Odesa are bringing klezmer, Balkan and urban chanson, with a dash of Ukrainian folk, to the Lincoln City Cultural Center on Monday, Oct. 21.
Proceeds from this stop on the group’s months-long charity tour are going toward purchasing burn unit beds for a hospital on the front lines of the war in Ukraine.
“At the beginning of each concert we talk about our mission and whether it is the right time for us to be playing joyful music,” Gitin said. “We believe it is time exactly for that. People may need music to cry or feel deep feelings inside. We don’t want people to forget what is happening, but to occasionally stop to spend time in positivity together. So we explain that at the beginning of the concerts and I think people understand.”
Since the start of the group’s 2024 tour in July, Kommuna Lux has raised more than $11,000 in donations.
Though the group was formed in Odesa, its members are bound by a multi-ethnic background that informs the variety of its music.
“Some people are surprised that we are really from Odesa,” Gitin said. “We were born in different Ukrainian cities and have some different ethnic backgrounds and came together to play there. For example, we play klezmer and other Jewish music. I was born in Ukraine but I am Jewish.”
I spoke to Gitin the morning after the group performed to a packed crowd in Berkeley, California, where the audience had no room to dance, a rare event for the performers.
“In most of our shows people in the audience do dance,” he said. “We explain in the beginning that in our concerts they are part of the show and they can feel like they came into another world and have a new experience. Our music is authentic; we are the only ones that play in such a way with these arrangements, so the way we perform it will be special and unique. This time with us will be special for them.”
Monday’s show begins at 7 pm at the Lincoln City Cultural Center, located at 540 NE Hwy. 101. Tickets are $25. For more information, go to lincolncity-culturalcenter.org or call 541-994-9994.