Five For Friday: Sofia Shkidchenko

Five For Friday 1 Minute

While I was looking for more videos by the Gardiner Brothers (yesterday’s Song of the Day artists), YouTube suggested a video by Ukranian singer and yodeler Sofia Shkidchenko, which was this morning’s Song of the Day. I was so impressed with her that I found a few more videos of her (she has quite a few; she’s been on YouTube since at least 2017), many of which showcase her yodeling, but a few that show that she sings quite well, too. Here are six of them; the last two deal with the current situation in Ukraine and may contain disturbing images.

  1. Her first appearance on Ukraine’s Got Talent in April 2017, when she was 11.
  2. She sings "Ku Ku Yodel" on German TV’s Oesch’s die Dritten a year later, when she was 12.
  3. A Christmas video, "Santa’s Yodeling Song." She was 13 here.
  4. From around the same time as the last video, an appearance on the BBC’s "Zoe Ball’s Breakfast Show," with the group Basement Jaxx.
  5. A cover of "Not Your War," by (I believe) an artist named Ocean Elsie or Elsie Ocean. This was made less than two weeks ago.
  6. Sofia sings the Ukranian National Anthem after an explanation of the lyrics. Her patriotism is admirable.

Sofia and her family have emigrated to Poland for the duration of the war. She has pages on Instagram and Facebook and also a Patreon page.

Sofia Shkidchenko, your Five for Friday, March 18, 2022.

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

Published

9 thoughts on “Five For Friday: Sofia Shkidchenko”

  1. I….love yodelling since I was a little kid. My mom had 2 albums from Germany and Austria with yodelling and I fell in love with them and played those albums many, many times. This kid is so very talented because it takes so much effort to yodel like that. I can see how the war has changed her face to someone who has seen death now. She no longer looks bubbly and innocent which is such a shame. I have seen all those pictures before but it resonates when put to music. The last, Ukraine’s Anthem, is just amazing and so haunting. To sing without any music is so very difficult. I am glad she and her parents made it out of Ukraine but can you imagine just packing up one suitcase and that is all you have? My mom and my Oma and Opa had to do it and I have always been incredulous at that feat of strength.

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    1. I get the sense that she’s fiercely patriotic, quite admirable for a 16-year-old. I started donating to her Patreon, hoping that her career takes off.

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