 I have some kind of gadgets, so try not to be distracted and working with them. Well, thanks, John and Jeanette. I've been doing this for six years, right, as you'll see today. Usually daily concerts, not all the six years, but, you know, several months out of the year. Probably about three to five, maybe sometimes six months out of the year. And Jeanette is, like, organizer number one. No question. That's not Jeanette. I'll tell you guys, he's a volunteerism. And what's happening today in Ukraine, the key to protecting Ukraine, protecting the world. We have the virtual board, possibly, you know, at our doorstep. The key is that everybody helps. It's not a question of just, you know, people have guns and giving them more money, they have more guns and it's a health, this is very important. Had we not had money and guns, we probably wouldn't have a country. I wouldn't have a country. I would have had to pack up and go. Like a lot of other people. But volunteerism is a person who takes and gone and risks his life for his brother, for his family, for his country. He doesn't have to do it. He can pick, pack up and go too, right? But everybody has a chance today to stop this craziness. Ukrainians, by nature, we are pacifists. We're not militants, you know, crazy, you know, war mongers. Now we know that type of government. We call the Moscow Empire. We don't like it. We haven't liked it for years. But now I'm very happy to say we were prepared. You know, maybe barely prepared. A lot of that is because of American support. When in about, you know, 10 years ago when the war started, it's not just one year, it's 10 years. Wednesday 1st got off the boats and off by Crimea. And at that point we had no guns. We had no military. Because the president of Yanukovych, Russian puppet, sold the country for $18 million to Putin. And one of the conditions was he had to get rid of the military. So the Russian guerrillas, they take over whenever they like. So 10 years ago, that's when Europe and America started to donate the things that we don't have. Now we have something very important. We call it the most important thing. We have our lives, right? And you might say, well, how do these Ukrainians know, you know, the world office is huge, an empire. The answer is, even more important resource, even more than our physical bodies, it's Ukrainian spirit. And so I don't have to convince you, because this is a fantastic example for the world, how to stop war. You have to have the right motivation. You have to do something. And so many people, even grandmothers, right? Grandmothers, it's unbelievable. Grandmothers, a week before the war started training and say, give me a gun. I know the Moscow Empire, I know what they do. You cannot let them take over. They will kill us, they will, and I don't have to convince you. You turn on the TV, you see the torture chambers. You see the bombs written for children. This is not just an empire. This is the evil empire. And when I say these things, you see, I'm smiling. You know, what is this positivism? I smile because I focus on the positive, on the spiritual development of the world, the potential spiritual development. That's why we have wars. That's why God, that's the devil, the antichrist, we have it, because he gives us a chance to either do something or not do something. And if we don't do something, it gets uglier. And if we do do something, we can make the world a lot better. And the world without the Moscow Empire, not just for Ukraine, that's a good thing. Now, we don't hate Russia, right? Well, actually, a lot of people do. Let's be honest. When I ask people in Ukraine, who hates Russia? Most everybody raises their hand. How could you not hate what they're doing? But Putin wants us to hate them. He wants us to hate Russia. Otherwise, that's what a terrorist does, right? So, we, as good people, don't give Putin what he wants, right? We give him what he needs. We do not go crazy, do not go nuts, and do not help him escalate the Third World War. We keep calm. We play the bandura. We listen to spiritual songs. We get our act together, right? And there's a lot I want to say, I'll say it a little later on. But the one thing I'm going to say is God bless America. And there's not been an America, right? And a freedom-loving people who still believe in the land of the free and the brave, we would not have had Ukraine. And my ancestors, all my ancestors, they fought as much as they could at some point to preserve the next generation they fled. I mentioned my grandparents' life, and that's led to America, right? I don't like the idea, even though I was born in America, of taking part in this fantastic modern experiment we call America, I very much wanted another experiment, the idea of going back home. America's been fantastic. There's nothing against it. I mean, they're coming now and doing my work. It's fantastic. People come here on a Thursday night and listen to these things I say. But I'm very happy that my grandfather got out. But I think it would be even better to go back home and finally, in my generation, and it's a fantastic honor, that's another reason why I smile. Because my grandfather left a little bit for me in my generation, in your generation, to finally end this evil fascist empire that's killed so many cramians, so many biologists, all of my family. So, and again, the idea is not to stop them out of hate, but stop them out of love. Now, how do you do that? How do you, even somebody on the line, tell them to love your enemy? What does anybody do? They put a gun on you. But they don't do that in Ukraine. They say, thank you so much for coming. We'll think about that. We've been thinking about that. We don't have hate in our souls. It's