I have been following music events for a long time, and I am used to Ukrainian news of this level either not making it beyond professional chats or ending up in the feed somewhere between a borscht recipe and the latest scandal. So when a photo with a Latin Grammy statuette and a caption from a Lviv sound engineer appeared on Facebook, I read it twice.
Not because I did not believe it. But because I realized: this is more than it seems at first glance.
Let’s start with what actually happened
Volodymyr Punko is a sound engineer from Lviv. Not a star known by millions, but a person who sits behind the mixing console while others come out to take their bows. It is people like this who make an orchestra sound like an orchestra, not like a recording made in a basement. On May 22, he wrote that he had become the first sound engineer in Ukraine’s history to receive a Latin Grammy.
The ceremony took place back in October, in Las Vegas. Punko was not there. The statuette was accepted on his behalf by Spanish guitarist Rafael Serrallet, with whom he recorded the album. Now it is finally in Lviv. And as you read these lines, I imagine it is glinting there a little in the half-darkness and thinking that it has ended up in a very unexpected place.
What kind of album is it, and where does Lviv come in?
The album is called Y El Canto de Todas. It features Serrallet, a Spanish classical guitarist, and the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Lviv National Philharmonic conducted by Serhii Khorovets.
When I first listened to this record, my first impression was this: as if two people who had never seen each other before began a conversation and discovered that they had something to say to one another. Serrallet brought with him Latin America, Spain, something sunny and rhythmic. The Philharmonic orchestra responded with academic density and that special atmosphere that exists only in live halls. What emerged was not a merger and not a compromise, but a dialogue. The guitar here is not a soloist with accompaniment, but an equal voice in the conversation.
Latin Grammy 2025, category: “Best Instrumental Album.” They won.
But there is a nuance that few people know about
In this category, the award does not go to just one person. There are three statuettes: for the artist, the music producer, and the sound engineer. Serrallet received one as the artist. Conductor Khorovets as the producer. Punko as the sound engineer.
In other words, Lviv received two Latin Grammys at once. And if you think this is some minor technical detail, it is not. A separate award for the sound engineer is recognition that the sound on this album was made at a level that stood out among everything released in its category that year around the world.
Punko was responsible for the entire audio process, from the first note at rehearsal to the final mastering. And here it is worth stopping for a second and thinking about what that means in practice. Recording a symphony orchestra so that each instrument can be heard separately while all of them sound together as one is already difficult. Combining that with the live acoustic sound of a Spanish classical guitar and making sure they do not swallow each other up but complement each other is already an art.
How does an independent album even get to the Latin Grammys?
This aspect interests me no less than the award itself, because there is something important in it about how the music world actually works.
The album was released without a major label. Serrallet promoted it himself: he talked about it, presented it, and introduced the record to those who vote. This is enormous work that is usually done by entire marketing departments. First, the album made it onto the longlist. Then it advanced further. Then it won.
I think about this and realize that this entire story rested on several people who simply did their work very well. And one of them is sitting in Lviv.
What seems most important to me in this whole story
Not the statuette itself. Although it is beautiful and deserved.
What matters is that the Lviv Philharmonic, working during a full-scale war, in a city where missiles strike, recorded an album that ranked among the best in its category in the entire world. And that the person sitting behind the console in this city heard from the Latin Grammys: yes, you did this better than anyone.
Punko wrote that he sees the award as recognition of Ukrainian sound engineers and musicians in general. I think he is right. But I would add one more thing: it is also about the fact that culture does not stop even when everything around it tells it to stop.
Lviv knows this better than anyone.
For Holos Sokalshchyny – Volodymyr Stelmakh
based on Volodymyr Punko’s post on Facebook