15 für UA: German artists recorded the song “Обійми” in support of Ukraine and the B50 community

Along with the opening of our long-awaited photo exhibition “Chronicles of the Unknown Superheroes Ukrainians” in Hamburg, we received another pleasant gesture of support from Germany.

To mark the second anniversary of russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a team of German musicians released a joint cover of the famous song «Обійми» (“Hug me”) by the Ukrainian band “Океан Ельзи” (“Okean Elzy”). The recording involved 15 (!) independent artists from Germany. The song is in Ukrainian and has been available on all platforms since March 1. You can also listen to it on the project’s page: https://15fuerua.de.

A well-known Ukrainian song about coming to terms with the trauma of war became known to an international audience thanks to Coldplay, who performed it at a concert in Warsaw with a Ukrainian street musician.

The story of the creation of this composition was featured in the German version of the famous Rolling Stone magazine, where the song is called a sign of solidarity with Ukraine. You can also listen to the story of this collaboration and the creation of this mix in a special podcast episode on the popular Detektor.fm resource (in German). The song was also recognized by the Embassy of Ukraine in Germany.

The video is made in a portrait format and shows the artists themselves. Sometimes from a distance, sometimes in close-up. In the middle of a Berlin street, in the kitchen or on a tour bus. The song is a common thread running through the video, connecting the individual characters. The Ukrainian lyrics are subtitled in German. This way, the viewer can feel and understand what the song is about.

The project was initiated by Simon Gordeev, a Berlin-based sound engineer and producer who is a native Ukrainian.

The artists who took part in the recording in Ukrainian are located in several German cities. This, of course, was a challenge for the German performers, but they dared to step out of their comfort zone. Freed from the style of their songs, even from the phonetics of their native language, they fully entrusted the emotional message to the sound of their voices. They recorded their parts after practicing Ukrainian pronunciation, and had the opportunity to use any musical instruments. What was initially conceived as a simple guitar song turned into a piece with piano, choir, wind and string instruments.

Simon resonated with the work of the B50 community. Therefore, on the homepage of this unique collaboration, you can see a link and a request to donate to the B50 community, as the project team decided to also use the song’s release as a call to support a humanitarian organization that helps to eliminate the consequences of the invasion. It’s nice to realize that our work finds a response from people all over the world; it’s very inspiring and supportive.

We would like to sincerely thank Simon, all the artists who took part in the recording of this song, and everyone who decided to donate to B50 and help our community.

We also thank you for a wonderful gift in the form of a touching performance of the song “Обійми”, which we urge you to enjoy!