One of Ukraine’s most popular songs of all-time gets the English-language treatment for charity

Ukrainian rock legend Sviatoslav Vakarchuk, headman of the iconic rock group Okean Elzy (Elsa’s Ocean) saw his hit song ‘Obijmy’ (Embrace) covered in English to raise money for charity, UNITED24’s Instagram page shared on Aug. 29.

American singer and composer Ellis Hall, three-time Grammy and Emmy winner George Whitty, and Ukrainian artist Maryana Holovko collaborated on the arrangement.

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Okean Elzy’s ‘Obijmy’ is one of the most popular songs in Ukrainian history. It was ranked # 5 in NV’s top 10 poll for Independence Day 2023.

Blues singer and co-founder of the CRBQ quintet, Alec Berfield, explained how the idea came about.

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“My brother Guy Berfield and I tried a number of ideas starting 2 years ago. My brother has 5 family members living with him in Massachusetts who escaped Mariupol so we’re intimately involved! Finally after much work we hope that it might go viral. We’ve allocated 100% of all proceeds to UNITED24 fundraising charity”.

George Whitty also joined in the creation of the cover, playing keyboards and handling drum programming, mixing, mastering, and video editing.

The full video of the cover performance was released on Whitty's YouTube account.

Maryana Holovko announced on her Instagram that they, along with their American colleagues, have decided to raise funds for tactical medicine through this initiative.

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At the end of the video, the musicians briefly discussed the war initiated by Russia and urged listeners to remember the events in Ukraine and support the fight against Russia.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine