Ukrainian musicians and artists respond to the war in many different ways

Ukrainian musicians and artists respond to the war in many different ways

　　Transcript¹

　　In the midst of the Russian invasion, there are artists in Ukraine who are trying to find hope, redemption — and boost their country's spirits.

　　LEILA FADEL, HOST:

　　Three weeks ago today, the war in Ukraine began, and it's completely transformed this country. Cities are being pounded by Russian artillery². Millions of people are fleeing for their lives. It's carnage. But in the midst of this, somehow there are artists who are trying to find hope, redemption and boost their country's spirits. NPR's Lauren Frayer reports from Lviv in western Ukraine.

　　(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NA NEBI")

　　OKEAN ELZY: (Singing in non-English language).

　　LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE³: In this music video, Slava Vakarchuk clutches a microphone, closes his eyes and croons out into a stadium full of his fans, all swaying with their cellphones illuminated⁴. Vakarchuk is the lead singer of Okean Elzy, Ukraine's biggest rock band.

　　(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NA NEBI")

　　OKEAN ELZY: (Singing in non-English language).

　　SLAVA VAKARCHUK: In peaceful time, we are touring and recording⁵ music, playing stadiums all over Eastern Europe.

　　FRAYER: But on the day that the war began, Vakarchuk was at home in the capital, Kyiv. He woke up early to news of a Russian invasion.

　　VAKARCHUK: And the moment I read it - I mean, literally⁶, next second, I hear a big blow, probably 5 miles from my house. And it was like, wow.

　　FRAYER: Vakarchuk jumped into his car and, in that moment, made a big decision.

　　VAKARCHUK: I started touring the country once again, but not with music. Like, I decided⁷ to go to the points that are in danger.

　　FRAYER: Since then, he's been driving back and forth⁸ into the war zone, delivering food and medicine. I interviewed him at a restaurant in western Ukraine...

　　UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: I'll send a picture to my mom (laughter).

　　FRAYER: ...Where people swooned when he walked in. Vakarchuk takes it in stride. He realizes his fame is something he can use to comfort people right now.

　　VAKARCHUK: For example, you're in a gas station, and somebody sees you and wants to hug you, to embrace you - cuddling you, you know. And it's emotional. People need it.

　　FRAYER: Ukrainian musicians and artists are responding to war in lots of different ways. Vakarchuk is one of many Ukrainian celebrities⁹ who are using their high profiles and connections to speed relief supplies to those who need them right now.

　　Others are doubling down on their art. There's been an outpouring of protest art online. And some Ukrainian musicians have already recorded new songs about the war.

　　PALINDROM: I make music in this time, but it's a little bit difficult.

　　FRAYER: Stepan Burban is better known as Palindrom, a Ukrainian rapper who's been juggling¹⁰ his music and also buying groceries for war evacuees¹¹. And when I asked him to rap a few lines of his latest song...

　　PALINDROM: (Rapping in non-English language).

　　Difficult because my memory now...

　　FRAYER: You're tired. You're working hard.

　　PALINDROM: Yeah, I'm tired little bit.

　　FRAYER: He forgot his own lyrics¹², he's so tired and stressed out by this war. So I found the song online, and I was taken aback.

　　PALINDROM: (Rapping in non-English language).

　　FRAYER: "Russians, get out. Go to hell," he raps. "You're not even fit to be fertilizer on Ukrainian soil."

　　These angry lyrics are such a contrast with the exhausted¹³, soft-spoken young man in front of me who wrote them.

　　PALINDROM: (Non-English language spoken).

　　FRAYER: "I had to express my anger," he says. "I couldn't keep it inside."

　　I actually met him on his way out of an art gallery in western Ukraine, where war evacuees and artists have been camping out together, helping¹⁴ one another process that anger.

　　So this is a cement sort of warehouse¹⁵ space where there are piles and piles of groceries. There's also yoga mats, a huge grand piano in the middle of it, people with computers. It's become this shelter for evacuees, but it's also a place where people are creating art in the middle of a war.

　　LYANA MYTSKO: (Non-English language spoken). Would you like some dumplings?

　　FRAYER: No.

　　MYTSKO: No?

　　FRAYER: You should eat, though.

　　MYTSKO: Yeah, yes.

　　FRAYER: Lyana Mytsko is the ever-generous director of the Lviv Municipal Art Center.

　　MYTSKO: First days, when it was full of adrenaline everywhere, we really didn't think about art. But in a few days, we started open call for guys who make posters. (Non-English language spoken).

