“Marichka” tune is heard every day at noon

Every day at noon, the trumpeter plays “And on the Other Side, There Lives Marichka” tune by the famous Bukovyna composer Stepan Sabadash to the four corners of the world from the balcony of the Chernivtsi City Hall from which the city’s officials once informed the citizenry about developments in the world. The tradition started several years ago, in 2004, after the city’s mayor Mykola Fedoruk had visited Krakow. Seeing as the local trumpeter informed the Krakovians that noon had come, the mayor decided to introduce this new custom to the regional center he headed, too. From then on, the trumpeter in Hutsul dress has been coming out to the balcony of the city hall and playing a few lines of “Marichka” every day. Crowds of citizens and guests of the city gather to hear a magical tune. “When playing the beginning chords, I am proud, happy and light of heart. This great tune lives among the people, it has become a classic and pleases my heart,” the trumpeter Vasyl Kozak says. A few minutes before noon, he puts on his suit, takes the trumpet and walks up the steep stairs to the city hall spire. Having tuned the instrument and tried the chords needed, the trumpeter starts playing the tune. Kozak is a professional trumpeter with the Chernivtsi Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. “No matter what the weather is outside, in rain, frost, and heat, I must play it to the four corners of the world exactly at 12 o’clock, since 2005 on. Early on, some students played it, and then the city honored me with this duty,” Kozak says. He recalls that the city hall tune was selected after a heated discussion, but “Marichka” chords won the competition at the end. “This is an immortal tune which sounds in everybody’s heart,” the trumpeter asserts.