Radio 477!

In 1929 Ukrainians were discovering the joys of jazz and of singing the stories of their city of Kharkiv. The audiences loved the show’s catchy songs, wild dances, dazzling sets and costumes. But the Communist Party bosses did not, so the show disappeared without a trace and so did the artists who created it. A few years ago, Virlana Tkacz, Yara's director, discovered the conductor’s score hidden in an archive. “Radio 477!” is a new theater piece created by Yara Arts Group and Ukrainian artists about the city of Kharkiv: its jazz history and how today it stood up to Putin.

Radio 477! has text & lyrics by Serhiy Zhadan, Ukraine’s award-winning poet, music by Anthony Coleman and direction by Virlana Tkacz. It is inspired by the 1929 Ukrainian Avant Garde jazz show in Kharkiv, Ukraine, about Kharkiv. The text and score were assumed lost in the Stalinist purges. A few years ago, Virlana Tkacz, Yara's director, discovered the conductor’s score hidden in an archive.