Misrule since independence in 1991 has meant stars like Mr Vakarchuk have again embodied the country’s yearnings. For generations, their sense of nationhood rested more on bards-above all Taras Shevchenko, a revered 19th-century poet-than on politicians. Perhaps it’s a gift, he speculates, or a coincidence, or just a form of wishful thinking.įor Ukrainians, after all, artists have always carried a special burden. How many more children, it asks, will you lose in someone else’s war? The tendency of his lyrics to chime with current events has led some to take him for “an oracle”, Mr Vakarchuk says. But a hit of 2015 that decried the Kremlin-backed conflict in the Donbas, “Not Your War”, is in demand too. These days the Okean Elzy song people most want to hear is, consolingly, “Everything Will Be Alright”. Escalating tragically from peaceful to bloodstained uprisings, then to this invasion, these three events-in all of which Mr Vakarchuk has played a role-are, he reckons, part of a single struggle for independence. Off-stage he strove to halt the ensuing violence. “Your land is waiting.” That track rose up again during the revolution of 2013-14, along with “Without a Fight”, a love song repurposed as a resistance tune. “Rise up, my darling!” Mr Vakarchuk sang, bouncing on the stage as a gentle snow fell. During the Orange revolution of 2004, when protests overturned a rigged election, Okean Elzy played sets on Independence Square to keep morale and the numbers up. Rock’n’roll has often been politics by other means. He has done stints at Stanford and Yale, and two as an MP, on the second occasion launching his own party, both times surmising that parliament was not for him. In 2005 he won the jackpot on Ukraine’s version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” and donated the prize to orphanages. US has no official relations with Taiwan but maintains extensive informal and commercial ties.Mr Vakarchuk is not a regular soldier, but nor is he a regular rock star. The attack marked the biggest escalation between the two countries - technically still at war - since Israel fought a 34-day conflict with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in 2006Ĭhina imposes sanctions on US' Ronald Reagan Presidential Library for hosting Taiwan president The incident comes a day after a barrage of rockets was fired into Israel from Lebanon. Israel downs 'drone from Lebanon' day after major rocket attack On 30 March, just days after a shooting at a Christian school in Nashville claimed six lives, legislators Justin Jones, Justin Pearson and Gloria Johnson joined hundreds of protesters on the state House floor to call for stricter gun control Mifepristone is one of two drugs used for medical abortion in the United States, along with misoprostol, which is also used to treat other medical conditionsīiden, Harris shower praises on Democrat lawmakers expelled by Republican-dominated Tennessee House US: Texas judge suspends FDA approval of mifepristone abortion pill In November 2015, the 40-year-old made his way to France in the wake of the horrible Bataclan attacks and played John Lennon’s Imagine on a grand piano outside the theatre. In the last few years, he has made a name for himself, travelling to conflict zones and bringing calm to peace through his music. He first gained popularity and came to be known as ‘Piano Man’ in 2013 when he took up residence at Turkey’s Taksim Square and played music on his baby grand piano while Turkish anti-government protesters and police clashed. This isn’t the first time that Martello has done something like this. The UN also estimated that 12 million people inside Ukraine will need relief and protection, while more than four million Ukrainian refugees may need protection and assistance in neighbouring countries in the coming months. The UN refugee agency added that the situation in Ukraine is unprecedented, and the organisation hasn’t seen an exodus as rapid as this one. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency March 3, 2022 One million lives tragically uprooted and forced to flee Ukraine.
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