Dresden 2014: I move to the Saxon state capital to study and find myself in a two-person shared flat with a Russian student who is also studying. We often talk about university, not politics. She brings back a mug with Putin printed on it from a home visit, sees my slightly irritated look and points out that you get thrown this everywhere in Russia.
The sounds of a piano usually come from her room, but now there are also a few rock chords. At first only sometimes, then almost every morning, every day. A sluggish, dramatic-sounding song in a language I don’t know. It is the song Воины света (Voiny Sveta, dt. “Warrior of Light”) by the Belarusian band Lyapis Trubetskoy. She shows me a video: demonstrations on the Maidan in Kyiv, clashes with the police, tear gas, clubs, violence, plus the refrain: “Warriors of light, warriors of good, defend the summer, fight until dawn.” The translation I only find that out later, at first I only see the pictures, hear the sound: That’s enough.
We’re talking about politics. It supports the efforts of Ukrainians to get closer to the West. Later she finds a Ukrainian friend in Dresden who has the same first name as me and speaks fluent German and Russian. At least that’s how it seems to me. “He speaks a lot in Russian, but can’t really do it,” she says. When he is with her, Lyapis Trubetskoy echoes from her room. Apparently they only half understand each other, but that’s enough.
The band, founded in Minsk in 1990, did not want to create a protest song in 2014. Voiny Sveta is about a fantasy world, might have more to do with pirates than democracy and the EU. The actual music video won the 2015 Berlin Music Video Award for “Best Art Direction”. The Euromaidan collage was created by a fan, the song unofficially became an anthem and is said to have been played at the demonstrations.
It fitted too well. The light, the good, for the protesters in Ukraine it meant freedom and the opposite of their then Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who left the country as a result of the protests and was deposed by parliament. Now, according to Ukrainian media, it is precisely this Yanukovych who is preparing for a renewed presidency in Ukraine – made possible by a Russian war of aggression.
Lyapis Trubetskoy broke up in 2014, the band members devoted themselves to other projects. Mayor Vitali Klitschko was present at the final concert in Kyiv. Singer Sjarhei Michalok now has an electronic project called Drezden. His father once worked in the Soviet military, Michalok was born in the Saxon state capital.
Because he positioned himself openly against Alexander Lukashenko several times, Michalok had to leave Belarus. A video recently surfaced of him delivering a blazing speech to his fans and friends. He calls Putin a “desperate tyrant” and recommends his compatriots to resist all military actions, to sabotage them, to hide in the forest if necessary, just not to go to war against the brother country. A well-known Russian swear word appears very often in the video. I don’t understand much, but that’s enough.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian soldiers at the border are recording Tiktok videos and dancing to Nirvana in full combat gear. There must be no illusion: music doesn’t change anything about war, never. Now and then she aggravates it, through pathos. But sometimes it helps with understanding, especially when you don’t understand anything. And that’s enough, at least for a moment.