Ukrainian military fights Russia from Indy with "weapon of another sort"
The Cultural Forces come armed with violins and banduras, a traditional stringed instrument, but they belong to more than a band. They're also soldiers in the Ukrainian military in a branch that fights not with weapons but with music.
Normally, the unit of about 80 travels the front lines with their instruments, playing for soldiers and boosting morale.
Now, five of them, accompanied by American-based singers and staff, are touring the U.S. to thank American taxpayers for contributing to the aid package sent to Ukraine this spring. This weekend the troupe will perform multiple times and places in Indianapolis to raise awareness about the war in their country.
“It’s a weapon of another sort,” Valery Shyrokov, Cultural Force’s media spokesperson said earlier this week in a Zoom interview as the group drove from Chicago to Milwaukee in their travel bus. “The musician in the trench has the value of one soldier with a gun, but being able to perform in front of thousands of people is also a weapon.”
Why use music as a weapon?
The purpose of Cultural Forces isn’t just to boost morale or thank Americans but also to showcase Ukrainian culture and music.
“We want to present the depth of Ukrainian culture and also prevent the death of Ukrainian culture,” Shyrokov said.
On the front lines, the group plays in small, crowded rooms, often in civilian buildings fortified with sandbags, said Taras Stoliar, who was a professional musician before he enlisted as a reconnaissance operative.
During peacetime, Stoliar had little difficulty deciding what to play when he performed. Now, however, it's hard to find the right music to play for soldiers, Stoliar said.
“When I was a musician, I just tried to make people happy or smile,” Stoliar said. “I really can help our comrades find their reasons to live, to find their memories or just come into imagination or other worlds during the time I play.”
The group usually plays a program of historic ballads and pop songs. They also play songs from Queen, Imagine Dragons and Metallica as well as the Ukrainian folk song that’s known in the U.S. as Carol of the Bells. Yes, the Carol of the Bells that's played every Christmas.
Preserving Ukrainian culture
Stoliar’s bandura has 62 strings and resembles a lute with a bright, lilting sound, somewhere between a harp and a harpsichord. The bandura is more than just an instrument to Ukrainians, embodying the country's art, culture, soul and spirit, Shyrokov said. Because of this, Ukraine’s oppressors have repeatedly tried to eradicate it.
When Ukraine declared independence in 1918, the Bolsheviks began executing bandura players across the country. The next year, a group of traditional Ukrainian musicians began touring Western Europe. In 1922, the group played Carnegie Hall and performed an ancient Ukrainian song called “Shchedryk,” about a nightingale singing in the New Year. The song would later be adapted in the U.S., given English lyrics and renamed Carol of the Bells.
Today, the Cultural Forces are trying to combat Russia's war of misinformation against their Eastern European neighbor.
Iryna Bondar, who has lived in the United States since 2015, said many people in her generation grew up with Russian “icons,” like certain YouTubers and movie stars, rather than Ukrainian ones due to Russia’s suppression of Ukrainian television. Today, Russian bot accounts flood Ukrainian social media, spreading messages like, “America doesn’t care about Ukraine.”All those efforts aim to erode Ukrainian national identity, said Bondar, a board member at the Indiana Ukrainian Society.
“They constantly pushed their imperial narrative that we aren’t a real nation, we don’t have our own culture,” Bondar said.
Life during war
On Feb. 24, 2022, Stoliar's family woke to air raid sirens in Kyiv about 5 a.m. He drove his wife, children and their hamster to his inlaws' house outside the city, then returned to Kyiv, alone. After waiting in line for six hours, he enlisted.
Stoliar’s wife and two children remain in Ukraine. Every day, he receives missile threat notifications.
“There were four yesterday,” he said, scrolling through his phone.
While Stoliar fights in the Cultural Forces, his family hides in underground shelters or copes with regular power outages. He said they can often hear the missiles.
Meanwhile, Bondar and her family, who still live in Ukraine, switched from speaking Russian to Ukrainian.
The first two months of the war were “excruciating,” she said. Several of Bondar’s family members went to fight on the front lines.
When she calls her family to catch up, she says they no longer discuss long-term plans for the future.
“People try to do things and be active and keep working, keep making art, but there are constantly friends and family who are dying and you never know who is going to be next,” Bondar said.
Reception in the U.S.
Shyrokov said everywhere they go wearing their uniforms in the U.S., people pay for their meals and thank them for their service.
“If it wasn’t war in my country I would be happy to tour here,” he said.
This tour finishes on June 30, but the Cultural Forces will return to the U.S. in August to visit the South and the West Coast.
Shyrokov said he has a message for people who oppose sending aid to Ukraine.
“There is a general understanding in the U.S. that the U.S. may become a target,” Shyrokov said. “These are the values that America supported for many years in history, some people have forgotten how much sweat, how much was shed for these values in America.”
How to hear Cultural Forces
Cultural Forces will perform at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Lugar Plaza, 200 E. Washington St.
The group will perform at 8 a.m. Saturday at the Broad Ripple Farmers Market, 6001 N. Rural St., at 1 p.m. at the Indianapolis ArtsGarden and 6:30 p.m. at Woodruff Place Town Hall.
Alex Haddon is a Pulliam Fellow. You can email her at AHaddon@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Ukrainian military's Cultural Forces tour Indianapolis to thank US
