Ой Чия То В Лузі Трава
Performed by Benya Stewart.
Recorded August 12, 2025 in New Milford, Connecticut.
Ой Чия То В Лузі Трава, or "Oh, whose grass in the field," is a traditional Ukrainian polyphonic song recorded in Lyutenka, a village in the Poltava region to the east of Kyiv. Yevhen Yefremov, a folklorist and researcher based in Kyiv, recorded this song and his band, Drevo, has performed it for many years with dramatic effect.
Benya Stewart learned and studied this song through the Drevo recording, which was passed to him by one of his early Ukrainian singing mentors, Marta Bodnar. It tells the story of a young Ukrainian man forced into army service of the Russian empire.
The man's mother, a widow, cannot offer him a proper 'provody.' This is the ritual—still alive in Ukraine today—where a community decorates a new military recruit with ribbons and embroidery, sings to him, and where each person takes turns wishing him well and giving him gifts for his new life. In the song, a young woman named Marya chooses to "weep for him," sets him on his horse and gives him his whip.
Benya, volunteering and living in Ukraine since June 2022, has sung this song at multiple provody events for different friends who themselves are joining the military.
Oh whose grass is that in the meadow,
Unmown?
Yes hey-hey, hey-hey,
One, two, luli-luli
Unmown?
Oh, it is that of the widow?
Oh, who had her son taken
Yes, hey-hey, hey-hey,
One, two, luli-luli
Oh, who had her son taken
Oh they took him to the army
Oh, there is no one to mourn him
Hey-hey, hey-hey,
One, two, luli-luli
Oh, there is no one to mourn him
Oh, where did Marya come from?
Oh, she mourned that boy
Hey-hey hey-hey,
One, two, luli-luli
Oh, she mourned that boy
Oh she mourned and even grieved
Oh, even put him on the horse
Hey-hey hey-hey,
One, two, luli-luli
Oh even put him on the horse
Oh, she put him on the horse
Oh, even gave him a whip
Hey-hey hey-hey
One, two, luli-luli
Oh, even gave him a whip
