Music Releases
LATEST ALBUM
Kyiv Soul (Lulaworld Records, 2024) is OUT! Inspired by the Ukrainian word “dushevna”, which means “soulful”, my new album explores themes of war & love. Trauma exposes the dusha (soul), & these ancestral voices emerged as a force of resistance after Russia’s invasion of my home. In a world where people shield themselves from global events, I want to open the hearts of my listeners to our Ukrainian soul.
Featuring Juno and Grammy award-nominated musicians (Justin Gray, Marito Marques, Andrew Stewart), ‘Kyiv Soul’ has been featured on CBC, has charted at #12 on World Music Charts Europe, and has been nominated for the 2025 Canadian Folk Music Awards in the category “Pushing Boundaries”. Learn more about the album HERE.
“The birth of the cool has emerged in Slavic circles” – Marusya Bociurkiw, scholar
“Comparable to the Bosnian sevdah or the Portuguese saudade, her music is dushevna – Ukrainian soul.” – Music Frames
“Nastasia’s pitch pure soprano inveigles the listener into magic, mystery and passion” – Whole Note Magazine
Singles
KUPALO
My favourite celebration from childhood in Ukraine is “Ivana Kupala” – a summer solstice celebration of fertility that comes from pagan times. On this night, people celebrate love and magic, dancing around fires, performing rituals and singing songs all night long to bring about love and luck.
One day I was driving, and a song by Prince came on the radio. I stopped the car, and started singing these old Ukrainian solstice motifs over it. This is what happened.
STOLEN GREEN
This song is based on the traditionally celebratory Ukrainian folk song “Zeleneye Zhyto” (“Green Wheat”) about bountiful harvest, transforming it to evoke tones of loss and melancholy. The song highlights Russia’s ecocide in Ukraine, in particular the theft and burning of grain—a poignant symbol for Ukrainians since Stalin’s hunger genocide, the Holodomor.
RUSALOCHKY (MERMAIDS)
This track was created during the pandemic, working remotely with the producer DJ Oonga from Montreal.
Rusalochky are mystical female water spirits that live in the woods, known to lure men into the waters. We wanted to create a “trip” through the forests of Eastern Europe with this track. We made this for the compilation album ‘Cantos a la Madre’ (Chants to the Mother) by Cosmovision Records, featuring folk-tronica tracks from all over the world.
Nastasia Y & DoVIra - III
My first electronic EP, and DoVira’s third release.
‘III’ was created in a cabin in the woods of Ontario by DoVira’s electro trio: myself, Mike Romaniak and Patrick O’Reilly. The EP seamlessly blends English, Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, and even invented languages.
DoVira - DoVira
This is an album I’m very proud of – the self-titled full-length album ‘DoVira’ (meaning “trust” in Ukrainian).
The album, coined “world fusion at its best” by Whole Note Magazine, features 9 guest artists from the Toronto world music scene, including Ed Hanley (Autorickshaw), Ernie Tollar, Andrea Kuzmich, and members of Lemon Bucket Orkestra.
DoVira - OBRYS
This is DoVira’s first EP.
Our early work largely focused on creating fresh arrangements of popular Ukrainian songs, accompanied by live studio videos. One of the videos, “Yihav Kozak Mistom” is has garnered over 150,000 views on YouTube.
Stacey Y - Set THe Water Straight
My debut album in English, released in 2013 under the stage name “Stacey Y”.
Rik Emmett (of Canadian rock legend group Triumph) called the album “dynamic, dramatic, hip, stylish and sophisticated”.