not part of our Ukraine collective organism. We just want to go home. But we want to have a home to go to. And we want to have a Ukrainian home. You know why? And you know what? What I love about Ukraine is that they are freedom lovers, too. I had a lot of freedom in America. I had a good education. I could be with her. I wanted to be with Ukraine. It's on a different level. We've had to deal with the Moscow Empire. America's been free to develop. Canada and Mexico, even though the Canadian word is very close, is anybody afraid of Canada? We're fantastic folks. And I hope... This isn't just... As does... Just make sure I don't say that to you. I have to go to Canada tomorrow, unless the word is out. So I'm going to play some music, otherwise I'll talk and talk and talk. This is what we call the Costa. And I'll explain a lot more. This is... I consider the first Ukrainian national anthem written by a Jewish man about 8,000 years ago. This is a very good string. Isaiah. Anybody here who properized Isaiah when he wrote God is with us, he understands all languages. Listened it and knew what he said because God is now with us in the flesh. It calls us to sing this Ukrainian middle-aged spiritual hymn and the composition is not forever called Ilmus. They're written down. These are the small little squares. And it calls us to sing this song in battle as an anthem, not singing about the price of the flesh, but the idea that when we defend our country, God will be with us and help us. Help us defend our country. Help us go back home for families. And do this the right way. So it's not anymore. I'm not seeing Russian exactly church Slavonic, the language, the literary language of the months about a thousand years ago. Also interesting to say these are instruments which most Ukrainians don't know. There's lots of instruments, but these are national instruments. These are the idea of true patriotism. Positive nationalism. Love for your country. Not hate for the neighbors, but true spiritual patriotism. And specifically the spiritual tradition known as the Kovzar tradition. The players of the Bandura and the Kovzar were played by spiritual singers who were blind. They would travel with the Bandura Kovzar from village to village to city and they would tell the truth. That was their job. Help Ukrainians be good, love one another. Everything that's in the Bible, this was the gospel, this was the Kovzar's word. These were sermonizers. And if you don't believe me, take a look at that too. It's sermonizing, let's be honest, but if something's separate, you might say parallel to vertical. Actually I've been to church quite often, but it is a good place, or a place people used to hear the term God and aren't afraid of that. But this is the tradition which existed between 1700 to 1943. It's only about 233 years when the Kovzar existed and they would practice this tradition. But it's important to note that they existed only under Russian occupied eastern Ukraine. So eastern instruments are not just Ukrainian, they're eastern Ukrainian instruments. And when a person, even today in the front says, what are these instruments? The question is why don't they know them? What happened was done to kill God, right? When it's the first time I gave it a communist, you know, matter of fact, their idea was to help another very Christian ideal, and it actually happened that way. If they actually became the socialist government which they, you know, pretended or maybe wanted at first, that would be fantastic. But unfortunately, as we said, communism was not socialism. When you keep people slaves and don't let them develop, that's not healthy, you know. And it unfortunately happened that way. And for the Kovzars, who sang about morals, about truth, about justice, about Ukrainian history, the Ukrainian version, not the Russian version, that we have no history, we have no language, it was all created by intelligentsia. They were all separatists, they didn't want to be part of Mother Russia. This is what the government, you know, pumps into Ukraine for those, you know, months of years. So 300 years, because on a lot of different levels, they're afraid they'd fail Ukraine and they'd lose their empire. And they are losing their empire. But, you know, it kind of strange how it happens. But there's an idea that being exploited for those three years, Ukrainian resources, people, intelligence people, loving people, we became part of this Russian regime. The Kossaks were the people who fought them on the wars, and repealed this result. So without them praying, they're afraid they'd lose their empire. And I think it'll happen and that's not a bad thing. It's time for them to get their own country, into here, rather than take other countries and make them slave, right? That's the idea of the free world. Unfortunately, other, you know, dictatorships like China have other ideas. And what's happened in Taiwan? What's the big deal? They don't, you know, make their chips and do what they do. Well, it doesn't turn into World War III. Maybe it's already World War III. But in any case, again, it's not panic, but it do have to do. So this is the most Ukrainian sort of World War II. Who understands Ukrainian language? Another question. So there's some use here. So this is a very smaller version and all of these instruments, they were prohibited for five years. No players, no makers. So what we're doing with me and my friends, the cults are all part of the deal. What is that? It sounds pretty strange. We are people who are providing this spiritual tradition. The traditional cults are what sound it is my next song. And what am I singing about? I didn't come here to bore you, so I'll explain all the texts because these are