Every revolution has an anthem that embodies its idea. The Orange Revolution also has an unofficial anthem, which has won general recognition. This is the hit song “Razom nas bahato” [Together we are many] by the Ivano-Frankivsk band Gryndzholy. Composed in the early days of the fateful events of last fall, the song has now been released on CD. On December 24, days before the rerun of the runoff elections, the band arrived in Kyiv to attend the launch of their single and video, and to sign a contract with the leading recording company Ukrainian Records.
The whole thing began in a straightforward fashion. After attending the first rally in their native Ivano-Frankivsk, band members Roman Kalyn and Roman Kostiuk were so overwhelmed by the sentiments of the people who flooded the streets to protest against the falsified elections that they wanted to do something to support their cause. Using the slogans being chanted on public squares across Ukraine, in the space of four hours they composed the lyrics and music for the song that soon made them enormously popular in Ukraine and elsewhere.
As soon as they wrote the song, the band performed it on the main square of Ivano-Frankivsk. Within a few days protesters on Kyiv’s Independence Square were singing it. Kalyn and Kostiuk are not sure how the song made it to the capital. Somebody must have downloaded it from the Internet and broadcast it on Independence Square.
Aside from the original song “Razom nas bahato,” the CD features four remixes by Ukrainian DJs Max Chorny, Dj Lunizz, Serge_D, and Molotov 20, and a new song called “Pora” [High time]. The CD cover is wonderfully symbolic. It shows an orange egg that symbolizes the protesters’ peaceful intentions, Kalyn and Kostiuk explain. “After all, the egg that was thrown at Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych during his visit to Ivano-Frankivsk was the only weapon that the Orange protesters used,” says Roman Kalyn.
The launch of the CD was followed by the premiere of the “Razom nas bahato” video by producer Vitaly Kokoshko. It features documentary shots of the Orange Revolution: the tent city, celebrities’ performances on the Maidan, and orange columns marching through the streets of Kyiv.
Gryndzholy don’t plan on stopping. The band and Ukrainian Records plan to release an album in 2005, now that the band has collected enough material. According to Roman Kalyn, it will include music they have been playing until now (reggae, lyrical music, rock ballads) and new pieces, offering listeners new alternative Ukrainian music.
