SVYATOSLAV VAKARCHUK: “MY EXPERIENCES IN CANADA WERE LIFE-CHANGING”
Oleh Naumenko
(UE). — On October 9, 2014, a group of thirty-three Ukrainian students, serving internships in the Canadian Parliament, got a chance to travel to Montreal for the Okean Elzy concert. This was Okean’s first performance of the 2014 world tour, which will take them to Boston, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Frankfurt, London, Minsk, Barcelona, Roma and Paris.
The Band celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. It becomes more meaningful and symbolic in light of the events in Ukraine, in which Okean’s leader, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, played a significant role. While the war continues in the east of the country and the Ukrainian government struggles to maintain stability at home, while working on urgent reforms, Vakarchuk uses his talent as a musician, as well as his passion and energy to urge his fellow countrymen to support their country and maintain their optimism for its future.
“It is great to see you all here,” Vakarchuk smiles, “times have changed dramatically and now many more Ukrainians can travel to Canada and gain valuable educational experience, as you know.”
Vakarchuk is no stranger to Canada; in fact his first journey abroad was at the age of 15 when he arrived to Ottawa to spend 45 days with the his host family. It was one of the few programs launched to help the independent Ukrainian state to educate a new generation of global citizens who would be able to experience life in Canada and the United States and learn how far the truth was from the Soviet indoctrination. “I studied in a school that focused on the English language and literature and we could do such exchanges – Ukrainian pupils would visit Canadian families and Canadian pupils ours,” Vakarchuk explains, “You cannot imagine what it was like for a kid from the Soviet Union to land in Ottawa airport – it was similar to a space trip to Mars. My time in Canada was life-changing and I returned to Ukraine remembering one principle that I continue to uphold – I will always fight for my rights and no one will make me unfree.”
This concert was special because it was the first time that the Horikh family, which hosted little Slavko back in 1990, got a chance to see the live performance of the Ukrainian rock-star. “We never thought that Slavko will become a singer,” says Iryna Horikh who recalls a young boy who lived with them for more than a month. Indeed, the career choice of the present-day rock-star surprised many, given that Vakarchuk graduated from Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, with a degree in theoretical physics. Perhaps the world lost the Ukrainian version of Richard Feynman but it got one of the brightest Ukrainian musicians whose popularity has gone far beyond his homeland. O.E.’s songs can be heard from every corner of the world and Canada –with its 1.2 million Ukrainian community – is at the forefront of promoting Ukrainian-language music in North America. “Slavko was always a very smart and well-behaved boy – we thought he is going to be a diplomat,” Iryna Horikh continues. “He was very knowledgeable about Ukrainian history, saying that a person who does not know the history of his country cannot understand his native culture and daily environment completely. For Slavko, Ukrainian history was a lodestar that guided him to success.” Vakarchuk personally phoned the Horikhs to tell that he was going to perform in Montreal so they could hold a reunion after so many years.
CUPP interns had the honour to meet and talk with Svyatoslav Vakarchuk as a prominent civic activist who supported pro-democracy movements during both the Orange Revolution in 2004 and the Revolution of Dignity or EuroMaydan of 2013-2014. “I love Ukrainians. We are a romantic nation but quite often we rush to different extremes. Take the motto “Slava Ukrayini” (Glory to Ukraine). First we were afraid of using it because the Soviet historical narrative labeled those who fought for an independent Ukrainian state as fascists, whereas now we can hear the greeting whether it is timely or not. There are still greetings like “Good Day” and “Good Evening”, you know. I like to use them instead of repeating political slogans among friends.”
Members of CUPP invited Svyatoslav Vakarchuk to take part in the fundraising campaign that was organized before the concert – the money raised was sent to the Ukrainian-Canadian NGOs that provide medicine and humanitarian aid to the Ukrainian army. CUPP Interns can be proud of themselves – although the campaign was organized on short notice and carried out just prior to the concert, the volunteers succeeded in collecting over $2,000 that combined with the efforts of hundreds of thousands of other volunteers worldwide who are helping Ukraine in its hour of need.
After the meeting with Vakarchuk, CUPP Interns joined the near sell-out audience, eager to enter the concert hall. Interestingly, a Russian company helped to organize the concert. Hopefully it shows that despite the Russo-Ukrainian military confrontation and information war by the Russian government, there is still hope for reconciliation. Vakarchuk’s songs became prophetic and his music remains one of the vital links that can connect the two nations. I remember the huge numbers of Russian fans in concert halls and even in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on December 24, 2013 who applauded O.E. music. “Currently our concerts in Russia are cancelled not on our initiative,” Vakarchuk says. The undeclared war between Ukraine and Russia is accompanied with an aggressive anti-Ukrainian policy pushed by notorious lawmakers such as Vladimir Zhirinovsky and St. Petersburg’s Vitalii Milonov. Even ambassadors of peace and culture like Svyatoslav Vakarchuk struggle to get their message across to the country that has descended into a “besieged fortress” mindset. However, Okean’s cooperation with a Russian firm in Canada gives some hope that the voice of reason may yet prevail.
Okean Elzy has a reputation of turning every concert into a super show and their performance in Montreal was no exception. Despite the unusually small stage in comparison with enormous football stadiums in which Vakarchuk performs in Ukraine, the concert was explosive. The entire audience almost never sat in their seats, standing, jumping and cheering throughout the whole performance. Before the band started to play, the audience sang the national anthem of Ukraine, which has come to be known as “La Marseillaise of the twenty-first century” for its revolutionary appeal. Vakarchuk combined well-known old songs with new ones that came into prominence during EuroMaydan. CUPP Interns were in the first rows, cheering and singing every song together with the band. The same spirit of unity that inspired crowds in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa and Lviv during Vakarchuk’s concert tour prevailed in Montreal. Today, the words of Okean Elzy’s new song “The Wall” – “Will we be strong enough to tear down this wall?” – are most important. The Revolution of Dignity, the Russian annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine have broken friendships, connections and family ties among thousands of Ukrainians and Russians. Svyatoslav Vakarchuk is one of the few who continues to successfully connect different generations of Ukrainians from Lviv to Donetsk and from Chernihiv to Sevastopol. In turn, it is our task – as citizens of Ukraine, Europe and the world – to build new bridges of respect and understanding in order to make our homeland prosperous and democratic.
Oleh Naumenko was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine. He attended “Professional” Lyceum in Kharkiv and Alexander Gymnasium in Kyiv. Graduated from the University of Cambridge with an undergraduate degree in History in 2014. Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Program Intern with a Member of Parliament Mike Wallace of Burlington, Ontario. He was awarded the Michael Starr scholarship to participate in CUPP 2014.
