Dnipropetrovsk wants to sing a more optimistic National Anthem and suggests revising its lyrics

The National Anthem is not just a song but the true symbol of a nation. Anthem playing is sup­posed to unite, rouse and instill optimism in compatriots. For this reason, Dnipropetrovsk has decided to alter Ukraine’s main song by making it more cheerful and buoyant. “Frankly speaking, I have never liked the current anthem’s lyrics, especially its beginning,” Mykhailo Melnyk, State Taras Shevchenko Prize winner, director of the Kryk theater, con­fesses. “It seems to me that reminding the Ukrainian people of death and enemies every day does them no good. The anthem carries too much aggres­sion, while I want to sing about love, children, and Ukraine. For as we sing, so do we live.” The actor shared his opinion with an acquaintance, the artist and poetess Olha Rekun. Very soon the latter came up with altogether different lines that appeal to the present and the future, not to the past: “Fortune smiled on all of us, Ukrainian brothers, / We have won, after so much suffering, freedom for Ukraine. / If we are the true children of our sweet homeland, / We must all be aware of the sacred truth.”

“The anthem is our prayer to God,” the poetess explains. “We receive from Him what we ask for. I think it is only natural that MPs and topmost officials should be fighting and bickering. Our anthem’s tune is wonderful, but the lyrics need to be changed. I fully agree with Melnyk in this respect.” Rekun says that she once saw [Ukrainian writer and MP] Volodymyr Yavorivsky at Savik Shuster’s TV talk-show and tried to discuss this subject with him. But, by all accounts, the MP did not like this idea. “He said there is history behind this anthem, for even Sich Riflemen used to sing it. That’s right, they used to, but what did their struggle end with?” the poetess asks meaningfully. Rekun believes the current anthem reflects the situation when Ukrainians were only struggling for their country’s independence. “We are living in an entirely different era now,” the poetess says, “and in a different reality: an independent Ukraine has long been a fact, and Ukrainians should build a happy life full of joy and love rather than die.” Coming back to Dnipropetrovsk, Rekun unexpectedly found a lot of followers. Some local journalists and musicians suggested recording the new anthem at a recording studio. The singer was Valentyn Halushko, a 12-year-old boy with an astonishing voice, who recently took part in the competition “Ukraine Has Talents.” “In this performance, the anthem sounded especially penetrating, you just could not listen to it unemotionally,” the poetess says with a feeling. So Melnyk and she decided that they should wait for presidential elections results and then submit the new anthem to a public debate. Should the public like it, they will turn to the Verkhovna Rada and, naturally, the new president. There is very little time left to wait. “It is not ruled out that we will live very much diffe­rently after that,” Rekun says.

Meanwhile, in Dnipropetrovsk, the group Vertep is working on a new music arrangement of Mykhailo Verbytsky’s music. One of the group participants, Tymofii Khomiak, says the musicians want to add some elements of rock to the folk instrument-based arrangement. The group thinks that young people will like this arrangement better. The new version has already been recorded on a CD and is on sale. Incidentally, the text has been changed again and begins with the words: “Flourish, our Ukraine!”