Razom ~ Together: March 16th

The Razom ~ Together event with the current round of funding, and what a fantastic event it turned out to be

Commencing with a great life set of folk songs and stories from Mavka Singer, followed by an author talk from Viacheslav Musiienko, reading from his book “In Search of Hay for Horses and Lovers” accompanied by his wife Irene and a live stream from Kyiv. Thanks to Naomi Foyle and Marek for organising this.

Set in war-torn Ukraine, In Search of Hay for Horses and Lovers is a powerful tale of human resilience and a compassionate account of the suffering of creatures who cannot speak for themselves. Co-owner with his wife Irene Musiienko of the Sport-Elite horse club near Kyiv, Viacheslav Musiienko is acutely aware that both people and animals have experience abandonment, hunger, injury, evacuation, and violent deaths during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Next up an amazing set of songs from Ukrainian Voices with a humorous quiz for all in between songs and finally Valentina and a closing song from event hosts Vlada and Vio, who had been great hosts for the event and stood in for the sadly missing Nastia, who couldn’t make it due to illness.

As always there was delicious Ukrainian food from Julia and Stand For Ukraine.

Reading from Marek Kohn

Meni ne potribno rozpovidaty vam, shcho znachyt’ Razom, ale ia b khotiv rozkazaty pro te, shcho my vkladaly v tse slovo, koly nazyvaly nashi zustrichi Razom/I don’t need to tell you what Razom means, but I would like to say something about what we meant when we called these gatherings Razom.

We’ve now had 9 Razoms since 2022. This all happened because of Kas, Kassia Zermon, the creative director of the Rose Hill. As the new Ukrainian community started to come together in Sussex, Kas and I started talking about what kind of Ukrainian cultural events should happen here. She knew what we should do, above all. Kas said we should provide a welcoming, homely space where Ukrainians could feel comfortable in each other’s company, and that of their friends. It’s thanks to her kindness, empathy and generosity that Razom has been possible.

When Kas and her partner Jules welcomed Razom to the Rose Hill, they weren’t just welcoming us to a homely kind of space, but to their actual home.

We also have to thank the Rose Hill for getting the Arts Council grant that has funded this and the previous two Razoms, and before that Phill of Best Foot Music and Steve of Refugee Radio for getting funding for the previous three.

But we don’t have funding, or plans, for any more Razoms, so this seems like a good moment to think about what we do, together, in the future.

We can think about more Razoms, but I feel it’s also important to think about new activities too, especially ones that, like Razom, are collaborations between Ukrainians and their friends.

Like, for example, the Ukrainian-Syrian musical collaboration that developed after Dina and Polina met the local Syrian musicians Jamal and Alaa, thanks to Phill and Best Foot Music.

Or the new explorations of local landscapes and history with archaeologist Matt Pope, who was inspired to become a friend of the Ukrainian community by the website of the Kupala Brighton project that Vlada and I are working on.

Whatever we do, davaite i dali buty razom, let’s stay together, work together, find ways to make new friends, and enjoy each other’s company. Dyakyu / thank you

This event is in collaboration with The Rose Hill, Stand For Ukraine Brighton and Hove , Refugee Radio and Kupala Brighton