Culture

Sometimes, the chorus starts in English, and sometimes, the next verse turns to Ukrainian. For a growing number of Ukraine’s biggest artists, that blend has become the soundtrack of a nation determined to tell its story to the world.

After one of Russia’s worst attacks on Kyiv since the start of the war, with Russian officials warning all foreign nationals and diplomats to leave the Ukrainian capital, Jacques Audiard, France’s most decorated filmmaker, arrived anyway. He sat on a park bench in the spring sun, watched a small bird for a long moment, and talked about cinema, violence, and Europe’s willful blindness.

Balancing life as rock musicians, active-duty soldiers, and volunteers, the members of Boombox are turning their music legacy into support for the front lines.

Open Ukrainian TikTok today, and you may find teenagers quoting dissident poets and dressing as Ukrainian intellectuals. The reason is Rebelia [1991] —a Ukrainian musical that brought different generations together and quickly became a wartime cultural phenomenon.