Music by Ukrainian composer Ihor Shamo unexpectedly found itself at the center of online discussions due to an overlap with one of the most recognizable melodies in film history. A social media user under the nickname zelen.kino (Camera Operator • Vinyl lover) published a video in which they sequentially play a fragment of “Melodia” from Shamo’s “Ukrainian Suite” and the famous Hedwig’s Theme, composed by John Williams for the film “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” and then layer both pieces over each other. According to his observations, a distinct melodic line in Shamo’s composition noticeably resembles part of Williams’s theme. The material referenced by Ukrainian media is available on the website of the entertainment project Styler.
How the comparison made its way online
The discussion was initiated by a blogger specializing in vinyl and cinema. His video is built on the principle of layering: first the Ukrainian suite plays, then Williams’s soundtrack, after which the author highlights specific melodic fragments that, in his opinion, match in intonational contour. It is precisely this visual and auditory comparison that made the similarity noticeable to a wide audience, although until then it “was easy to miss,” as the publications that recounted the material note.
What the video’s author says about plagiarism
It is important to emphasize: the author of the comparison does not directly claim that this is plagiarism. He notes that he has no evidence that John Williams could have known the Ukrainian composition or consciously used its material. Thus, the publication is in the nature of a musical observation and factual comparison, not an accusation of copyright infringement. This limitation in the source’s self-presentation is of key importance for the correct perception of the news.
Contradictory data
Online, Ihor Shamo’s “Ukrainian Suite” is sometimes dated to 1951. However, Ukrainian academic sources point to an earlier date — 1948. In particular, in O. Umantse’s study of the “Ukrainian Suite,” Shamo’s work is directly named a 1948 piece, and a dissertation study published by the Lviv National Music Academy also dates the composer’s work on the piano cycle to 1948. The three-year difference does not change the main conclusion that the Ukrainian work appeared long before the Hollywood soundtrack, but for strict chronology the date of the suite’s creation requires clarification from academic sources.
Context: who is Ihor Shamo
Ihor Shamo is a composer whose name is familiar even to those who have never specifically been interested in academic music. He created the music for the song “Yak tebe ne lyubity, Kyieve moy” (“How can one not love you, my Kyiv”) to the words of Dmytro Lutchenko; the composition first sounded on May 27, 1962, and from November 2014 it became the official anthem of Kyiv, as confirmed by the city’s official portal. The “Ukrainian Suite” includes four parts — “Dumka,” “Vesnyanka,” “Melodia,” and “Tants” (Dance) — which academic materials characterize as works associated with different Ukrainian song-and-dance genres. It is precisely the third part, “Melodia,” that became the subject of comparison with the Hedwig’s Theme.
Chronology and the 53-year gap
Hedwig’s Theme was written by American composer John Williams for the film “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”; the film’s soundtrack was released on October 30, 2001, and the composition became one of the main musical themes of the entire franchise. If we go by the academic dating of Shamo’s suite (1948), then about 53 years passed between the creation of the Ukrainian work and the appearance of Williams’s theme. Such a time gap makes the version of conscious borrowing unlikely and explains why the video’s author limits himself to stating the melodic similarity without accusations.