all songs, they're all songs of defense, right? Just like Sonam Vok, the God who with us. As I go through the valley and through the field, will or will not, I meet a long lost relative. You might say, what does this have to do with defense? We want to hear war marches, right? Well, I know the war marches, but this is some fantastic ones. But this is simply very simple stuff. But the real spiritual songs are what I'll show you today. So we have a brother and a sister. Is your brother a sister like any brothers and sisters? We're all brothers and sisters. So the brother and the sister there for maybe Pupil region, Riley region, and Ukraine in fact. Maybe the brothers go off to Lviv, to Western Ukraine to get out of the Russian Empire to have a little bit more freedom. But he comes back home and he sees his sister, you know, reading the rye, and he says what any good brother would say. He says hello, srasvuy in the Pultava dialect. But his sister does the worst thing she could do. She ignores her brother. I have to be positive that for all these years you've heard your brother. He becomes so proud, you know, what happened? What's the problem? And she says, I haven't become proud, the opposite. I couldn't recognize me through my tears. And what is this philosophy that is very specific? She's changed. She now speaks Russian. She has learned to cope. She's a survivor. She's adaptive. But she goes on to talk about how it's very hard to work under the Russian Empire. There's nothing, no feet, there's no wood for the stove. And when the children ask mommy to give me some bread, there's nothing to eat. So this kind of recalls the Soviet side in 1933 when the cops are killed. By starvation, by mass shootings, we don't know exactly. We're working on looking for KGB documents to prove this, this theory they were killed. But, you know, stop for everybody. You don't have to be a spiritual singer or a blind one. So the idea is how to end this conflict, de-escalation, we call it, and Ukraine is a fantastic example. We've had a very specific metamorphosis. Eastern Ukraine, which was traditionally under the Russian space, Western Ukraine, originally under Western countries like Poland, Austria, they finally got together. They divided us with this line, because of, you know, different empires that wanted to take parts for all these years. But finally, with the common enemy and a common cause, even more, the Ukrainians got together and something which is very important for America. If they're going to try to label you as the left or the right, don't believe it. It's phony, it's fake, it's all made to get power and money. People are much more complex than, you know, one or two, you know, sports teams, I think. So, the idea for Americans, don't leave Ukraine to Russians. In Ukraine with America, this is going to be a very serious world. Right? And with Europe, hopefully. Hopefully, we'll teach Europe some lessons on this question. So, I'm just going to try not to talk. From the traditional 12 hours, your trial usually comes out with minor tonality, cultural association, the old world to grow from time. You try to make it more and we added some more strings. Somebody said, how many strings are on it? About three to four. That's not how you got it. Or sometimes less. She said, did you make those? You got to be crazy. I said, well, I didn't promise anybody I was staying. You can't buy these. Where do you get these instruments? We have to make them. And this is probably the years of my life making these instruments. Again, it's probably the people. Just as a musician, I mean, you see these things in books. But in the yasra, you know, you have some banduras. The Ukrainian bandura chorus. I think I'll start with a song from their repertoire. So, this is for one. It's a baroque lute. You can also play like a bandura. We have these treble strings. They all have treble strings. So, I think it was basically to collect the most valuable poetry. Not just poetry. These are, again, songs of defense. Defense against, not just the Russian or anything like that. Defense against evil. Defense against things that are bad for you. This is good, wholesome material, even though it's very sad. They're not also sad, but most of them are. I like sad music. I don't care about what I like. I like the radio. But somebody told me on the Venice Elegency, 30 years in Agave, I played two drums in the effort first. And an older father said, you ruined our celebration. Play something happy. I said, well, I'm very sorry. But when I listen to the pop stuff that they play on the radio, I'm not so happy. That's what I listen to. So listen to this stuff. Let's hear it. So this is a song by one of the most seriously crammed leaders, the national poet. Who's heard of Khrushchevchenko? Fantastic artist, fantastic visual arts, fine arts. Fantastic poet. One of the best, really talented. He was born a slave, but some people in Russia actually bought him out of slavery saying, listen, you have some fantastic ideas of freedom. And he goes in Russia. His books were actually printed. There were some other folks in Ukraine, but really he was the first popular amongst Russian intelligences who hadn't had enough of the dictatorship. They wanted there for you, too. And they considered Khrushchevchenko one of them. So unfortunately, Tsar did not give up. They had to kill him. And what Tsar's regime was not a lot better. It's my relative to say he got a lot worse. So this is Khrushchevchenko. Some people say he was even a Khomzar. But don't be mistaken, he was not a Khomzar. He only entitled his anthology, Khomzar, because the spirit of his poetry is very much along the line of the Khomzar repertoire. So this is the song I'm dealing with