As part of the Avignon Festival, on July 17, 2023, at 4:30 p.m., there will be a concert by singer and songwriter Solomiya Chubai, who will pay tribute to her father Grigory Chubai, a literary star who disappeared under the rink of Soviet repression. Her jazz and rock compositions will give voice to Ukrainian poetry.
The creative project “Ukraine – five senses in exile” will be held with the participation of Ksenia Kravtsova from Sokal and Noam Cadestin.
Voice of Sokalshchyna managed to communicate with Ksenia and learn details about the project and future plans
Ksenia, please tell me about the project
With the beginning of a full-scale invasion, she felt an acute spiritual need to make efforts for joint victory, even at a distance. Because watching the disaster from the phone screen is unbearably painful. I already know from experience that one of the important battles in difficult historical periods is cultural. Poetry and art in general have always been powerful weapons. Therefore, she translated the poetry of Hryhoriy Chubai at the beginning of the war back in 2014.
During a trip to Lviv last year, I had the opportunity to talk with Solomiya Chubai. This is how the idea arose to invite Hrytsk’s children to France and introduce the local public to their work.
After returning, she started working on the project, looking for official partners. And so, for a year in a row, we have a day at the Avignon International Theater Festival.
Before the concert, I will do a performance, combining reading with a friend, an actor, and painting.
Why Grigory Chubai’s poetry?
Grigory Chubai’s poetry is more relevant than ever, and the story of his short life is emblematic of the history of the Ukrainian people and who he is and what he experienced.
Last year, I read my translations of his poems to raise funds for a helmet and vest for an artist friend from Lviv, Taras Benyakh, whom we have known for more than 20 years and had the opportunity to cross paths on the Maidan and later do an art project in France.
Then she read a lot and everywhere, both in theaters and on the street.
She also translated the subtitles for Mikhail Krupevsky’s excellent film “Chubay. Speak Again”, the French premiere of which she organized in March of this year
What are your future plans?
I intend to make the first edition of Grigory Chubai’s poetry in French.
And the main thing is to explain what Russia is and what crimes it has committed and continues to commit against Ukrainians.
It was important for me to hear the Ukrainian language here. It is a diplomatic, strategic step.
“Tell me how it is at your house…”
Ukrainians currently living in France are invited to share their memories of Ukraine through the prism of the five senses: touch, sight, smell, hearing, smell – as part of the Avignon Festival creative project on July 17.
Write the first thing that comes to your mind when you remember yourself in Ukraine thanks to each of the five senses, for example: “I taste the taste of grandmother’s pies with cherries in the summer kitchen”… Or “I lose weight and fall into a ditch with nettles” when I run to the pasture…”
It is about personal bright memories, about the feeling of home through the prism of your five sensors. What is at a distance remains untouched by us. In a certain sense, this is a house that no war will destroy. House of memory. ALL TESTIMONIALS WILL BE PRESENTED ANONYMOUSLY
Send them to the inbox: paperpoetries@gmail.com. Additional information about the event is available on the theater’s website.