Soundtracks of war
Frontliner has a simple idea and clear positioning, which unites caring people around it.
The war and its consequences are what united us and fuel our activities. For many of us, this war began long before 2022; for some, it started in 2014, while for others, it even began earlier. War inspires us to look beyond ourselves, teaches us to feel in a new way, and pay attention to things that perhaps were not important to us before. War takes a lot and, oddly enough, gives a lot. In the whirlpool of events, the main thing is to stand firm and not lose your vector.
A couple of months ago, I came to the question: what else can unite our team so much? The answer, oddly enough, was obvious – it’s music.
Almost every story that has passed through our work has a soundtrack that mentally takes us back to those difficult moments. Working almost non-stop since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, we began to be filled with these tracks and fables around us, creating a unique playlist.
We want to present to you our live playlist – music that brings us back, inspires us, and keeps us together at various moments in life. Music that once again united us and, we hope, can help you understand us a little better.
Yelyzaveta Kovtun, CEO of the Frontliner media
Frontliner playlist on Apple Music ǁ Spotify
Andriy Dubchak (founder and editor-in-chief)
Frontliner began with Norwegian folk songs about the Vikings. Valhalla Calling and My Mother Told Me accompanied Olena Maksymenko and Eva Fomicheva, as well as me, on almost all our trips in our dream car – an old diesel Skoda Octavia with a mileage of nearly 500,000 km.
“Someday I will buy / Galleys with good oars / Sail to distant shores”, – we sang in the summer and autumn of 2021 on the roads of Luhansk and Donetsk regions. “To pluck the strings of destiny”, – we sang in the fog, reaching the units near Popasna, Avdiivka, or Horlivka. These songs inspired us and reassured us that we were doing something meaningful and right, even though it was very dangerous.
With full-scale, they left. Valhalla and death became too close to sing or listen to them anymore. Other songs appeared—other playlists.
But even now, when I want to calm down on the road, I listen to Brooklyn Baby by Lana Del Rey. This song is firmly associated with pleasant moments during trips with my beloved Liza. But I don’t listen to it very often. It’s a dessert song that I don’t abuse 🙂
With Ukrainian, there is a special one for me – “ЗА ТЕРИКОНАМИ” by МЮСЛІ UA ft. Misha Scorpion. There were too many slagheaps, and the screams of the fighters on the radio. And it says the obvious thing – “There” (where the war is going on), you can’t understand it until you visit that hell.
Viktoriia Romanovska (assistant CEO, Frontliner media)
For me, this song is associated with the only funeral of a military person I attended, my stepfather.
Oleksandra Rakhimova (photographer)
My love for this music dates back to my childhood and youth. Back then, all these songs seemed simply beautiful, with wonderful lyrics that you seemed to understand.
But, to be honest, every year the words are perceived differently—more experience, different people, cities, situations, and lastly the war.
Olena Maksymenko (correspondent and photographer)
Shyrokyne, 2015: A 152-caliber self-propelled gun is operating on our position. And a fellow music lover was listening to a speaker at that moment (a marauder one somewhere, but we won’t talk about that). And then the shelling begins, it flies right in very close, we go down to the semi-basement, put on body armor, sit down under the wall… And then the track “This Is the End” starts playing. It was truly epic, like something out of a movie. And everyone fell silent. And, probably, they believed that this was the end (but it turned out differently).
Anna Semeniuk (journalist)
This year, I listen to it every day; it’s good in any mood and always brings joy and some lightness, as it is associated with very good personal memories.
Kateryna Saienko (translator)
I listened to this to the core during a long rehabilitation and farewell to the fallen friends.
Danylo Dubchak (photojourbalist & videographer)
We’re holding the landing – this track is associated with a trip to Zaporizhia. My colleague, Nadia Karpova, and I often turned this track on in the car and sang along.
Касети – Sad Svit – is associated with many moments, but the brightest is a trip to Lyman and returning home. We left at 7:00 PM and caught a beautiful sunset as we drove along the broken roads of the Donetsk region. On the outskirts of Kyiv, at about 2:00 AM, we drove into the sound of gunfire, shooting down Russian drones and the searchlights in the sky.
Останні ночі без тебе (Тінь Сонця) – often plays on the road and reminds me of work trips.
Харцизи – Delirium Tremens – reminds me of the night roads of the Zaporizhzhia region and work trips in general.