today. And the question is, what would Khrushchevchenko tell we are in not Berlin, but Shelvern, Hermans. And I know exactly what he would say. Because I learned his poetry, his word, his truth. And what does he say? He says Ukraine, again, is worried. The black clouds are rising. You're not so black today. It's nice. Across the Leman, the Crimean region, the Delta. Another cloud from across the field, maybe the Donbass region. Again, Ukraine cries like a child. He compares Ukraine to a child who, you know, the boogeyman is coming again. And who will say Ukraine to the boogeyman? Whereas that in America, we don't really know who Ukraine is. They can go to the Russians. That's who we know. The Russians say, maybe it's true. Europe, give us a hand. Well, you know, sorry. It didn't happen, unfortunately, in Chutenko's time. This is written in 18, maybe 1850. Today we have a different situation. I sing the last verse in the past tense because I sing about the worst situation as Ukraine is destroyed, that the children of the freedom fighters that cause us no longer believe in God, right? And we can see in the Soviet Empire, we could not be back on that boogeyman very secretly. But today, we have a different story. Why are these boys in the trenches? Is it because they make lots of money? Now it's good that they have some money, right? Thank God the support of the family is why we're there. But as my friend, who loaned me $2,500 to fly here, my neighbor, you know why he has $2,500? Because he actually is paid for being in the front. And he sent God, he's still alive. He said, Europe, don't pay me back. Just mind your drone. I didn't tell this, I will say. I will pay you money back. I will give you not one drone, but several drones for his, for his example. Why are they in here in the trenches? Because they might not have a lot of money. They might not have any buy-in for a future, you know, for a career. I mean, it's hard to make money for Ukraine. And the things that you can do are probably better but they're there because they believe in love. And what is love? Love is God. Right? So we're not talking about the bearded the bearded family in the clouds, that's that's farce. It's not going. So love is love. Shevchenko, and a reconstruction that Shevchenko played before one, actually said he played one of these. How did that sound? So the consorts of taking these dead poets and resurrect them, continue the spirit. And through spirit defend Ukraine, right? It's something very strange. Money in weapons, you know, that's let's be honest, it's the spirit which can save your soul, can save your country, can save the world. God's we the apple of God's eye that's because that children was helping us to be hopefully trying to help. We haven't given up on that. We have this idea of a spring offense. Has anybody heard of a spring offense? That's when we take it all back. Why is that important? We have our country, okay, flying, let them out 20%. It's very interesting. All other countries, everything I've read in the New Jersey International, they say, yes, we stand behind Ukraine to take it like, why? Because he has to be pushed back. And I don't think it's so hard. We just need the right equipment, our boys are being trained, even the fiber jets, it's a question of time, but it'll happen. But this is the most critical period, because when you try to break through, that's the biggest risk. That's when you have the biggest loss of life. I have four of my friends, maybe more. I need to check after. Where all the rest of them are. And I want them to come home alive. So I've asked them, what do you need? Recently, I had a chance to visit Donetsk City, right? This is like a big city, which is still under most of our control. It's been under control for 10 years. And almost, you know, not positions where you actually have trenches, but where the boys sleep at night. We're invited to come practice this tradition. Just like today, this is in January. There was no electricity. It was quite a lot of time to get down to the front itself. A really eerie road where really no civilians come. You can see this, you know, across the hills. That's the most, you know, camps and things. But we're invited to take every invitation very seriously. Just like Jeanette, just like Jeanette, or really his wife, who said, you're having this tour of the front. Please go there and maybe help my husband. He was in a group of 300. Now he's a group of 30. He's probably going to die. And these folks realize that, right? You can do the math, it's very simple. He's constricted. He was a journalist. But they said, you know, you've got to go defend your country. They need the dessert. You can get out. All this is his voice, but that needs their heart. Just run that away. But they don't do it. Right? Just imagine the mentality. And for me, what am I going to tell these folks? Right? They're doing the good work. I'm going around playing music, right? But I like to go to the front. I bring a certain defense there. And a certain philosophy helps you for the longer life by, number one, praying. It's a good time to start believing in God. It doesn't hurt you. It's not going to kill you. It might save your life. And as they said, there's a young man who reads the Bible in the trenches for this many hours. It's a good time to get to know who is Jesus Christ or any kind of spirituality really. We had just a fantastic time. We were rained by droughts, right? Like, hot hail. And we went across the field to get some groceries. The grocery store was closed. This was really just kind of like a shop. There were lots of long that day. He said, if you hear a whirling, it could immediately drop from ground. I said, okay, this is really