Australian and Ukrainian musicians harness the power of music to help refugees
Australian and Ukrainian musicians harness the power of music to help refugees
Members of The Blueberries are joined by various artists that performed Blue Skies on the eve of its launch in Sydney.
As bombs fell across her country, Ukrainian soprano and refugee Maryana Golovko decided to use her voice to help others uprooted from their homes by the war.
She was approached by the Australian band The Bluesberries to collaborate on the poignant song Blue Skies. She co-wrote the lyrics and recorded her part from an apartment in Germany after fleeing Kyiv in April last year, more than a month after the war began.
"I decided to write something that would be meaningful and reverberate with the Ukrainian people because I understand what they feel," Maryana said. "My lyrics give Ukrainians a picture of a better future," she added.
The Bluesberries band members include musician and BBC journalist, Daniel Fallon; Paul Beard, a composer, producer and keyboardist and John McMurtrie, an Australian entrepreneur. Together they began writing Blue Skies last year to promote peace and to raise funds in Australia for UNHCR. All proceeds from sales of the song will go to UNHCR to support Ukrainian refugees.
"Blue Skies is our response to the terrible conflict in Ukraine,” Daniel Fallon said.
"It’s a song that reflects on the experiences of refugees – people with ordinary lives who have been forced to flee and who dream of a day when they can come together again to live in peace."
The band collaborated with 70 Australian and Ukrainian musicians, including some of Ukraine's most talented youth, to record versions of Blue Skies in both English and Ukrainian.
The Youth Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine recorded a symphonic arrangement of Blue Skies at a cathedral in Düsseldorf, Germany, while the 22-member Shchedryk Kyiv Children’s Choir recorded a special choral arrangement for the project in a studio damaged by the war.
"The funds raised from the Blue Skies Project have gone towards the UN Refugee Agency’s vital work supporting people devastated by the war," CEO of Australia for UNHCR, Trudi Mitchell said.
“We are incredibly grateful to the members of The Bluesberries and all those who collaborated, including Maryana, for using Blue Skies to raise much-needed awareness and funds for Ukraine.”
