Music is ready to fight back. PopCulture interviewed Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, international activist and founder of Okean Elzy, one of Ukraine’s most successful, chart-topping rock bands, about the Russia invasion, the band’s collaboration with Coldplay and how critical support is to his country’s current needs. Vakarchuk is one of Ukraine’s top singers and a political figure, having been a member of parliament twice and a soldier since the war began on February 24, 2022. The interview was conducted in English via Zoom while Vakarchuk was in Ukraine preparing to embark on an upcoming U.S. tour. Despite his continued dedication to music, the frontman revealed that since the war began, his and the rest of Okean Elzy’s lives have “completely changed.
“Actually, my life has completely changed, especially in the first month of the war. I was mostly traveling to the hotspots in Ukraine and the front line, so I didn’t leave the country for three and a half months in a row, which is unusual for me because I usually travel. And then, little by little, we started doing more ordinary things,” said Vakarchuk.
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“So we went on tour, which we call Help Ukraine. The main purpose of this is both to collect funds for Ukraine and also to spread the word about Ukraine. So, we are doing it successfully, I think, all over Europe. I’m going to be soon in the States in Canada. So about 30% of my time, I’m working in the West, and 30% of my time, I’m working in the East, and I’m in the east of Ukraine.”
Vakarchuk said that because of the band’s position in the public eye, they had felt a responsibility to speak out and be proactive concerning the conflict in their country. “We generally feel obliged to act and to contribute to our future victory and understanding that our voice could be heard by millions of people both in the country and abroad,” he said.
“We try to use this as our competitive advantage and just do it and keep staying singing, inspiring,” the musician added. “So I think that’s what we need to do.”
Last year, the British band Coldplay was joined by Vakarchuk during a stop on their Music Of The Spheres World Tour in the Belgian capital of Brussels. Vakarchuk joined Coldplay’s lead vocalist Chris Martin on stage, and the duo performed Okean Elzy’s song “Obiymy (Embrace),” which has become an anti-war anthem for Ukrainians. “Their management just approached us like a couple of weeks before,” Vakarchuk explained. “So I came there to Brussels and joined the guys on the stage. It was great moment. I had a couple of minutes to speak and it was really good.” Meanwhile, the war has not dampened his creative spirit and is even a source of inspiration for the songwriter. “I’m writing all the time,” Vakarchuk said. You know, it’s a typical thing for me. So I think I’m very prolific in this. Not necessarily all things are great, but I’m trying to write as much as possible and create songs.
He added, “So some of these songs are definitely attached by the fact that Ukraine now is on war, and, uh, uh, these songs have the top in like the war as their main topic, but, even if they reflect the wartime, they do not necessarily depict literally, the combat or the war itself. “So, the song I’m working on now it’s called, “When We Are Together,” and it says that it’s a pity or it’s a shame. There are two of us, but the night is only one. And it means that so many couples are separated, and sometimes, soldiers can come back for a couple of days and just see the wives or beloved for one or two days. So, this suddenly comes to my head right now, and I’m using it to describe what’s going on in my country.”
Okean Elzy’s forthcoming tour will be their first in the U.S. since the conflict started. “We haven’t been there since 2017 or 18,” Vakarchuk said. “So it’s been a while, probably four to five years already. And we’ve been touring in the States and Canada a lot before. So first of all, we are really excited and looking forward to coming back to the places we love. We love The Warfield in San Francisco. We love Madison (Square Garden) in New York.”
He continued, “We love these places. We just love playing there. But also, it’s a great moment of getting in touch with people in the country, of which we consider our closest ally and uh, and we are so grateful that, United States of America and the people of United States of America are sympathetic and empathetic and helpful, and have really provided such a great support to Ukraine.
“And, we want to say thank you to all these people, not only to Ukrainian who just left or are now staying in the United States but also to Americans who have no Ukrainian roots. But we absolutely know now for sure from the sales that they will come just to see us and to support Ukraine. So we want to say thank you to them as well. Vakarchuk stressed the importance of coming together to support not only a Ukrainian war but a war against “a dictatorship against democracy. “There’s much more at stake than just the fate of Ukraine. So we think it’s not only a goodwill, but a practical interest of all countries from the West to help Ukraine win this war ASAP because the longer the war, the bigger the threat, not only for democracy but also for equality in the world.
“And so the input will be huge,” he said. “And some people I hear the voices who would say, okay, let’s stop weaponizing Ukraine. Let’s stop giving, let’s make them talk to Russians. But the problem is if we start talking to Russians today in the middle of this heroic struggle of the Ukrainian nation, we will achieve nothing. We will just freeze something. But in a couple of years, Russia will recuperate, and then they will come back with even bigger force, and it’ll be even more difficult to stop them. So, we need to have more weapons now and more assistance. Now, the more we have, the faster we can stop the enemy and the war. So the irony is that in order to stop the war ASAP, you need to give us as many weapons as possible now.”
Vakarchuk disclosed that Okean Elzy would have a greater presence in the Western music market to coincide with their tour, keeping any plans under wraps.
“I think we’ll soon come with some major news,” he said. I think by the time we are in America, I think you’ll know about that. So, I cannot tell you more, but we have a lot of plans for the future.”
Below are the preliminary dates for Okean Elzy’s American tour.
Okean Elzy American Tour
April, 27 Miami /James L Knight Center/
April, 29 New York /Hulu Theater at MSG/
May, 02 Montreal /L’Olympia/
May, 04 Toronto /Rebel/
May, 07 Seattle /ShowBox SoDo/
May, 09 Los Angeles /Avalon Hollywood & Bardot/
May, 11 San Francisco /The Warfield/
May, 13 Chicago /The Riviera Theatre/