just the right place. But I was so tired. I said, I need to take a nap. I don't have anything to say right now. But after a nap and a fantastic dinner, they had a nice Christmas tree. There was no electricity. It was a fantastic mason gear just pumping out the heat. I said, okay, we're ready to do what we came to do. And doing what we do, we forgot about the problems, right? When you start to listen to these ideas, you start to say, you know, it's like teeter toys. These folks are going to threaten us. They should be afraid and they are afraid, right? And hopefully in the spring events, they'll just pack up and go. If they stay, they had a choice. They built a house differently. But that's why we need now to pray and to volunteer to pray. And even just, you know, coming today, this is a big hope, because you become characters of the spirit of Shashankov, of Lysenko, of the Kovzars. And if you can spread that to your communities, then that's how the Kovzars work. They don't put me on ABC. They almost did. But on a pre-interview, before they put Zelensky on, they said he will never do an interview. But he didn't say it just like that. But I told him what I had to say. Kovzars were journalists, right? And I was going to use the media to address America and tell them we're going to have a big war. Don't worry. We'll come out of this victorious and the leader of all nations. And we will help America get its act together. And I was on this division. They said, goodbye. Doing good journalist work and not, you know, doing whatever it takes and money to do it. So this is any John Dowland fans, early music, Renaissance, you know, what am I doing playing John Dowland? Because this is some particular philosophy dealing with death. In Renaissance England it was very popular, a melancholy, right, in my internationalities. Maybe he was Irish. He was actually born in Melbourne, from London. I didn't propose to go to the Soros playing. You know, it didn't happen. I was across the street in St. George's. So it was probably a proper place. But we were invited to play butchers where the mass grave is. The Russians didn't make the mass grave. They just left the black bodies lying on the ground. I didn't solve one they forgot. They didn't manage to get it. It was a terrible, terrible scene. But coming to the grave itself, it was, you know, of course, I've seen the pictures before. You can't help but not cry. But again, this incredible positive visitor, and I told my students, I'm not just alone, obviously, can imagine, during the war I was in Ukraine. I've been here for several months getting through cultural diplomacy, hoping America will help now. This is a very strategic union in Ukraine and America. But the rest of the month, I'm back home with my family. They were evacuated for the first five months, but they're even back here now. I didn't like leaving my family. But I told my wife, if you want to come, I can find a sponsor. She said, no, it's time to plant the fields. So we have somebody to eat. And she has a price for it, so she can leave if she has to. And put it, you know, he's not going to get an issue. I told my friends and my students, you know, close our funeral, to bring peace, to clean this terribly destroyed land and butchery in your being. And this is what I played, not just a lullaby, a funeral lullaby. I didn't even realize at the time, but now, seeing it, I realized he's seeing just a girl who's not just sleeping and having a rest in the world's soils and problems. She actually died because she can't see the sun. He can't see her eyes because she's underground. And the idea is not to, you know, it's a huge loss. Let's never let it happen again. Let's stop it happening now. It's still happening, right? There's still long children in it. Whatever's happening is children. Some are being adopted and by the wrong people, right? So the idea is the people who've died let their souls go to heaven and be at peace, rest in peace, eternal memory, each and every moment. Don't let it happen again. But such a fantastic lullaby to, again, to not panic to get prepared to do what we have to do so this will never happen again. In any country. Don't shed your tears. My scars they're not your greed. I will spoil your love. It is unrecognisable our rest in that peace. But not the sunrise smiling when we're at to now a place sadder than to not give me a life sleeping in peace. That's actually my job is for you to take as much as you can. About 55 minutes. That's it? That's right. That's it? Yeah, seems like that. My intro clock Okay, fantastic. So, we've heard a little bit of the concert tradition but again the Torbanists or the least players like Dallons were not concerted, they were similar. Dallons maybe like the Shrugor so again, another song. I play you a folk song but this is a folk cons a folk hymn. We've heard the hymns in church. There's lots of the European form in general the European Christian cons here cons but realistically the cons actually originates in Israel. We have a lot of ideas about Jewish-Ukraine relations and that Putin says we're fascists we hate the Jews and it's Jewish. How can you possibly believe that? And it's true. And not just Zalensky but the Kovtosars would have seen King David as a proto-Kovtosar. He didn't just make the instruments the interviewers of the data actually was an instrument maker and a player. He wrote his hymns like a folk of songs and certainly he would have traveled to other parts of the kingdom spreading the truth and spirituality so these are the Ukrainian folk cons they wouldn't have been sang in church although they could have been there's again a parallel church after Sunday, what do you do? You go home with your friends and you