A reader asked me if “the Ukrainian government is working to maintain a sense of business as usual.” This reader is absolutely right. Huge efforts are being made in Ukraine to ensure that people don’t plunge into the depths of despair because of the Russian invasion.
The government is stepping up its investment into international scholarly conferences, art festivals, concerts, etc. For instance, a jazz festival was held in the city of Lviv last week. This is a regular, yearly event, but this time there was a special effort to invite as many attendees and journalists from Russia as possible in the hopes of showing them that the “neo-nazi Western Ukraine” they hear about on TV is actually a peaceful, happy, welcoming region where it is perfectly fine to speak Russian and where nobody persecutes Russian-speakers.
Ukraine is a very large country, and armed hostilities only take place in a tiny region of it. Even in my city of Kharkiv, which is located in the East, right on the border with Russia, is completely peaceful.
And a small announcement:
If you are in Montreal, make sure you visit the concert of the greatest Ukrainian rock band “Okean Elzy” on October 9 at Place des Arts.
If you are in Ottawa, the group will be performing at the National Arts center on October 10.
And if you are in Toronto, the group’s performance will take place on October 11 at the Hershey Center.
Here is a song by this band. Note how similar it sounds to Spain’s rock. This could very easily be a song from Spain. There is an enormous (albeit unexplored) affinity between Ukraine and Spain.
Clarissa's Blog 
I am fascinated by the language, it is really pleasant to listen to. I have listened to quite a few of their songs now because I somehow really like the sound, both of the music and the language. I have never consciously heard the language before and it seems very unique. I wouldn’t even have been sure that it is a Slavic language just from listening. It reminds me of Romanian, sometimes Italian, Hungarian and my boyfriend thought it must be from the Turk language family. The music is nice too, calming. 🙂 I understand what you mean by the affinity with Spanish music. I especially like this song: Я так хочу… What is it about? And what is the song about that you linked?
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