‘Culture Prevents Rust on the Soul’ — My Reports on the Cultural Forces of Ukraine
My latest in Byline Supplement and on RadPod reveals how Ukrainian artists banded together to help heal the souls of soldiers in war — part of my DC Series
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It was the most natural thing in the world, to give Mykolai Sierga a standing ovation after his TEDxMidAtlantic talk. The Ukrainian soldier, musician, and poet concluded his talk in Washington DC with a poem that included these words:
As soon as we get the victory
The smoke will clear over our history…
We managed to beat the enemy
And now we will teach everybody to love
We will multiply love in the world
So it’s the purpose of our victory
What follows is an excerpt from my report published today in Byline Supplement, as well as links to the 100th episode of RadPod, where we interviewed Sierga on a road trip through America.
Poetry on the Frontline: How Ukrainian Artists Inspire the Souls of Soldiers
Excerpt here:
When Mykolai Sierga first brings music and poetry and puppeteers to the frontline soldiers in Ukraine, he is accustomed to being met with poker faces.
Let’s face it, war is hell. But he soldiers on, delivering poetry like roses, and puppeteers like salvation. He says inevitably the soldiers soften, surrendering to the muses of art.
On June 8 at TEDx MidAtlantic in Washington DC, Sierga described poetry on the frontline as a major tension reliever, and during any given month, the Cultural Forces of Ukraine’s artistic mobile units perform 200 events to ease the psychological pain for five to ten thousand soldiers and officers.
“We have about 70 artists in 8 groups, working on all sections of the frontline: in trenches, dugouts, hospitals, rehabilitation, and training centers,” said Sergia. “Each group has 6-8 people and performs 2-4 concerts per day. Today, we will make about 20 concerts. Since the full-scale invasion of Russian forces, we have conducted more than 4,000 concerts.”
“Cultural Forces brings together active servicemen of artistic and creative trades,” Sierga told Byline Supplement, at the DC event’s afterparty. “Through culture and arts, we provide moral and psychological support for combat units at the front line, and the wounded in the hospitals.”
From opera houses to the battlefield, these service members deploy their finely tuned skills in the humanities to help defeat Russia by boosting the emotional strength of the Ukrainian troops.
Among their core mission objectives: increase combat morale, replace destructive viewpoints, help manage emotions, and promote Ukrainian culture.
“I was a celebrity before the war,” Sierga explained in his TEDx MidAtlantic talk produced by Dave Troy and Nate Mook. “My career began in 2008 with a victory in the most popular comedy show in Russia. But I'm not Russian, I'm Ukrainian. After that, I took third place in the Ukrainian Idol and started my music career. I toured successfully. In 2013, I became the host of the most popular travel show in Ukraine and Russia, which has about 110 episodes on YouTube with a total reach of more than 180 million views. Simultaneously, I studied neuro-linguistic programming, analytical psychology, and practiced as a hypnotherapist.
“On February 24, 2022, I was supposed to have a concert in Mykolaiv, and the war caught me on the road. On February 25, I joined the army.”
He said he walked into a “room where the commander is bent over a map, surrounded by about ten soldiers and sergeants. I'm wearing a fashionable checkered suit, a stylish coat, a scarf, and red boots. He looks up from the map and says, "What is this? I need soldiers, not showmen."
As it turned out, they needed both.
“Culture prevents rust on the soul,” he said. “It may not heal the soul in times of war, but it can stop the rust from penetrating deeper. It provides spiritual immunity. Something that won't let us lose our humanity.”
Members of the Cultural Forces have been touring the US, as a thank you to Americans for their support of Ukraine. Among the members featured at TEDx MidAtlantic was Yurii Ivaskevych, who opened Sierga’s talk by belting out Pavarotti’s O Sole Mio on one leg.
Puppeteers in the Brigade
At his talk in DC, Sierga showed a video clip from a puppeteer in the brigade, and I had to comfort the folks around me as we watched — hearts melting at the beauty and the sorrow as Valeriy Dzekh from the 59th Brigade explains how he takes soldiers back to their childhoods “so they could remember what childhood is, what it is to dream, what it is to create and what it is to build something.”
“We are fighting for the soul,” said Sierga. “Not just in Ukraine, but around the world, culture needs power, and power needs culture. It is the only way to save this world.”
To read the full report, please subscribe to Byline Supplement. If you are unable to subscribe at this time, please reach out to me directly for the report by requesting at bettedangerous/gmail.
And here are two reports from my podcast, RADICALIZED Truth Survives, as we celebrated our 100th Episode with a special tribute to the Cultural Forces:
And here, on our livestream of RadPod & Chill, we showed highlights of our interview with Sierga, as well as clips from the Cultural Forces at work.
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More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter/producer, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.
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