Eighteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

The communal singing of resistance and liberation songs has been at the heart of Ukrainian musical cultural for at least two centuries. “Hey, hey, daloy politsey!” (“Hey, hey, down with the police!”) is a Yiddish anthem that was first sung by Bundist anarchists in 1897, when confronted with the violent massacres of Jews in Russia’s western regions. “Oi u luzi Chernova Kalyna” (“Oh, the Red Kalyna in the Meadow,” 1914) lifts up the Kalyna bush, an important symbol of the territory, people and solidarity of Ukraine since ancient times. “Our Batko Bandera” (2018), problematically honors Stepan Bandera, leader of a powerful Ukrainian ultra-Nationalist movement that sought to push back Russia during the interwar years. Dedicated to the heroes of the siege of Mariupol, the pop song “Місто Марії” (“City of Mary”) reassures Ukrainians that Mariupol will withstand Russia’s attacks of 2022-23. Not since the anti-war counterculture songs of the 1960s (e.g., Pete Seeger’s “Where have all the flowers gone”) – and with the possible exception of sporting-event chants that bear embedded political meaning – has widespread communal resistance-singing of this kind been heard in North America. Adorno and Horkheimer warned about how the post-Enlightenment cult of the individual, the isolating effect of modern communications media, and the non-participatory spectator-culture of Western societies, would increasingly stifle this kind of powerful communal singing, with potential consequences that should concern us all. The Ukrainian tradition of communal resistance singing provides an inspiring example of its potential power and impact in times of crisis.