Seven Ukrainian troopers — all esteemed skilled musicians earlier than their nation’s struggle with Russia — are concluding a two-month-long “Tour of Gratitude” throughout the USA with live shows within the Los Angeles space on Monday and Tuesday and in Northern California from Thursday by means of Sunday.
Consisting of two bandura gamers, an opera singer, a violinist, a pianist, a rustic singer and a poet, these artists are all members of Ukraine’s Cultural Forces, based by Mykolai Sierga through the first yr of the struggle. On Sunday, The Occasions spoke by telephone with Sierga and nation singer Oleksandr Bulich, who goes by the stage title Sasha Boole, as hypothesis mounted over what Donald Trump’s victory within the current presidential election would imply for Ukraine. Beneath are excerpts from that dialog, edited for size and readability.
The artists and employees of Cultural Forces, the Ukrainian ensemble touring the U.S. as a manner of sustaining help of the struggle effort towards Russia. The group’s founder, Mykolai Sierga, is within the white shirt, and the nation singer often called Sasha Boole is third from the left.
(Cultural Forces)
Are you able to inform us concerning the Cultural Forces and its mission?
Mykolai Sierga: The Cultural Forces is just like the American USO [United Service Organizations]. The distinction is that the USO is made up principally of volunteers, and we’re all troopers who joined the military as fighters. Through the struggle, our group of over 80 artists, poets, musicians and puppeteers has given greater than 4,500 live shows on the entrance traces.
We got here on this tour to say thanks, and to share our tradition with the American folks. We’re individuals who don’t simply talk about defending our nation. We put our life on that. We’ve got a couple of on our crew who had been wounded. For instance, our violinist, Olha Rukavishnikova, misplaced her eye on the entrance line. Singer Yurii Ivaskevych misplaced his leg.
You’re fairly well-known in Ukraine. What was your life like earlier than the struggle?
Sierga: I used to be a celeb TV host, musician, comic and actor. In 2007 I received the most important comedy competitors in Russia. Truly, I turned widespread first in Russia, then in Ukraine. I had a well-liked Ukrainian TV present about touring. After which I studied psychology. For the final two years earlier than the struggle, I used to be a psychotherapist.
That’s why we educate our artists to have a psychological background, so we may be efficient. They find out about conduct and battle, about working with the viewers and group dynamics. That is helpful on the entrance traces as a result of it’s been virtually three years of struggle, and individuals are exhausted. To search out the fitting phrases to present them, you want a excessive stage of professionalism.
What do you miss most about house when you are right here?
Sierga: It’s not about lacking within the classical sense of this phrase. As a result of we perceive that proper now our nation is bleeding, and what we’re doing right here is a vital mission. However we wish to be nearer to our households and to our brothers in arms, as a result of day-after-day we’re dropping them. Two weeks in the past, I misplaced my good friend. He died on the entrance line. And it was very painful for me that I’m right here and I can’t go to the funeral.
One necessary a part of your group’s mission is to spice up the morale of your fellow troopers, even by means of tough losses.
Sierga: Sure, as a result of tradition prevents rust on the soul. Possibly it is not going to heal the soul utterly on this sense, however it is not going to let rust go deeper within the soul.
Are you able to inform us a couple of notably memorable entrance line efficiency?
Sierga: I cannot neglect any of these performances, since you see exhausted, drained folks in entrance of you. I cannot neglect their faces. It’s like they’re in 2-D. You then start to talk with them, they start to smile, any person begins crying, and it’s like they develop into 3-D. You see their soul get up inside their eyes.
It’s very painful if you get quite a lot of messages on social media from the wives and daughters of the troopers telling you that their father or husband was proud to fulfill you if you carried out, and that he died two days in the past. It’s tough for me to discuss this proper now due to tears.
Performing right here within the U.S. should be a really totally different expertise. What reminiscences will stick with you out of your live shows right here, and what’s going to you are taking again to Ukraine from this tour?
Sasha Boole: For greater than 10 years, I used to be doing nation and western folks music in Ukraine, making an attempt to mix that with the Ukrainian soul and discover new formulation. I heard issues like, “It doesn’t make sense, it is not going to work.” And now, I carried out for American folks and met some American musicians and we performed collectively. They fall in love with Ukrainian music and we discover so many issues in widespread between our cultures. So I’m actually impressed and positive that I’m on the fitting [path]. Additionally, I’ll deliver house some souvenirs. We purchased boots and Stetson hats [in Texas] and have develop into like Ukrainian cowboys.
Sierga: What I didn’t count on is the help of the American folks is so large. It’s not simply the Ukrainian struggle. It’s the struggle for good on this planet, for freedom and democracy. [This support] is giving us wind in our kites, like we’re hawks and it’s giving us the breeze [to fly]. I wish to say thanks to your readers for that. We’ve got already received this struggle as a result of Ukraine exists. For Putin, the primary purpose is to destroy Ukraine. It’s not simply concerning the land. It’s about destroying our tradition.
Ukrainian musician Taras Stoliar performs the bandura throughout a cease within the Cultural Forces ensemble’s U.S. tour.
(Cultural Forces)
Two performers in your group play the bandura. Are you able to inform us about that instrument?
Sierga: The bandura is necessary as a result of it’s the image of the Ukrainian soul. That’s why it has 62 strings. With this quantity of strings, it’s attainable to share the depth of the Ukrainian soul. In 1934, the Soviet Union authorities invited bandura gamers to a pageant. Then they killed all people and burned all of the devices. So proper now, in the USA, to see folks on their toes applauding, which means it isn’t attainable to destroy the Ukrainian soul.
Many Individuals are tense and emotional due to the election. What was it like so that you can be right here throughout this time?
Sierga: We all the time inform folks that they’re the bosses of this nation, not politicians, as a result of it’s a democracy. Sure, it is going to be totally different politics upstairs now, however the individuals are the decision-makers who create the current and construct the long run.
What message do you wish to ship?
Sierga: We hear quite a lot of Individuals telling us that they’re eager about Ukraine and praying for us. We wish you to know that in Ukraine, lots of people are additionally eager about the USA and wishing all one of the best to this nation. As a result of proper now you’re additionally going by means of some struggles and tough instances. We pray for you. We perceive how tough it’s if you cease trusting your neighbor due to one thing from the skin designed to seed battle. All the things that you’ve right here in the USA, you’ve thanks to one another and due to your variations. If everybody had been the identical, you’d have communism. Your distinction is your magnificence.
Cultural Forces live shows
Monday: 1:30 p.m. on the Ronald Reagan Presidential Basis and Institute, 40 Presidential Drive, Simi Valley. www.reaganfoundation.org
Tuesday: 3 p.m. on the Wende Museum, 10808 Culver Blvd., Culver Metropolis; wendemuseum.org. Additionally at 6 p.m. on the VFW Publish 2828, 1000 N. Catalina Ave., Redondo Seashore.
