Russia’s invasion final 12 months prompted unprecedented unity amongst Ukrainians and their allies worldwide.
It was no completely different in Perth, when WA Police Inspector Don Emanuel-Smith, freelance producer Tim Jenkins and Ukrainian ex-pat Tetyana Izyumenko banded collectively to provide a charity music video to assist the war-torn nation.
“I know first-hand the power of the media,” Mr Jenkins stated.
“The plight of Ukrainian people, and the current state-of-war they find themselves in, is a story being reported regularly.
“However, this regularity — the reportage becoming background noise — eventually numbs viewers to the atrocities. I felt that there could and should be something more (done to help).”
Mr Jenkins approached an outdated pal, Insp Emanuel-Smith, who already wrote a tune titled “The Voice That Won’t Be Silenced”.
“I wanted to portray a feeling of strength, solidarity, defiance,” Insp Emanuel-Smith stated.
“I felt deep within that those oppressing dictatorships could never truly break the defiant spirit and the voice of the people and that every horrible thing they did was always going to be seen and exposed no matter how much they tried to conceal their criminal actions.”
Insp Emanuel-Smith met Ms Izyumenko over a decade earlier, having spent a lot of his policing profession working with multicultural communities.
“My connection with Tetyana worked perfectly in the production of the video, as she was doing lots already in fundraising and able to gather members from the WA Ukraine community to be part of the song project.”
Ms Izyumenko, born in Nikopol within the Dnipropetrovsk area, South-East of Ukraine, moved to WA about 20 years in the past along with her toddler son.
She stated she remembered February 24, 2022 — the day Russia launched their invasion — and the paralysing shock she felt prefer it was yesterday.
“I couldn’t believe reading the news that the war started,” she stated.
“It was very early in Ukraine, just after 5 am, so I hesitated to call my family, but I wanted to speak to them and ensure they were ok. I was lost and didn’t know what I could do.”
Ms Izyumenko started fundraising and coordinating medical help provides to be shipped to Ukraine.
“I was touched by the song and the fact that Don and Tim wanted to help Ukraine,” she stated.
“It brought me to tears when I heard it for the first time. Australia is so far from Ukraine, hardly anyone knew much about Ukraine before the war, but so many people are united, kind and generous and want to help Ukraine.”
The music video is a mixture of confronting footage and pictures from the warfare and members of the Ukrainian neighborhood in Perth — rallied by Ms Izyumenko — watching Insp Emanuel-Smith carry out the tune on his guitar.
All proceeds from the tune — set to be launched on Spotify and iTunes on XXX — will likely be donated to XXX.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
