In a refuge in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, Vera Litovshenko caused a stir on social media by posting a video in which he plays the violin for his compatriots around the world and “makes you forget about the war for a few minutes, too.”
Since the beginning of the invasion of Russia, violinists have shown that small, easy-to-carry instruments are “weapons of resistance.”
“I'm not a doctor, I'm not a soldier, I'm not a politician. I just have to play the violin.” Vera Litovchenko explains to AFP in a whastapp message.
“I don't want to feel helpless. I want to help my friends and music teachers who have lost their homes, jobs, or musical instruments,” explains Music, which started a fundraising campaign after receiving numerous messages of support from around the world.
- “Soldiers of the Musical Front” -
This 39-year-old Ukrainian, soloist and teacher of the Kharkov Opera Orchestra, was inspired by one of the students who played the violin in the subway in front of a refugee.
Armed with a bow, Vera Vivaldi played Ukrainian melodies.
“We have 12 people, including children, young people and the elderly. I consider myself very privileged because I am in a basement with heating, electricity and food. Others aren't so lucky,” he says.
Helping her country through music is also the goal of Ilya Bondarenko, 20 years old, who was filmed in a refuge in Kiev. Together with the violin, he played the Ukrainian folk song “Verbovaya Doscheshka”.
In a video montage, the young violinist joined 94 violinists from 70 countries, including nine of his compatriots, and the violin department of the famous soloist Daniel Hope or the Munich Chamber Orchestra.
This video became a viral phenomenon after it was shared by the London Symphony Orchestra (more than 3.6 million downloads from Facebook).
LSO violinist Kerenza Peacock, the founder of the Violinist for Ukraine project, which collects donations for war victims, told AFP: “I hope this video will reach people's hearts. Music is the strongest prayer.
“Ilya was really fantastic. It was filmed while the alarm siren was heard and the internet connection was not good,” he says.
The young man told AFP via Skype: “When I returned to the apartment during the day, I tried not to make any noise to recognize the siren, so I recorded myself at the shelter where I spent the night.
“Music has power, and Ukrainian musicians are now soldiers on the music front,” explains the young man, who is worried about his parents, who were evacuated with his grandmother in the Lviv region (west) and blocked in Zhytomir in western Kiev.
- Musicians who went to war -
Ilya, who studied compositions at the Kiev Conservatory, sees her instrument as a “weapon of resistance.”
“Today, I can do more with music than I can with weapons,” he explained.
Kerenza Peacock explains that the other violinists contacted refused to participate in the project because they “came to the forefront”
Maria Klimenko, 23 years old, who left the Kiev region for Lviv, added that “there are many musicians with weapons to defend our country.”
This young woman shared a video on Instagram in which, thanks to a montage, she plays Ukrainian lullaby with accomplice guitarist Yuri Bikbaev for two years.
“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 from the Kiev Academy of Music explains AFP.
“I chose this lullaby. That's because my mother used to sing a song as a child to calm me down. I hope that those who watch the video feel peace that seeps into their hearts. ”
Frame/Mos/JZ/ZM