« When I was 20, I never thought I’d be a soldier Sviatoslav Vakarchuk confides in the same warm, scratchy throaty voice with which he sings on stage: “ One day the war will end. I got lost there, I saw the abyss. Hold me in your arms, hold me, hold me. So gently, and don’t let me go. Hold me. May your spring return. »
The leader of Okean Elzy, the group which for a quarter of a century has been breaking popularity records in Ukraine, had, when he was still a brilliant student of theoretical physics, completed his military training in the branch “psychological warfare”. This is what he has been doing since the start of the war: at 47, he travels the front line to boost the morale of the troops. More than 150 concerts alone, singing in the trenches, in the forests, in front of small groups of soldiers…
And then also, like today, he travels the world with his group for a tour whose funds must be used to help his country plunged into war. Saturday, November 12, Okean Elzy therefore played, at the Zénith de Paris, in front of 4,000 people. Vestals draped in the blue and yellow flag, white-hot diaspora. Somewhere between the pop rock concert and the political rally. ” Glory to Ukraine! » , shouts a man. ” Glory to my heroes! », responds the crowd according to a well-known gimmick: Glory to Ukraine, glory to the heroes.
Logic, as the singer is a prophet in his country. Not only were his songs the soundtrack to the Orange Revolution and Maidan, but Svyatoslav Vakarchuk himself was twice elected MP. The first time, in 2007, before giving up out of powerlessness: “ It was all against all… “. The second time in 2019. After studying political science at Stanford in the United States, he had created a party in kyiv, Holos (the voice), and it was said in the starting blocks for the presidential election. Some polls even saw him as the winner, but he finally gave up. While Volodymyr Zelinsky was elected, he and his party still won around twenty seats.
“Bring people together and inspire them”
Thirty years earlier, he proudly recounts, his father, Ivan Vakartchouk, a leading physicist, elected deputy in 1989 when Ukraine was still Soviet had “ was part of the Parliament that dissolved the Soviet Union “. The father will even be, from 2007 to 2010, Minister of Education of independent Ukraine. ” He showed me that we could make a difference.”sighs the one who has finally given up his place on the political scene again for the stage period: “ We all need an audience, an audience. But I, my greatest political quality, c’is to bring people together and inspire them. Afterwards, I do not know how to remain on my reserve, to play this political game… ”
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