Music: the soul and the weapon of the Orange Revolution (01/30/05)

Music: the soul and the weapon of the Orange Revolution

by Yana Sedova
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

KYIV - Weeks of protests in Ukraine elicited strong emotions, national unity and a burst of folk, pop and rap music. Many Ukrainian singers joined the protests and became proponents of peaceful rallies. Some of them took part in blockades of administrative buildings, propagandized voters and gave free concerts. Other wrote songs that turned out to be the soul of the revolution.

New groups, singers and poets came to Kyiv with one purpose: to appear on the country's main stage on Independence Square, but only a few of them managed to take part in concerts with well-known Ukrainian musicians. Those who didn't make the cut entertained people on makeshift stages along the tent city.

A band of drummers set the mood in front of the Cabinet of Ministers building, and the sound could be heard far away. Anybody who wanted to take a turn as a drummer, beating a barrel with metal drumsticks, could. And the crowd of people who gathered around never waned. One of the barrels was recently sent to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine, where an exposition dedicated to the revolution has opened.

The slogan "Together we are many, we cannot be defeated" turned into an informal anthem of the Orange Revolution. A band called Hryndzholy (Sleigh) from Ivano-Frankivsk wrote a song and placed it on the Internet. Within a day the piece was picked up by the people on the "maidan," as Independence Square is known.

At the end of last year the band released its first single "We Are Together" with an orange egg on the cover as a symbol of the only weapon that was employed during the Orange Revolution.

Natalia Rumiantseva, a manager of the company Ukrainian Records, said that the 5,000-copy supply of the single did not even make the barest pretense of satisfying demand. "We didn't expect such a response - our distributors asked for more and more copies," she said. "We are going to release an album in the middle of February."

Ms. Rumiantseva said the album will not be politically oriented, but that the hit will definitely be included on it. "We also have many international projects and hope to release the track in English soon," she added.

Roman Kalin and Roman Kostyuk, the authors of the single, said that they didn't foresee the success of the song "We Are Together." Mr. Kalia explained: "We don't actually write revolutionary songs." "We started from reggae."

The huge success of the anthem became an entrance ticket for the musicians that opened the door for Ukrainian show business. The song also topped the list of songs on the album released by Our Ukraine headquarters at the height of the revolution. "Not for sale!" is written on the cover of the CD.

The band has now signed a contract with Ukrainian Records and is going on a tour of Europe in the spring.

The recording company Lavina Music and Comp Music also released a CD dedicated to the revolution. "Orange Songs of the Ukrainian Revolution" is a compilation of well-known Ukrainian songs that were created long before the revolution and became the soundtrack of the revolt. The project was initially aimed at consumers in Western countries.

"We wanted to promote our Ukrainian artists, those who supported the revolution and who thus far are unknown abroad," said Edward Klim, the general director of Lavina Music, which represents most successful Ukrainian singers and groups like Ruslana, Ani Lorak, Mandry, Okean Elzy and others. "We couldn't pass up a chance to prove that we have worthy artists."

He said the songs were chosen as the mood dictated. In a week the idea grew into a CD with 12 songs written by singers who've gone a long way in show business. It was not a commercial project. "We rejected those young artists who bargained for financial reward," said Mr. Klim.

After the first weeks all the money was transferred for the needs of the tent city. But now, when there is no longer need to support revolutionaries, Lavina Music is going to pay royalties to musicians who participated in the project.

Mr. Klim added that this was the only CD with "orange songs" and that the company does not plan to continue with more such releases.

In the meantime, Kyiv's biggest book market, Petrivka, offered several versions of "orange songs," - mostly pirate CDs. There are three most popular albums - "Tak!," "Tak! 2" and "Tak! 3" that cost about 8 to 12 hrv. each. Some songs are duplicated on every CD. But this fact doesn't stop buyers.

"I sell about 50 copies every day," Oleksander said happily. The Petrivka vendor also said that compilations of "orange songs" are the most popular albums these days.

Dmitro, one of the last inhabitants of the tent city, who hails from the Vinnytsia region and celebrated the New Year on the maidan, said that all the songs that he heard are his favorites, because they are from the heart.

Ihor of Lviv said the songs reflected the people's mood and the spirit of the nation. "If we had no revolutionary music, it would be difficult for us to carry on," he said.

FM stations that previously had almost excluded Ukrainian music from the air could no longer stand aside, and broadcast songs "made in Ukraine," keeping up with the latest trend. Foma (as Serhiy Fomenko is known among musicians) of the group Mandry, which took part in Viktor Yushchenko's election campaign, said that the directors of FM stations jumped aboard the bandwagon.

"We have to transform what is the fashion into the mainstream," he said. "What we need is 50 percent of Ukrainian language product on the air of any radio station. The directors of our FM stations do not want to promote Ukrainian music. A musician needs inspiration to write a song, but expends more time and energy to outwork it."

Foma noted that music in effect became an all-purpose weapon of the Orange Revolution. He said that he had never felt events like these and called this the best experience of his life.

"I always communicated with people - I didn't just sing songs. I tried to explain why I was standing there under the orange flags. I wanted to assure people that this team is able to change things," he said. "Can you imagine? Generations of our ancestors dreamed about change and we finally attained freedom!"

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