sing cons and what a fantastic way to get to know the Bible but this isn't the biblical book these aren't songs in the Bible it's an Ukrainian version of you might say David's songs and this is the song had Putin been here today I would have dedicated it to him and this would have played for him you might say why would I play a song for Putin because the Kovtosars are not Ukrainians it's not just for friends in America or other nations it's for people who need help and everybody needs help everybody needs help so this is a song about him and for him to help him it's a good choice to push the red button or not now remember who's afraid of nuclear war we all should be right it's a terrible thing we don't want the Ukrainians either and Putin knows it and he's going to use this in his advantage to say hey I will bomb you save around when they save but remember even if he wants to destroy the world it's not his to destroy this is God's world and God destroys when God decides when the end comes or doesn't come but it's the antitrust he can't make that decision but he can't make this afraid he has a lot of evil people who work with him and evil things which which are very terrible terrifying so how do we stop the bomb we pray to God to do those things we can't do right anybody see the Olympics in Sochi and the Americans how they push the button the pirates did not go off those things can happen God can do that right so pray and work and the cons about the truth and the lie the problem with Putin is he has too much money you think Bill Gates is rich he may be the most wealthiest person on earth in terms of of mule opera but also power any talk in his hand or my little one the ring of power the bomb that's the talk he was talking about it's very Christian philosophy I'm a fan I've even had ideas of Kozari on Red Square maybe it'll happen I hope I don't have to do that but it's pretty crazy stuff maybe it's crazy so this is a song about the truth and the lie because Putin is not God God is the truth is this him who states he's love, he's truth, he's morality he's the good things in life Putin is the bad things in life so even though they paint icons dedicated to him he is not all powerful God just wants us to get together and do good things and God will help us do this thing we can't do such as get rid of his laws or so they don't go off some people say these are old laws so there is no truth in the world it's the first line that which is called the truth is really a lie why they call it Kozari sing 1933 songs in a newspaper called the truth proud we say lies that's okay but give it to me back afterwards they send it all the way to Raleigh so the free planes I have never prayed so much I even managed to get the pilot to hopefully make an exception for these national treasures these are just some old these are some of the nice not those things but the idea of having them destroyed before this would be terrible they were fine so I would like to we have this you don't have to sing it's a prayer but you don't have to believe in God or in the mother God so this is a specific song to marry the mother God and a very interesting traditionally cranes have the Kozaks to pray for Mary Mary was very specific because she appeared many times to them many instances where Kozaks prayed she even in instance a monastery where they were not even Kozaks there were monks the word came and they wanted to take her to the monastery one of the priests prayed to Mary she appeared on the cross not far from Kamenitsky and the arrows turned back and shot they were shooting these things happen when Jesus said you live by the sword you die by the sword it sounds like he doesn't want us to take weapons and he wants us to take weapons people don't want them but of course defeats very much do and for defense in today's day it's a necessary situation but as Ahusot said one of the Ukrainian screws says guns are not bad they're not good the same thing with money it's the person who wields them his motivation why is he using them that's important I understand so the Kozaks would say this particular comes the Kozak Baroque product and the language is very old it's actually composed by a spiritual leader Saint Rossovsky who is a canonized saint in the Orthodox Church and I say the verses you say the response it's very simple very beautiful this is some of the songs we sing in the bombs shelters and when the bombs are coming down you can imagine the second one the war with the field with dogs, cats everybody they have tents in the metro station I don't know how many of them but to sing these songs but it works the spiritual and also you have the spiritual conviction that you are protected that Mary closes our skies maybe NATO doesn't your fear diminishes and you might say why don't I have this fear when I go to the front I think that's why I don't think they can't kill me it's a strange feeling I will sing give us a hand don't let us suffer mother of horsey it's very simple it looks like Ukrainian a very nice song and spiritual protection for us here in Ukraine let's try the chorus together and those of you who know you're trying to sing value it's where the it's producing that comparing Maria to a flower different types of flowers like the lilies, the rose and others and the second four verses we're asking her to look down on us from heaven and protect us and to free us from slavery for her to stand with us for us and to give us the promise to take us into her protection as the mother of horsey let's try let's sing this expression this is something Ukraine you lost probably Ukraine you sang you didn't turn on the TV you didn't have a TV you didn't need a TV especially that TV which came later so people stopped singing