HRAYBERY

Hraybery revives the forgotten music of a bygone era, dance music from 200 yrs ago. Melodies that echoed at the crossroads of cultures on the Polish-Ukrainian borderlands in Galicia during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This music thrived in the titular inns of villages, towns, and shtetls, frequented by locals—Ruthenians/Ukrainians, Poles, Jews—as well as by wandering Roma and merchants from various nations traveling along trade routes. These inns were vibrant with a mix of dialects, languages, and music, often played by musicians of diverse ethnic backgrounds, sometimes in mixed ensembles. This unique blend forged the multicultural character and distinctiveness of the local music from regions such as Sanok, Przemyśl, Tomaszów, Sambor, and Drohobych.
The band's repertoire mainly features dance tunes: cossacs, cossachocs, kolomeykas,, mazurkas, polkas, and tsiurylos. The instruments used by the ensemble have been common in these areas since the late 16th century. The melodies were meticulously collected by Polish and Ukrainian enthusiasts and researchers, with some sourced from Oskar Kolberg's comprehensive monographs.

The band was formed at the turn of spring/summer 2023 and since then has been playing regularly at both large and small festivals, in Poland and abroad. They won an award from Polish Radio, released their first album and starting work on their second. In such a short time, they have gained an audience and distinguished themselves in the minds of critics and have become fair competition on the traditional music market.