Petro Chornyi: «All of us strive for the same thing: Victory»

Culture

The guest of our today’s podcast is Petro Chornyi, a famous Ukrainian Roma singer, musician, composer, and actor. What kind of songs does he write for the military men and women; how does he combine being an artist, an ambassador of a tactical unit, and a stakeholder of the first ever higher education curriculum for Ukrainian Roma people; which stereotypes exists and what the situation is with Roma rights—those and some other topics are what we are going to discuss in the new episode of «Ai Tu Jianes. Did you know that?», prepared by Svitlana Mialyk.

Creative works by Merited Artist of Ukraine Petro Chornyi is well-known both domestically and abroad. Upon the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion into Ukraine, Petro Chornyi took a patriotic stance as a singer and a composer. He engaged in writing and performing songs in Ukrainian and actively supporting our military men and women. He organises charity concerts, regularly performs before our defenders, and is involved in a number of fundrasing initiatives.

«Each and every time when, after visiting our military men and women, I return to civilian life, I find it hard to understand people. A military person does not care about intricate nuances; he or she works for the cause of victory, making sure that the enemy is banished from our land. Civilians, on the other hand, quarrel a lot […] Our life is what we make of it. Injustice is the face of war. But our people are strong and resilient»

Petro Chornyi is the official ambassador of the 124th Brigade of Territorial Defence of Ukraine (TRO Forces), «Skhid» (‘East’) Division which was created in Dnipro City. It is now the Skhid Unit of the Ukrainian Air Defence Forces.

«I am always on the road, always behind the wheel. Sometimes I drive five or six thousand kilometres in one go. I had never thought I would be able to do that», — he confesses.

His fundraising activities impact his creative activities a lot. Petro Chornyi writes songs by request of the military men and women, all in order to keep Ukrainian army’s morale up.

«Once upon a time, a military lad approached me and said: «You know, Petro, there are these instances when you call a person near and dear to you, and he or she does not pick up the phone. When in fact that may well be your last call». And really struck a nerve. And so, when I arrived at my recording studio, I wrote a song, Seven Thousand, Hello.

Apart from his fundraising and performanship activity, Petro Chornyi is a stakeholder of the unique education and training curriculum entitled Roma Music and Theatre Art at Kyiv National University of Technology and Design. Last year, however, they did not succeed in enrolling the required minimum number of students. Basic problems which are expected to be resolved this year include setting up a custom training programme for Roma people and providing students with dormitories.

Whatever the situation is, he never loses energy and optimism:

«Roma people say: nature disavows the weak ones. So all of us need strength. The health of each and every one of us is the wealth of our Ukraine. And all of us strive for the same thing: victory. We want the enemy to be banished from our land. And I am certain that this will become reality».

You can listen to the full version of this podcast by opening the audio file attached.