Ottawa music lovers looking for something different this weekend should head just across the river to Chelsea, Que., where Ukrainian artist Nastasia Y is set to perform an album she describes as "Ukrainian soul" — a genre-bending blend of ancient folk songs, jazz and funk unlike anything else on the local concert circuit right now.
A sound rooted in centuries, shaped by war
Nastasia Y's music draws on traditional Ukrainian folk melodies, some centuries old, and reworks them through a modern lens of jazz phrasing and funk grooves. But behind the danceable arrangements is a much heavier story. Her latest album was written and recorded as Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine continues to unfold, and the songs carry the weight of that reality — threads of protest, grief and hope run through the record from start to finish.
CBC's Rachelle Elsiufi caught up with the artist ahead of the show to talk about how the war has shaped her songwriting, and how she's using the stage to process — and share — an experience that's impossible to separate from her art.
Why it matters for the National Capital Region
Chelsea sits just minutes from downtown Ottawa across the Gatineau Hills, and it's long been a go-to spot for the capital region's music-loving crowd looking for smaller, more intimate shows than what you'd find at the bigger downtown venues. Saturday's performance is exactly the kind of cross-border cultural event that Ottawa and Gatineau audiences regularly share, and it lands at a moment when the region's Ukrainian community — and the many Ottawans who've hosted, supported or simply followed the war closely since 2022 — will likely find the show especially resonant.
Ottawa has one of the larger Ukrainian communities in Ontario, and local venues and cultural organizations across the capital have hosted a steady stream of benefit concerts, art exhibits and vigils since the invasion began. Nastasia Y's performance fits into that broader pattern of artists using music to keep the war's human cost visible, even as global headlines move on to other stories.
What to expect
Expect a set that swings between mournful and defiant, with folk melodies giving way to jazz improvisation and funk-inflected rhythm sections. It's not a typical protest concert in tone — it's meant to groove as much as it aims to make you sit with the weight of what's being sung about.
For Ottawa-area residents who want a night out that's musically adventurous and emotionally substantial, Saturday's show in Chelsea is a short drive with a lot to offer.
Source: CBC Ottawa
