Jamala’s solo concert in Kyiv: full house, lots of flowers and children

A little girl wearing a vyshyvanka and a wreath of flowers at the entrance to Palace Ukraina is singing “Smile,” and then in one moment turns to her mother and asks with a genuine horror in her voice: “And what if Jamala gets sick? I had a dream today... that she disappeared.”

The queues to the venue had formed one hour before the start, and lasted for some time even after the concert began. The audience is mostly young people and children. Many pregnant women. People mostly wear vyshyvankas and carry flowers.

Exactly one week and a day after her victory in Stockholm, Jamala performs in Kyiv. Before the capital, Susana had concerts in Lviv and Ternopil.

At first, Jamala was planning to give one solo concert in Kyiv on May 24 during her Ukraine tour “The Homecoming.” However, as there had been many eager listeners even after the event was sold out, the organizers decided to put on an additional performance on May 23.

Jamala performed several songs from the latest album Breath, and many other songs from her All or Nothing and For Every Heart albums.

The singer gave an incredibly sensual performance of the song written on a poem by a great Ukrainian poet “Perhaps humanity is very young still.” “I wrote the song. When I asked Lina Kostenko for the permission, ‘I am honored!’ was her answer,” says Jamala. By the way, she mentioned that Kostenko was the first to congratulate her for the victory in the Eurovision.

The last song before going encore was “1944.” The audience rose on their feet, and burst out in applause as soon as the tree appeared on the screen.

Soft voice, ethno-jazz, diverse performance… It’s not just drive; it is a therapy for the soul. Jamala’s tour in Ukraine is a motivational circle, which unites Ukrainian hearts.

A young Ukrainian has said to me in a friendly conversation recently: “I am ashamed to admit that before the Eurovision I knew almost nothing about the deportation of Crimeans in 1944.” No, this is neither historical apathy nor ignorance. We just believe that obvious things are available. In fact, it is the most obvious things the enemy hides from the eyes of the public. And “harmless” domestic pop artists, who do not stop performances “for love” in Moscow, Yoshkar-Ola, Kyiv, and Zhmerynka only help the enemy in that regard.

Our need to give up the “Russian chanson” and pop music is long overdue. Unfortunately, even in Lviv these “prison songs” can be heard almost in every taxi. Don’t we have anything to replace it? Then why should we be surprised about the revenge of those who brought the war to our house?

Votes on the elections start with the brain, and brain training begins with the development of taste and the national self-identification. Songs have always been the best way to transfer the memory of the generations.

Jamala has given us a feeling of victory, the feeling that The Day highlighted when Ukraine became triumphant at the Eurovision. This feeling is so important to us. Emine Dzheppar, First Deputy Minister of Information Policy and a Crimean Tatar herself, plainly explained the significance of this victory for her people: if anyone in Europe asks who Crimean Tatars are, we can clearly say it’s Jamala. The association is obvious. As for the money needed to organize a Eurovision of our own... A country, in which there are queues to buy a new Mercedes model, has the money. It’s only that we also have a lot of poor people. And even more people are poor in spirit. That is why it is the spirit we must reinforce and heal.