Ukrainian bands Hyphen Dash, Kalush Orchestra, YUKO, and the INSO-Lviv orchestra took part in the 30th Pohoda festival in Trenčín, which ran from 8 to 10 July. The Ukrainian Institute reported this.
Kalush Orchestra performed on the festival’s main stage, as did the INSO-Lviv orchestra as part of the “Danube Polyphony” project initiated by the Ukrainian Institute.
On the EUropa stage, Ukraine was represented by Hyphen Dash and YUKO.
The music program also featured Ukrainian singer Alina Pash, DJ Miklei, and electronic music artist Stereo Tourist.
The festival’s performance program included the Kherson Regional Academic Music and Drama Theater named after Mykola Kulish, with two solo performances—“One-Day Hero” and “Bird in the Attic.”
At the heart of “One-Day Hero” is the story of a Kherson veteran who witnessed the occupation. After leaving, he went to defend the country in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Already at his position, the man was wounded.
“Bird in the Attic” tells the story of a girl from Mariupol who lost her home, was separated from her mother, and was forcibly taken to Russia. Despite this, she managed to keep Ukraine in her heart. She will soon turn fourteen—an age when the world should still be bright and safe—but her reality has been shattered by war. The people who tore her away from her family, destroyed her city, and tried to rob her of a future now want to make her “one of their own”—a Russian. But the girl stubbornly holds on to her identity, her language, her memory of home, and her native country. Her inner world is a space of resistance that cannot be occupied.
In addition, the theater, in cooperation with the Kryla Foundation, presented the play Marharyta and the Teddy Bears, many roles in which were performed by children from the Kherson Region; and the musical-poetic production On the Wings of Dreams about what the voices of Ukrainian children sound like during the war.
The festival also featured stand-up comedians from Uzhasny Stand-Up, with Sofia Ilyina, Ivanka Syrota, Ivan Afanasenko (Sharki), and Tymofiy Kopylov.
As part of the literary program, Ukrainian poet and journalist Anna Syedykh took part in author readings and a discussion titled What’s New in Poetry?
Sergeant of the National Guard of Ukraine Robert Ivancho joined the festival’s discussion panel On Forgiveness.
During the festival, an eight-hour discussion marathon, Operation Hope, was held to raise funds for evacuation ambulances for the Ukrainian front. The marathon, featuring speakers from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine, was organised by the Czech initiative “A Gift for Putin” in cooperation with Open Society Foundation Slovakia as part of the Oksana Forever project. The event was livestreamed online.
Pohoda Festival is Slovakia’s largest festival, combining music, literature, dance, visual art, theater, and cinema. Since 2014, the festival has actively supported Ukraine and brought in Ukrainian artists to promote Ukrainian culture.