The song was the first anthem of the budding Civil Rights movement. The song and her performance was so powerful, she was only allowed to perform it as the last song in her set. After she was unable to record it with Columbia Records, she asked Milt Gabler, the owner of Commodore label, to record it, moving him to tears when she sang it a cappella the first time. These protest songs are often situational, specific to a particular event, but sometimes they become an anthem of a movement, representing the ideals of the group.īillie Holiday recorded "Strange Fruit" in protest of the lynchings of Black Americans. Throughout history, music has been essential during times of struggle, transcending entertainment in order to become a force of change and progress.
"I think a lot of music is intended to but in times like this… people either really really latch on to certain music as their flotation device, or they don't… It's a really deep thing to hear when people say, ' Hey we need that. "There's something so moving to hear this from people who are there who don't have the option of getting tired of hearing about war," Hütz told me in a recent interview. After the performance, Ukraine's military band asked if they could continue to play some of Gogol Bordello's songs including "My Companjera" "Forces of Victory" "Pala Tute" "Suddenly" and "Teroborona," all written nine years ago. So, last summer, Gogol Bordello visited a military base in Ukraine to perform some of their songs for the soldiers.
He still felt, however, that there was more he could do. After the invasion, he went (and continues to go) on tours with the band and brought many musicians together, raising awareness and funds for the war in Ukraine. He described how Russia "brings horrible silence with its bombs" and asked artists around the world to fill the war's silence with their music.Įugene Hütz, the Ukrainian-born frontman of the punk band Gogol Bordello, has been using his music as a tool for change since the war began nine years ago. Tell our story."Īfter the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, 2022, Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, appeared in a video message at the Grammy Awards.
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