The frontman of the Antibody group Taras Topolya, together with his colleagues, volunteered in the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In an interview with FACTS, Taras spoke about his experience on the front lines, the impact of the war on creativity, and duets with music stars Ed Sheeran and Bono from U2.
“I was struck by how aware people were at risk, not a single gram of panic”
- Taras, what does a person of art feel when he goes to war?
- The fact is that “Antibodies” from the very beginning of the founding of the team lived not only with music. - speaks Taras Poplar. - We have always had a clear civic position, we have been involved in social processes. When the war began in 2014, the annexation of Crimea took place, they began volunteering, helping the Armed Forces of Ukraine in parallel with creative activities. Therefore, when a full-scale invasion took place, the decision was obvious for us: to pause the musical activity and go to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It was clearly understood that the whole country must offer total resistance. If not, there simply won’t be a country where you can give concerts, tour, develop, realize your dreams.
But I understand that for many artists, a full-scale war became a real stress, before that they lived only in creativity, they said that they were out of politics, they were in a “bubble”. Everything changed when a rocket flew into the “bubble”. And then I had to reconfigure and even someone to be reborn.
- You spent half a year on the front lines - from February to August 2022. Remember the feeling of terror?
Everyone was afraid, but there was no panic. We went to the battalion, which consisted of 50 percent of people who were civilians only yesterday. And suddenly these civilians, representatives of different professions, put on uniforms. I was struck by how aware people were at risk, not an ounce of panic. Everyone understood that they could lose their lives at any moment, because serious military operations were underway. But at the same time, you are among people who unite love for the country. People of different ideological views begin to work as one: they save, go into battle, storm, defend themselves. We needed to get into that situation to be the only one.
You haven’t stopped working as a musician. How did you meet popular British singer Ed Sheeran?
— We found out that Ed was planning a concert in Birmingham in support of the Ukrainians and decided to contact him. We just took a selfie video against the background of one of the Kyiv military landscapes of that time. They offered to make a teleconference: we perform in Kyiv, he - in Birmingham. The Humanitarian Foundation, which organized the concert, refused us. They say that entire campaigns are humanitarian, and we address them in military uniform. There were certain limits. In the next video message, we still thanked them for raising funds for Ukrainian refugees - the video got a lot of views, and the British themselves did not understand why we were refused. Like, how else can Ukrainians protect themselves, except to put on a uniform and take up arms?
Ed Sheeran’s team, probably, tracked the situation, turned to us, offering to join the recording of their song. Literally before the transfer to the Kharkiv region, they managed to record part of the song at the studio. The video was filmed already in Kharkov. And there was such a release - a common song of the Antibody group and Ed Sheeran.
“Did he introduce you to Bono?”
“According to Ed, Bono asked him for my phone number. Ed Sheeran asked me if he could contact us, of course I agreed. After some time, Bono called and invited him to his performance in the Kiev metro. We sang together and Bono gave the opportunity to address the Europeans on behalf of Ukraine. That’s how important cultural diplomacy is. Thanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, we are defending our land, thanks to cultural diplomacy we are winning the information war, we are fighting Russian propaganda.
We are different now. We have to get used to it and get used to it.”
- Did you write songs while on the front line?
“At zero, we only created part of the song for a collaboration with Ed Sheeran. Is the musician comfortable on the front line? Of course not. But no more than to another person who has never heard explosions, did not count arrivals and did not feel it on himself. Yes, we could have been shell-shocked, mines and artillery shells exploded two meters from our storage facilities. But, fortunately, we were not shell-shocked. I don’t know how it would affect our work. In general, the ability to create music. But we must do what we came for.
- Was it difficult to return to creativity after what you saw and experienced at the front?
- Not easy. But we have already, thank God, entered into a certain rhythm. The first few weeks were hard. It so happened that we returned from the front line and literally in a very short period of time got to Warsaw to perform with Ed Sheeran at the stadium. It was a civilian, peaceful Warsaw, and it was a little… amazing. Helicopters and airplanes are flying, trams are driving, dully banging on the rails in some places, and it sounds like a distant departure from a mortar. We are different now. We get used to it and get used to it …
Previously, a popular TV presenter, actor and producer Yuri Gorbunov spoke about the worst days of the war and his relationship with his sons.
See also: We survived the Nazis, we will survive the Rashists: a theater actor in Kyiv told why he changed the stage to a training ground
Source: Fakty
I am currently working as a news website author at Daily News Hack. I mostly cover trending news and have been doing so for quite some time now. I have always had a keen interest in current affairs and the world around me, which is what led me to my current job.
