{"id":39033,"date":"2024-07-22T09:25:47","date_gmt":"2024-07-22T09:25:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/ukraine-music-festival-back-despite-war\/"},"modified":"2024-07-22T09:25:49","modified_gmt":"2024-07-22T09:25:49","slug":"ukraine-music-festival-back-despite-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/ukraine-music-festival-back-despite-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine music festival back despite war"},"content":{"rendered":"


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By\u00a0Andrew Rogers,\u00a0<\/span>BBC Newsbeat<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GettyGetty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the festival looked pretty much like any other big music event around the world. This was the main stage in 2019.<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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How do you stage a music festival for 25,000 people when you’re under threat from a potential Russian missile attack?<\/p>\n

That’s a question Vlad Yaremchuk has been trying to answer for the past few months.<\/p>\n

He’s the programme director of Atlas United, Ukraine’s biggest music festival.<\/p>\n

The event’s due to return this weekend for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.<\/p>\n

But it’s not quite business as usual – this year’s event has relocated to a shopping mall in case of an airstrike.<\/p>\n

When Vlad speaks to BBC Newsbeat, Atlas has just been pushed back a week after a series of deadly missile attacks, including one that hit a children’s hospital.<\/p>\n

He admits that there’s been a lot of stress in the lead-up to this year’s event, but he’s optimistic about it going ahead.<\/p>\n

“To finally see people coming into the festival for the first time will be exciting,” he says. <\/p>\n

“We’ve really missed that feeling.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"VladVlad Yaremchuk<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Vlad Yaremchuk says this year’s Atlas has been organised far more quickly than usual<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Since it began in 2015 Atlas, held in Ukrainian capital Kyiv, has hosted huge names such as Kasabian, The Chemical Brothers and Liam Gallagher.<\/p>\n

Organising a big festival takes time, but Vlad says they only got the go-ahead for 2024’s event this spring.<\/p>\n

“Normally for a festival of this size you would need a year or more to organise it,” he says. <\/p>\n

“We didn’t even expect to have a chance to do a festival while the war is still happening.”<\/p>\n

But, he adds: “The reality showed us that cultural events are still possible in wartime.”<\/p>\n

Vlad says Atlas is expecting about 25,000 fans, crew and artists to be on site, while other events have only had a maximum of 10,000.<\/p>\n

With all those people in one place, a potential air attack is a huge concern.<\/p>\n

Vlad says the solution has been the brand new venue – a mixture of open-air and indoor spaces.<\/p>\n

There are two stages in the shopping centre’s car park, and a further three inside the mall itself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Can’t stop the music<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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“It gives us a shelter which can fit more than 100,000 people,” says Vlad.<\/p>\n

“There will be more than enough space to get everyone evacuated quickly — and we’re talking minutes.”<\/p>\n

Vlad says it can be challenging to convince people – who are so used to hearing air-raid sirens – to head for a shelter when the alarm is raised.<\/p>\n

But he says there’s a plan for that too – take the festival underground to a sixth performance area in the basement car park. <\/p>\n

If the crowd does have to flee to safety Vlad says there’s “an entire stage” and a bar so the music can continue.<\/p>\n

One thing that will be missing this year is the same number of international headliners. <\/p>\n

Vlad says they were approached but most turned it down over safety concerns.<\/p>\n

He says he understands the decision, but “seeing international musicians playing in Russia right now really ticks me off”. <\/p>\n

“That can be frustrating,” he says.<\/p>\n

“But if people honestly gave it a thought and decided that’s not for them because they’re scared for their life, that’s fair.”<\/p>\n

It does mean that more homegrown acts will get a chance to take some of the top slots on the bill. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"PolinaPolina Grebenik <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Ukrainian band Disappeared Completely will be taking to the stage at Atlas United<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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That includes Vitalii and Marina from indie band Disappeared Completely. <\/p>\n

“People need some joy in their lives, even through these hard times,” says Vitalii. <\/p>\n

Marina says: “It’s always nice to gather together with people and to celebrate life itself. <\/p>\n

“To just remember the joys of everyday life, because you might not have it tomorrow.<\/p>\n

“Appreciate these moments and appreciate the people around you while you can.”<\/p>\n

They also say that after years of attacks from the air, they’re no longer worried about performing outside.<\/p>\n

“We got used to this. It sounds bad, because it’s war, and we could die. But life is going on so we need to adapt,” says Vitalii.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GettyGetty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Singer Shmiska says she’s planning a big performance for her fellow Ukranians<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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While a festival might seem like a chance to forget about the war for a day, Ukraine’s ongoing battle against Russia is reflected by Atlas United.<\/p>\n

The festival hopes to raise at least \u20ac2m (\u00a31.7m), with most being spent on drones to help soldiers on the front line.<\/p>\n

And some Ukrainian acts who’ve been raising awareness abroad are due to return to perform in their home country.<\/p>\n

Solo artist Shmiska, who now lives in Paris, says it’s important to come back for the festival.<\/p>\n

“People sometimes just start to lose their hope. They start to lose their dreams,” she says.<\/p>\n

“I think, as artists, it’s our job to give people this chance to feel again, to dream again.”<\/p>\n

Shmiska performs across Europe and says she worries people are starting to forget about Ukraine.<\/p>\n

So she’s aiming to make her big show in Kyiv memorable, with light shows and plenty of costume changes. <\/p>\n

“It’s such a big opportunity to feel alive again,” she says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Listen to Newsbeat live<\/a> at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays – or listen back here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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2 days ago By\u00a0Andrew Rogers,\u00a0BBC Newsbeat Getty Images Before Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the festival looked pretty much like any other big music event around the world. This was the main stage in 2019. How do you stage a music festival for 25,000 people when you’re under threat from a potential Russian missile attack? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[279],"tags":[622,719,1228,1232],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39033"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39033"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39035,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39033\/revisions\/39035"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}