Don’t forget!

On April 26, the famous Ukrainian band Haidamaky will perform in the Volkshaus (Zurich) to mark the 24th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster. The musicians have told The Day that with this concert they want to draw Europeans’ attention to the Chornobyl problems. The performance in Switzerland will be one of the four projects of the Green Cross Events company under the title “Don’t forget!” on the topic of disasters (military, industrial, and technological). People have to remember about catastrophes in the past so that nothing like that would happen in the future. The money gathered from selling the tickets will be given to the Green Cross in Switzerland.

“The Chornobyl disaster of April 26, 1986, is the biggest industrial catastrophe in human history. The Day of the catastrophe was acknowledged to be the International Day Commemorating Victims of Radiation Di­sasters and Catastrophes,” said Oleksandr YARMOLA, the Haidamaky band leader. “Chornobyl for me is my homeland. I was born there. Our land is small and gentle. Unfortunately, at present humankind has no experience in solving global problems. The Chornobyl issue is still relevant today. The technological catastrophe that took place 24 years ago is only a model and a little example of what may happen if technological achievements of humankind are made without harmony with spiritual knowledge.”

We should mention that last year a video by Haidamaky, Meni Zdaietsia (It Seems to Me), was released on Ukrainian TV channels. It was made by the director Serhii Volkov in the deserted city of Prypiat. He also used Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChAES) archive materials.

The Eurovision-2010 participant from Ukraine, who will go to Norway in May, also refers to the topic of Chornobyl. Alyosha (Olena Kucher) will sing a song Sweet People by which she is calling people to take care of our planet. Recently a video with this song was shot at the neglected plant Radykal in Kyiv. Its ruins remind of ChAES. The singer’s press service reported that the camera crew tried to reproduce an apocalyptic picture: destroyed buildings, old TV sets, gray sky, and the world on the edge of an ecological disaster.

Let us remind that Alyosha won the Ukrainian national final, which was broadcasted live on March 20 from the Shuster Live Studio. There were 20 participants in the Ukrainian national final. There was a tie for the first place between her and Masha Sobko (both had 36 points), but the professional jury decided for Alyosha. She will perform in Oslo. By the way, because she had so little time to prepare, the move with the Chornobyl topic can be called very advantageous as Europe still knows Ukraine because of the Chornobyl disaster.

Eurovision-2010 will be held for the 55th time, this year in the capital of Norway, in May 25-29. The singers will perform in Northern Europe’s biggest indoor sports and concert facility Telenor Arena which seats nearly 23,000 people. This complex is located near Oslo, at the site previously occupied by Norway’s main airport.