Briefly about the last trip to Ukraine.

It all started with a charity concert with Mark Tokar at the Franko House as part of the Soundtrack of Freedom exhibition/ We raised 16,820 UAH and 70 euros for Mark Tokar's brigade.  I "borrowed" the idea of ​​the  KWARTYRNYK by PEN UKRAINE  and thanks for the spontaneous willingness to sing together and read poetry to Ia Kivi, Maria Oneschak, Sofia Lenter-Kisi. It made the evening truly unique

Thank you for all your gifts, for the poetry. For the hugs and reviews.

The very next day we started kneading the dough for a new performance at the dear  Theater LESI  And then in 4 hands - with Dmytro and Nina Zakhozhenky and Kostnyantyn Zorkin. This is  pure happiness. I wonder what will come out! But the scenography is already there and it is cool

The third stop was the city of Dnipro and the premier of the Songlines of Ukraine project. THANK YOU to everyone thanks to whom everything happened, came true, team drom Dnipro Center for Contem,porary Culture: Maria Yarchuk, Maryna Prakhova, Olena Musiura, Marko Medvediej, OlyaVasylets ( all fotos are from Oleh Samojlov), Anya. Andriy, Lyosha, Olesya, Maksym, Alina, Dinara, thank you to RYS PLatform and the Musical Heritage of the Budjak Artem Tselikov and Kateryna Kapra, thank you to everyone who was able to join us Magdalena and Aurica from Krutoyarivka, Nikolay from Furmanivka, Anna, Violetta, Natalya, Panas and Ivan from Karakurt, Anna Ilinishna from Stary Troyany, as well as to everyone who so generously shared with us the singing, music, dances, and tradition of the Ukrainian Budjak in the villages of Tabaki, Vynohradivka, Burgudzhi, Utkonosivka, Faraonivka…. And also thanks to Andre, without whose support and advice I would not have pulled all this off and with whom we are simultaneously preparing the third audition of the festival of contemporary Ukrainian art Immer Wieder Aufbruch

I was returning to Cologne via Odessa - I had to wait for the bus somewhere and I decided to do it by the sea. It was a gentle, transparent and calm morning. I remembered our conversations, laughter, poems and with Kateryna Kalytko, Iryna Tsilyk, Pavlo Kazarin. Yaryna Thcornohus, Ostap Slyvynskuj, Alim Aliev, Andriy Khajetskyj,. And suddenly right next to us we meet with Oleksiy, who in Odessa is working on translations of dramas and poetry, which we will present at the festival… Coincidence? Pure LOVE!

Today I finally see, hear, feel my beloved Kharkiv, walking along the streets, peering, recognizing… And this image arose in me - the city stands proudly, an open smiling face, a smile a little like Mona Lisa's, skillfully and professionally retouched wounds, dressed in parks and flowers, as if in modern designer couture, in which the ancient and the modern will elegantly go together. It stands proudly, and below it,  russia crackles from the heat and powerlessness… it yearns, sirens smoke through its ears and nose… it stinks and rages… And in the meantime, the city orders a white dry with ice and thinks through plans for future projects… I love…. Thank you for your strength, joy. Stubbornness, creativity, love, for LIFE in spite of everything. I will wait for the next meetings…

Yesterday I met Severyn in Kyiv. While I will   perform at the PEN Ukraine event on July 20 to support Ukrainian Defense, Severyn is going to rebuild destroyed houses with REPAIR TOGETHER.  Hafia will join too in few days. 
Previously Severin organized an  solidarity event at the University of Vienna and collected 1000 Euro donations.
These will go to "Repair Together" via Global Giving to finance the reconstruction. If you want to support this wonderful initiative, which provides immediate help and gives hope, simply donate via Global Giving. Your donation will be doubled as long as the fund still has money available. 
 If you can, please support this amazing giving hope initiative!