Remembrance - Music - Keeping Ukraine Culture Prevalent
Last Sunday a nation reflected on war and the influence on all of our lives it has. Those brave young soldiers who joined the armed forces in the past, with our without choice and of course those who objected to war so passionatelyinsidiousexodus that they were imprisoned or worse. Fast forward 100 years, and we are still seeing brutal scenes of war - with the usual insideous plan for power over land and people. While Russia storms it's neighbouring Ukriane we have also seen contemporary war crimes, destruction of heritage and also a mass exidous of Russians who do not want to fight a war they are being forced into.
However, we have also seen a nation so passionate about the independence of their people and culture that a global movements of individual financial aid and financial support and protest have been on a scale like never before. The war has been so prevalent in the art world that we have seen this year's bienalle shut down Russian Pavillion for the first time and the erection of a temporary Ukrainian Pavillion. Although sadly art and culture cannot physically protect our beliefs against physical force and ammunition - it does challenge everyone to look inwardly at themselves and outwardly to the world and question actions.
Music, culture and art is also crucial in community moral and protest while war is raging. With the war in Ukraine at the moment we have an opportunity to listen to some examples of artists who are, and have used music for the most important humanitarian reasoning.
Note: I would like to say thank you to Julia Zaitseva-Kirk for helping with this research many of the mentionable songs being released in this effort are in Ukrainian and are not necessarily moving outside of the country.
So beginning with one super accessible artist to listen to - Jamala. She is from Crimea, and is Tatar - she won Eurovision in Stockholms 2016 event with a song about Ukraine – more specifically - “1944" about the Deportation of the Crimean Tatars.
For reference – Tartars are ethnically Turkish indigenous people in Crimea, Crimea being the state of Ukraine that was annexed into Russia in 2014. The song tells the story of when the USSR deported of all of the Crimean Tatars from Crimea, even including the families of those who had served in the Soviet Army. The deportees were transported in trains and boxcars to Central Asia, (primarily to Uzbekistan) losing 18 to 46 percent of their population in the state.
By singing this song at Eurovision she was able to tell a story on a global stage which was largely unknown about the ethnic cleansing that had been happening during the times of the Soviet Union, whilst at the same time highlighting Crimea’s annexation still being in place 2 years after the initial conflict.
In reflection of the current war, she has just released a mini-album largely about war. Where you can hear more songs in English from the artist including "Be brave be different" and "take me to a place".
Jamala hasn’t been the only Ukrainian winning artist to protest on the world platform, Kalush Orchestra won the last competition and used their achievement to called on the world to save the Ukrainian military from Azovstal (Mariupol) when their were being bombarded by Russian forces. The ‘folk - rap’ song was originally written in dedication to Oleh's mother – and go written by all members of the group. They stated:
“Although there is not a word about the war in the song, many people began to associate the song with mother Ukraine. Moreover, society began to call it the anthem of our war! But if Stefania is now the anthem of our war, I would like it to become the anthem of our victory.”
Odyn V Kanoe which translates to ‘one in a canoe’ was founded in Liviv in 2010. They are a soul rock band from Ukraine. The current line-up consisting of vocalist Iryna Shvaidak, guitarist Ustym Pokhmursky and drummer Ihor Dzikovsky. They are internationally recognised for their deep lyrics about finding eternal truths and once performed for the Ukrainian studies dept. In Cambridge University. As well as recently turning their efforts last year to creating music about the war in Ukraine and the results of war, they have also continued performing in Europe and have began a series of charity concerts in cities across Europe (including a sell-out show in Paris) with the intention of raising $1million dollars to support Ukraine's war efforts.
‘I have no home’ form the band is absolutely beautiful. It is in Ukrainian – however here are some lyrics in English to give you a better understanding:
The crux of the matter is that
I don’t have a home,
And by the rules of common decency,
As if by the rule of good belt,
I will remember the tribe I am from,
Will remember the town I’m from.
It is important to take from these lyrics, the importance of memory, cultural identity and heritage. War does not just take a physical building from you as you are forced to leave your home. It also erases an intangible heritage of a people and community. Music, and arts in general is essential for preserving these identities beyond a physical existence of a place
{I Have No Home – Odyn V Kanoe}
Following on from the sentiment of what is lost in war - the next mentionable band / group performs a set of music with ambition to protect intangible cultural identity, and as it is from Ukraine is extremely important in contemporary times where war in the country is destroying physical artifacts.
DakhaBrakha is a world-music quartet from Kyiv, Ukraine. Reflecting fundamental elements of sound and soul, Ukrainian (They call themselves an 'ethnic chaos' band) DakhaBrakha create a world of unexpected new music.The name DakhaBrakha means give/take in the old Ukrainian language.
Created in 2004 at the Kyiv Center of Contemporary Art 'DAKH' by the avant-garde theatre director — Vladyslav Troitskyi. Theatre has left its mark on the band performances — their shows have never been staged without scenic effects.
Having experimented with Ukrainian folk music, the band has added rhythms of the surrounding world into their music, thus creating bright, unique and unforgettable image of DakhaBrakha. Helping to open up the potential of Ukrainian melodies and bring it to the hearts and consciousness of the younger generation in Ukraine and the rest of the world. Accompanied by traditional instrumentation from different countries, the quartet’s powerful and uncompromising vocal range creates a trans-national sound rooted in Ukrainian culture.
The final on my list is someone a little different – a body positive rap artists who has been taking Ukraine by storm prior to the war and just sounds pretty awesome. She is becoming a hugely popular Ukrainian artists for young people in the country and her influence is incredible, spreading far beyond Ukraines boarders. This is a great description of Alyona Alyona form Vogue in 2019:
"Even if you don’t know a word of Ukrainian, you’ll be hooked on rapper Alyona Savranenko. She spits like a car revving up and rocketing off full speed until suddenly, you’re carried away. The 27-year-old, who goes by the stage name Alyona Alyona, first caught my ear (and eye!) with her hit “Fish” (“Ribki” in Ukrainian), which was featured in two music videos. The first showed Savranenko, who is plus-size, in a bathing suit cruising around a lake on a jet ski. "
Her latest release is in collaboration with Jerry Heil & Ginger Mane is called Cuckoo and was released on 7th October 2022. It’s about the bombardment of Mariupol and likens a bird flying over the city alongside a wave of war. You can see the English translation if you watch the music video on YouTube.
Young popular artists can send a message across the world through social media like no other. Alonya Alonya for example has almost 100 million listens of her songs on Youtube. The track below has 1.1million listens on the platform already.
{Alyona Alyona, Jerry Heil & Ginger Mane - Cuckcoo}
Visual Arts:
Finally, I wanted to give a short insight into where to find visual arts from the Ukraine war too – as music coming from the country is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of a cultural response. Here are a couple:
Ukraine war: Artist George Butler sketches conflict - Artist George Butler has recently returned to the UK after a month spent in Ukraine. He travelled throughout the country, sketching events there as they unfolded.
The captured house- a selection of artworks are travelling the world as a response to the war, you can find more information about the artists, exhibitions and more at Thecapturedhouse.com.
Biennale - If you're out and about in Italy to see the biennale before it closes at the end of this month, you can see the temporary pavilion in Giardini which highlights hundreds of war artists from Ukriane, and highlights the active efforts of Ukrainians to save their art and history from war too. If you want to know more without the flight to Italy – you can see more at lebiennale.org
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