Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Slava Vakarchuk enlisted in the army and was assigned to sing. Since then, his mission as a lieutenant is to spread hope. Performing for the troops at the front, in ruins, hospitals and bunkers, his music provides consolation and serves as an appeal for donations, to motivate the soldiers and to preserve the threatened identity and culture of Ukraine. Many other Ukrainian artists are doing the same: Seeing themselves as the “Cultural Forces of Ukraine”, they fight for democracy at home and take the message of what is happening in Ukraine abroad.
From physicist to rock star
Born in 1975 in western Ukraine, Vakarchuk was not initially destined to be a musician. His parents were physicists and his father also had a stint as the country’s Minister of Education and Science. Slawa Vakarchuk himself holds a PhD in theoretical physics. While still a student in Lviv in 1994, he founded the rock band Okean Elzy, which is still going strong today, some 30 years and 12 albums later. At a 2021 Independence Day concert in Kyiv, it drew an audience of 100,000.
“Creativity is important to me so that I can fathom myself as a musician and as a human being.”
Social engagement has always been important to Vakarchuk. As the first winner of the Ukrainian edition of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”, he donated the millions he won to orphanages. Together with the other members of Okean Elzy, he was engaged in the Orange Revolution and the Euromaidan. He is a Ukrainian cultural ambassador and a United Nations Global Goodwill Ambassador.
From politician to cultural campaigner
The singer was already politically active before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. During the Euromaidan in 2013/14, he campaigned for the pro-Western opposition, and after the 2019 election, he became a member of parliament for Voice, the party he founded. In 2020, he retired from party politics to campaign for his country outside of parliament. Since then, Vakarchuk has been involved in many social and cultural projects, including the charitable foundation Lyudi Maybutnyoho (People of the Future), which he founded. He tours Europe and North America to raise funds, keep engagement high in the West and prevent the struggle of the Ukrainian people from being forgotten.
His current tour also took him to the Isarphilharmonie for a solo fundraising concert. Slava Vakarchuk fans experienced two very personal sides of the artist: with just his guitar, he took us to the front lines of the war in Ukraine, singing hymns of courage and resistance; at the grand piano, it was if he let us look over his shoulder as he composes his “music for dark times”.
Text: Heike Braun