and even the Koltar tradition 1933 that's when the Banduras the Koltars who played the Bandura were killed but the last period of Koltar lived in 1880 probably died about 1890 we'll stop that aside there are some double strings but maybe some photographs I have a photograph because the museums don't have Koltars they were all destroyed or grown so this is I played several genres in cons in general the folklore this is an example of the dances just to hear I'm running a bluegrass man I used to play I used to play in a band called Chicken Pot Pie I love it I love it I love it he called me Slippy Gila Pedic so this is a version of the bluegrass but to stop that aside those who think you know Ukrainian folk music it sounds very Turkish it sounds very Asian so that's what it was very close to the Ottoman Empire a threatless lute you might call it an oud it's true this is the Ukrainian oud with some treble strings so stop by the side how would that sound something like this the most unique of all concert genres is the one I'm going to present next the epic song anybody hear a duma? I'm not talking about a duma way a text from one of his very famous poems my ill thoughts I'm very unhappy with you what am I going to write down on these sad lines it's very depressing a song was happening to Ukraine and it's not a duma a historic song which I sometimes play in today but this is the epic song and if anybody has knowledge about Homer the blind Greek poet how we might possibly have sung a song like the Odyssey how would that sound on his his lyre a tortoise shell with the sinews from the tortoises and he would have been making guts we don't know how the Greek epic songs would have been sung we don't have noteated versions but with the Mozart tradition we know because somebody from Canada a Ukrainian Canadian bought one of the first phonograph machines the Edison he gave it to an ethnomusicologist in the youth of Philip Kulesa and said you record the most valuable things of Ukraine these are the first recordings of Ukrainian history you know what they recorded they went into Russian-occupied history Ukraine and recorded the duma and today with this old song it's very strange it sounds very strange and what does that have to do with us today about 12 minutes old the longest epic song for about an hour and a half it'll be enough it takes some training so the most valuable songs we have in Ukraine this is one of them this is an Easter duma who believes in the resurrection who really knows nobody really knows what would be a fantastic idea to have an embody to live forever with your family and friends and make new friends oh god that's me they're not really good they're like I think any of them so if the angels play the harp why shouldn't it come through as you died but Easter the meaning of the term the meaning of the term Easter oh good and Passover we know it relates to that the spirit would pass over the Jewish families and not fill the first form of the people exactly so maybe resurrection you say in the Christian world but really in Ukrainian, Easter actually means the act of becoming free right so the Jews who were enslaved in their very modern Egypt at the time the idea was to become free and do what go to that desert in Israel that's part of the world and of course they said you gotta be crazy you can go back there we'd rather be slaves here and then go back there and fight for our freedom our creative government we're training the invariants which we call the Jewel of Rolosa Woslaka right she's not Moses she's the priest's daughter she was captured and arrayed and sold into slavery and became a concubine serving the Sultan on the upper floors of this the Sultan's palace but the Jewel is the dialogue between Rolosa Mary and her Cossack brethren there's 750 of them they're in shackles they are rotting they didn't even know they'd been there for 30 years 33 cranes is a very important number because for 30 years we thought we had freedom and we found Putin has been putting sharp things in our wheels he's been annihilating behind the scenes you know, grabbing our workman officials to do what he wants he's been paying about 18 billion dollars to the country the CIA should intercept this in communication so what is Moses saying to the Cossacks she says do you know what day tomorrow is they say how do you know we don't have a calendar we don't see the sun we don't have a window in our government she says I know you don't know but just so you know today is Easter Saturday tomorrow is Easter Sunday the Cossacks do not want to hear this they're rotting they're not thinking about the afterlife they're thinking about Ukraine and what's going to happen in Ukraine when they're in the dungeon they start cursing her saying you came here to torment us you can celebrate Easter under Persian rugs with your very expensive drinks and whatever and she says no, I didn't come here to torment you I came here to save you when the Sultan goes on Saturday to the mosque she'll steal the key, risk her life and let the Cossacks go home it's a very heroic thing to do but as the Cossacks are leaving they say are you coming with us to our promised Ukrainian land where we can finally have a free country democratic people like the leaders like the Hechmans in the Cossack period and what does Moses say she says you're kidding me go back to that country it's nice here in Turkey in the empire we have lots of money we have lots of privileges fighting for freedom that's what you do Cossacks so go with God because God doesn't know the version that maybe she is not in Russia but she is Roksalana the most powerful Ukrainian woman of world history maybe she could have helped Ukraine for that composition there's