Authors

Anna Glew¹;  ¹ University of Liverpool, UK

Discussion

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has been an extremely traumatic experience for the Ukrainian society, with thousands of casualties, displacement of several million people, continued shelling, power outages, large-scale destruction of cities and towns, and high-intensity battles. The topic of war has been extensively covered by Ukrainian popular music across a range of genres (including hip-hop, rock, pop, and electronic), featuring multiple themes. This paper will examine Ukrainian popular songs that deal with such topics as witnessing war, loss, separation and displacement, and mental health issues (including as a result of combat experience).

The proposed paper will examine the following two key questions: What narratives of trauma are constructed by Ukrainian popular music in times of war? What insights does this creative process provide about the role of music in large-scale crisis situations? The paper will be guided by academic literature on trauma and cultural narratology, and it will examine the lyrics and music videos of Ukrainian popular songs that were created after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and have a significant number of views on Youtube.