Katrīna Gupalo and the band Varakuta, which brings together Ukrainian singers who have now found refuge in Latvia from the horrors of war in Ukraine, have recorded a song with lyrics by Māris Čaklais "Kamēr pret sauli kāpu" (eng. "While I climbed towards the sun"). Together with the release of the single, the musicians announce a fundraising campaign in support of Ukrainian sniper-actor Mikhail Dosenko.
The song "Kamēr pret sauli kāpu" was created by Katrīna Gupalo this summer, when during the Osokins Freedom Festival she met and got to know countless Ukrainian women musicians who had been forced to leave their homes, their jobs, their families, their beloved men and become refugees. The song was co-written and produced by Edgars Vilcāns, the lyric video by artist Ēriks Saksons.
The composition contains two contrasting elements - anthemic orchestral and drum & bass, as well as a quote from bobe.me interview with the great Ukrainian musician Ivan Dorn - "Nothing in my head and in my future". Watch interview with Ivan Dorn here!
In cooperation with the Embassy of Ukraine in Latvia, the Confederation of Ukrainian Societies “Viche” and the charity foundation Ziedot.lv, a new fundraising campaign "Jeep for a Ukrainian Actor - Sniper" initiated by Katrīna Gupalo and the band Varakuta has been launched.
During the campaign people are invited to donate to the actor of Kyiv Drama and Comedy Theatre Mikhail Dosenko, who is now a sniper in the 4th Battalion of the 14th Operational Response Brigade of the Ukrainian Army. After the liberation of the Kiev region, the 14th Brigade continues to defend Ukraine on its eastern border, where they are still fighting in the hottest spots of the war.
Mikhail Dosenko was born in 1989 in Kherson, graduated from Kyiv National University of Theater, Cinema and Television in 2010. In 2011, at the age of 22, he started working at the Kyiv Drama and Comedy Theater, but when the full-scale invasion of Russia began, he went to defend his homeland in the National Guard of Ukraine.
Now Mikhail is in a vital need of a jeep with special equipment. The purchase and application of such a vehicle for the needs of the Ukrainian army costs 15 000 EUR. When donations are raised, "Viche" will prepare and deliver the specially equipped vehicle to the 14th Brigade in Ukraine. Donate here!
Katrīna Gupalo invites to show support to Ukrainians:
"Latvian musicians and artists have been actively involved in various projects and actions in support of Ukraine since the first days of the war. Countless musicians and artists mobilised so quickly and effectively in the "Latvia for Ukraine: Resistance" project and thrilled audiences around the world. Now we all have the opportunity to unite again and help a particular person, our colleague, an actor, who before February 24, 2022 considered the stage of the Kiyv theatre as his second home, but now selflessly and heroically defends his homeland at the front."