　　FRAYER: Propaganda posters - Ukrainian artists answered the call and within days were churning out paintings and drawings which have been Xeroxed and posted all over the country. There's one of a civilian¹⁶ mother and child encircled by ghoulish Russian invaders¹⁷, another of a Russian imperial dragon consuming itself. It's haunting, like Picasso's "Guernica." There are even some how-to posters.

　　MYTSKO: This is a recipe of Molotov.

　　FRAYER: Recipes for Molotov cocktails¹⁸...

　　MYTSKO: Yes.

　　FRAYER: And these are instructions on how to make one.

　　MYTSKO: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We put this also on the street.

　　FRAYER: This art is a rallying cry. It's also therapy. Evacuees from the front lines are camping out here with artists, creating with them. There are psychologists on hand, too. Mytsko says artists and musicians keep contacting her and asking what they can do.

　　MYTSKO: Artists now, they feel themself - I cannot take gun to my hands. What should I do?

　　FRAYER: And here's what she tells them - art is not an extra little thing, a sidebar in this war. Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, has said Ukraine is not a real country, that it doesn't have a real culture of its own. Go out and prove him wrong, Mytsko tells her artist and musician friends.

　　MYTSKO: They really must know that every one of them is a gun of Ukrainian culture. Every one of them can make music, can make pictures and can take our soul up, up, up.

　　(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NOT YOUR WAR")

　　OKEAN ELZY: (Singing in non-English language).

　　FRAYER: This is a song that the rock star Slava Vakarchuk wrote after Russia's annexation¹⁹ of Crimea in 2014. It marked a change from his regular love songs. It's called "Not My War" (ph). Vakarchuk stopped doing concerts in Russia after that. During this war, though, he's been away from his piano, driving back and forth to cities under bombardment, composing a poem in his head.

　　VAKARCHUK: I don't know if I can find the music. I cannot make verse and chorus here.

　　FRAYER: And just like the rapper Palindrom's song, his poem is dark, and it's angry.

　　VAKARCHUK: (Non-English language spoken).

　　FRAYER: "Where have you come from, my hatred²⁰?" - is the opening line.

　　VAKARCHUK: The theme is that for 40 years, 46 years of my life, I never experienced, never faced this feeling of hatred. And now I - it's present in my veins²¹. It's toxic²², and I want to get rid of it. But the only way to get rid of it now is to win the war.

　　FRAYER: Win the war, go back to his piano, try to go back to what things were like before - he wishes he could.

　　Lauren Frayer, NPR News in Lviv, Ukraine.

　　(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NOT YOUR WAR")

　　OKEAN ELZY: (Singing in non-English language).

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 illuminated   

adj.被照明的；受启迪的

参考例句：

• Floodlights illuminated the stadium. 泛光灯照亮了体育场。
• the illuminated city at night 夜幕中万家灯火的城市

5 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

6 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

9 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目

10 juggling   

n. 欺骗, 杂耍(=jugglery) adj. 欺骗的, 欺诈的 动词juggle的现在分词

参考例句：

• He was charged with some dishonest juggling with the accounts. 他被指控用欺骗手段窜改账目。
• The accountant went to prison for juggling his firm's accounts. 会计因涂改公司的帐目而入狱。

11 evacuees   

n.被疏散者( evacuee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Moreover, for multi-exits, evacuees select a exit based on game theory. 在有多个出口时，疏散人员根据对策论选择出口。 来自互联网
• Evacuees wade through flooded area following heavy monsoon rains in Peshawar on Saturday, July 31, 2010. 撤离灾区涉水通过后在白沙瓦沉重的季风降雨在周六，2010年7月31日。 来自互联网

12 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

13 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

14 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

15 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

16 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

17 invaders   

入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They prepared to repel the invaders. 他们准备赶走侵略军。
• The family has traced its ancestry to the Norman invaders. 这个家族将自己的世系追溯到诺曼征服者。

18 cocktails   

n.鸡尾酒( cocktail的名词复数 )；餐前开胃菜；混合物

参考例句：

• Come about 4 o'clock. We'll have cocktails and grill steaks. 请四点钟左右来，我们喝鸡尾酒，吃烤牛排。 来自辞典例句
• Cocktails were a nasty American habit. 喝鸡尾酒是讨厌的美国习惯。 来自辞典例句

19 annexation   

n.吞并，合并

参考例句：

• He mentioned the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910 .他提及1910年日本对朝鲜的吞并。
• I regard the question of annexation as belonging exclusively to the United States and Texas.我认为合并的问题，完全属于德克萨斯和美国之间的事。

20 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

21 veins   

n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理

参考例句：

• The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的，感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。