At the veteran-volunteer forum, with the participation of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, the first composition of the veteran song project – ArtFront was presented. Its name is Volya (Liberty).
The project, launched by the Ukrainian Veterans’ Foundation, is designed to popularise a new layer of modern Ukrainian music, namely, songs born during the war and authors of a new generation – veterans and military personnel. The producer is Oleg Skrypka, a musician, producer, leader of the first Ukrainian rock band “Vopli Vidoplyasova”, as well as the founder of the “Dream Land” festival.
The first song from the collection is called “Volya”, it is dedicated to the Independence Day of Ukraine. It was performed in a duet by Oleg Skrypka and senior soldier of the National Guard of Ukraine Oleg Bondar, nicknamed “Musician”.
Oleg Bondar is the author of the words and music, and the song was produced by Oleg Skrypka.
“Over the past eight years, Ukrainian music has been enriched with unique songs created by military personnel and war veterans. These special materials are literally written under bullets and fragments of shells, in dugouts and trenches. This is a very symbolic and patriotic phenomenon. That is why the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation undertook to popularise this layer. After all, it’s not just about music, it’s about opportunities. Ukrainian veterans, returning from the war, should not become a lost generation, but should immediately have opportunities to realise their potential. Including a creative one,” says Executive Director of the Foundation Nataliya Kalmykova.
“ArtFront” should become a full-fledged collection of songs that were written at the front from 2014 to the present. The authors of the songs are front-line soldiers who will perform them in a duet with famous singers. The songs will be recorded in professional studios, and music videos will be shot for some of them.
Producer Oleg Skrypka says: “The Ukrainian patriotic song should be heard everywhere and in our hearts. The song “Volya” is the first song from the collection. It is symbolic and represents the state where we are and how we are moving towards victory.”
The idea of the project belongs to the first deputy of the Executive Director of the Foundation, Ruslana Velychko-Trifonyuk.