different versions like Moses said let my people go and as I had let's go home America is a fantastic place and it's nice for all these smart educated people free and large to be here but there's another project it's called Leaving America and taking that kinder spirit that America has given I was the last one I was very serious about that and going back but he didn't think of so different from the last 70 years he would have loved to go back home he didn't make it but I did so if anybody else has some roots maybe some Celtic roots maybe some other roots I remember the world needs the American spirit and I'm not talking about Hollywood and commerciality I'm talking about the fundamentalist which the country was built on who is this young and talking about freedom that generation doesn't value that I haven't been in Ukraine for 25 years and I live there because I have a free life in the village with my five children with my fantastic woman or my wife it was a long drive my wife my wife, yes my wife and Jeanette asked what did your wife say when you evacuated your children to where all you looked like for five months and you went back to fight cooking with these things she said one time I believe in your mission and that's it, I didn't hear a word more and even now she knows I'm doing the work she believes in it and all my friends who've seen me what I'm doing now sometimes they say this isn't serious playing music around and I know the efficiency of my work I know the effectiveness of my work this is this is serious stuff so Lucid doesn't go back she says tell my family not to raise a ransom I'm I'll stay back but you go home and create a fantastic government and every Duma ends with the prayer Duma is spiritual like carols Jesus is all carol and each Duma ends with a prayer for you your attention you give me the most important thing you allow me to provide this tradition even in America this is on a different level I'm not even Ukrainian born and this is strange my friends or my colleagues who practice this should say you're an accent I mean you're not really so Ukrainian but I've come to realize that I'm Ukrainian for this work I've been doing this for six years but once the bombs happened I was even several days before I created a tour of Ukraine, all of Ukraine the organizers said listen we gotta flee it's not going to happen so we went to Kiev for two months then we went to the front of all of Ukraine it was my second time in America raising awareness I've been doing my work and and also yes a prayer for your attention but also for Ukraine and for the free world as I say please help us God to save us from Moscow's sabers how do I say I don't charge you anything right? free concerts around the world even the discs are free cause this is because of our philosophy God knows how much money I need and how much I don't need you to do so I'm gonna take some of the 40 songs we don't have discs go to bandcamp.com and write beautiful things the ads are written on the discs and get all the discs for free so God knows how God knows how it's called vegetables technology we've learned it's called no credits buying a house for $3,000 in several acres of land and doing what you need to do so my wife, she plans the vegetables we don't actually need so much for a whole family we actually rent most of our land out for potatoes and I grow Khomzars I have lots of students at the camp we call it Khomzarsky Tavern and the education is free it takes 3 months anybody wants to make one of these it's not just making it's actually looking to be a Khomzar I usually convince a lot of people it's very effective even in Canada in America you want to come to a village you want to have a house even if the the war administration forbade you to do a festival I did anyway I respect them, I support them but there's some defense which even they don't understand and it was actually it's a long-range service it was a plan to actually disperse in the fields but they said it's okay so if people have some questions where do our donations go I'll tell you very honestly they go to Ukrainian defense either through the Kossaks that means through that means the army my friends say they need that's either drones at this point or going to the hospital outside of Zaporizhia I wouldn't say where because it's a secret and the other costs go to our Kovzar mission that's basically gas for being able to do what we do we had a few concerts during this year that's a lot of concerts and we've done almost nothing $3,000 people just started sending me money I said God what are we going to spend money for and the answer was to Kovzar, Ukraine and but also for education nobody pays me grants I only accept alms but also it's important to say that I will take a little bit of that money to speed my family I'll be honest that's how we live through my quatering work but we really don't need so much food but as my wife said today we'll stop bumping into some concrete and she needs to do an x-ray and I've discussed with Jeanette what we need to do now so we do take a disk and if you have a lot of money in that bank account won't you lay your money in that account but yes I don't want to remind you it's nice to have to go home to something to my friends and for our work but the most important thing is do your thoughts your prayers volunteer before Ukraine that's the need the money God is the false God and you can do a lot of things without money that's how I did so God bless you all if any of you have any questions you want to take a photo or anything but come up and take it with me thank you and your name and in the lobby there's the donation table there's also Vermont sunflowers for Ukraine so feel free to take some sunflowers use