Ivan Dorn Among Ukrainian Artists Set to ‘Stand Up’ for Their Home Country in U.S. Charity Concert Tour This Summer
variety.comCharlie Amter As the war in Ukraine rages on, recently marking a grim 100-day milestone, some of the country’s music stars are banding together to raise funds abroad in an effort to aid their countrymen, and women, still fighting in the east of the now war-torn nation.Ivan Dorn, one of Ukraine’s most eclectic and best-known music names, just finished a string of European tour dates and he now will be joined by Ukrainian artists The Hardkiss, ONUKA, and Artem Pivovarov in a small American “Stand Up For Ukraine” tour this summer.
The trek is set to begin in Miami later this month, with shows to follow next month in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle.For Dorn, the gigs are a chance to play for Ukrainian fans currently living in the United States, as well as for liberal Russian expatriates and curious Americans who are sympathetic to Ukraine’s current predicament. “What I want to do, is spread Ukrainian culture, music and DNA through the concerts,” he says from Paris, where he is now (temporarily) living with his family. “Ukraine is a specific culture, and its culture is bullet proof — you can’t ever kill the idea of Ukraine.”The 33-year-old is currently in the middle of a series of shows in Europe (also fundraising engagements) and he says the response from fans was different, and highly emotional, this time out on the road with the war top-of-mind for concert-goers.“I wasn’t sure how my concerts should be….but after the first performance in Vilnius [Lithuania], I figured out that you don’t need to preach [politics] from the stage; you don’t need to talk about the war, it’s all around us already, we need to just let people express their emotions, and to express themselves,” he says.
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