The violin, “weapon of resistance” of Ukrainian musicians

From her refuge in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, Vera Litovshenko made a sensation on social media by posting videos where she plays her violin for her compatriots, for the whole world, to “make war forget, even if only for a few minutes”.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, violonists have shown that their small, easy-to-carry instrument is their “weapon of resistance”.

“I'm not a doctor, I'm not a soldier, I don't do politics. I just play the violin,” Vera Litovshenko explains to AFP via Whastapp messaging.

“I don't want to feel powerless. I want to help my friends and music teachers who have lost their homes, their jobs, their instruments,” explains the music, which launched a fundraiser after receiving a flood of messages of support from all corners of the globe.

- “Soldiers on the musical front” -

Soloist of the Kharkov Opera Orchestra and teacher, this 39-year-old Ukrainian was inspired by one of her students, who played the violin in front of refugees on a subway.

Armed with her bow, Vera played Vivaldi and Ukrainian tunes.

“We are 12 people: children, adolescents, the elderly... I consider myself very privileged because I am in a basement where there is heating, electricity, food. Others aren't so lucky,” he says.

Helping her country through music is also the goal of 20-year-old Illia Bondarenko, who was filmed in her shelter in Kiev performing with her violin a Ukrainian folk song, “Verbovaya Doscheshka”.

The young violinist was joined, through a video montage, by 94 violonists from 70 countries, including nine of his compatriots, as well as the renowned soloist Daniel Hope or the violin section of the Munich Chamber Orchestra.

The video became a viral phenomenon after being shared by the London Symphony Orchestra (more than 3.6 million downloads on Facebook).

“I would like this video to reach people's hearts; music is the most powerful prayer,” says Kerenza Peacock, LSO violist, creator of this project called “Violinists for Ukraine”, who is also collecting funds for war victims, to AFP.

“Illia was amazing. It was filmed while the alarm sirens were heard and the internet connection was bad,” he says.

“They recorded me in a shelter where I spent the night because, when we returned to our apartment during the day, we tried not to make noise to be aware of the sirens,” this young man explained to AFP via Skype.

“Music has power and Ukrainian musicians are now soldiers on the musical front,” explains the young man, who took refuge with his grandmother in the Lviv region (west) and worried about his parents, blocked in Zhitomir, west of Kiev.

- Musicians who went to war -

Illia, who was pursuing composition studies at the Kiev Conservatory, sees her instrument as a “weapon of resistance”.

“I can do more with my music than with guns today,” he explained.

Kerenza Peacock explains that other violinists contacted refused to participate in the project because they “went to the front”.

“There are many musicians who took up arms to defend our country,” adds Mariia Klimenko, 23, who left the Kiev region for Lviv.

This young woman shared on Instagram a video in which she performs a Ukrainian lullaby with her accomplice for two years, guitarist Yuri Bikbaev, thanks to a montage.

“He stayed in Kiev and sealed the windows of his apartment to protect himself. We decided to mount this video to find this link that united us before the war,” this student at the Kiev Academy of Music explains to AFP.

“I chose this lullaby because my mother used to sing it to me to calm me down when I was a baby. And I want people watching the video to feel peace invading their hearts.”

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