Lead Me Home, Blackbird Song, and Tobin – always play on the way home from business trips.
Back to Life (Birthday) – just a good song that is associated with trips, especially to the Kharkiv region.
Thunderstruck – many events are associated with the song, because I have it recorded on a disk in my car, and I turn it on when there is no Internet and the phone is in “airplane” mode. I especially remember the moment when we were driving near Vovchansk to the artillerymen. We were driving with a press officer, he said: “We need to fly this section as fast as possible.” I started to accelerate; the speed was already over 140 kilometers per hour. On the road, there were potholes in some places. I caught one of them and realized that the wheel could not stand it. I started to slow down and stopped under a tree. We quickly changed the wheel and drove on.
No More Trouble – this track is associated with Sloviansk and the morning road to the shooting, and in general with the summer work trip of 2023.
Albina Karman (journalist)
“Касета” – Sadsvit – the song of my first trip to the frontline zone of Mykolaiv region in 2022. Since then, there has been no road or exit that I would not turn on “Касета” for encouragement. Even when driving through the Antonivskyi bridge, when snipers were still sitting there on the other bank. And to always remember it, I had the entire cover of this song tattooed near my heart.
The trio of Rude Riot songs – “Київ“, “Кується сталь” and “Sound of Revolution” – are songs of my longest depression, caused by work near the front. Together with sports, they have been pulling me out of this state for about half a year and continue to do so even now.
“Send Me a Postcard” and “California Dreaming” are the vibe of a whole series of my filming with veterans who practice Brazilian para-jiu-jitsu. It’s more about trust and friendship gained in wartime.
«Сонце» – ДК Енергетик – a song from one of my craziest trips to the Donetsk region in 2023, which covered Kurakhove, Vuhledar, Kostyantynivka, and Toretsk. I accompanied unfamiliar volunteers to a large group of unfamiliar military personnel. There were many impressions, followed by numerous life risks; a significant amount of material was filmed. However, many first disappointments broke the “war romance.” After all, that trip led me to my first friends from the SOF, with whom a long journey of trust and cooperation is now underway.
“Коли ми станем собою” – I heard this song in 2023 after my first return from the front-line Kherson, when my legs were still shaking from the unfamiliarity, walking through the forest in Transcarpathia. Then at dusk, this song from someone’s picnic made its way through the branches. It became so warm then. Since then, I have taken this song as a good sign, especially if it happens to play somewhere.
“Небо” – Sadsvit – the song that is most associated with the losses of people in the war.
Rave in the Grave – it’s just a song that makes you feel brave. They say that you can’t work with music during war, but when it’s terrifying, tough songs can calm fear. This one calmed me down more than once during a spring mission in the Pokrovsk direction, especially on the way from one position to another after sleepless nights.
Diana Deliurman (journalist)
When I was working on reports in Donbas, I listened to the song “Blackout” by the Ukrainian band NAHABA and a few tracks by System of a Down. It seems to me that this music best matches the mood felt in Donbas. It’s a mix of despair and aggression, which forces you to act despite all the obstacles.
Maksym Kishka (photojournalist)
Usually, when I go to the front, I listen to Black Sabbath and AC/DC all the time.
We were racing to the Sumy border in September 2024 to Hells Bells, and I associate this song with that time and the Kursk operation.
And so, for me, these songs are like soundtracks to my trips to the front, with them, sometimes it’s not so scary to understand that you might not return from such a trip.
Tetiana Kreker (photographer)
Paul Engemann – Push It To the Limit (we were leaving under mortar fire on May 9, 2022, from a deoccupied village in the Mykolaiv region to it).
I worked as a fixer with an Irishman. We went to a school in Bilozirka, Mykolaiv region, where there was a Russians command post, about a week or two after the liberation of the village. They probably saw it from a drone and started shooting. At first, it was far away, but then we realized that they were already aiming at the school. An experienced press officer driver was with us. He told us to wait for the next hit and run towards the cars, as we had time while they reloaded the mortar. We ran out to the sound of mines.
Between the explosions, I kept hoping we wouldn’t get hurt. And then there was no time to think – we quickly ran to the car, driven by adrenaline; even a 14 kg body armor didn’t interfere. We drove in silence for about a minute, and then they started neighing.
After that, we went to Bashtanka. In a store, they took us to a pantry, sold us vodka (we had prohibition at the time), and treated us to kebabs. We celebrated our second birthday and went on to work.
