Ira Lobanok is one half of Krapka; Koma, an electronic pop duo from Lviv. I met her five years ago via the nationwide EMOM (electronic music open mic) movement. Back then my initial impression was entirely aesthetic: smart music from interesting people. Their website was full of quirky t-shirt designs. They looked like people with a slightly wider vision than simply getting up on stage.
War in Ukraine
Fast forward to 2022 and all of a sudden someone I know from fun nights of homemade music is in a war zone, hiding in a basement under artillery fire. Her accounts of getting through a day were harrowing in their mundanity: a thin green sleeping bag on a purple rug in a cupboard. A French bulldog puppy unnerved by the noise. Lots of pictures of basements. She wrote several moving pieces about her experiences for Yorkshire Bylines.
A few weeks later, in the relative (and short-lived) safety of Lviv, her photos on Facebook were of weapons training. Posts appeal for funds to provide medical supplies. People give generously, raising thousands for tourniquets and combat gauze. Her dad cooks breakfasts for helicopter pilots.
This is the point at which you realise the ‘soft’ but heartbreaking things people lose in a war: Ira is an artist. Though physically safe (for the time being at least), the life she had has been taken away. Plus, how can you make music when all around is destruction and death?
The devil of war is, most definitely, in such details. The numb horrors of mass, technological killing, destruction, war crimes, and rape have been in our news for months now, but, oddly, the emotional impact of the loss of culture hits a nerve.
How might music help in a war?
“At the very beginning of the full-scale invasion I was volunteering helping internally displaced people, fundraising for tactical medicine, translating articles from Ukrainian for international websites and working as a fixer for international journalists and a demining organisation from the UK. I felt that I should have stopped everything I was doing in my ‘previous’ life and threw all my energy into helping my country withstand the invasion.
“However, with time, I realised that I can still help my country while doing what I know best and what I love – music. Since May we’ve been on the road, touring in the UK, France, Estonia, Germany, Romania, Austria, Hungary and playing concerts to raise money and remind people all over Europe that the war inflicted on Ukraine by Russia is not over.”
Why is Ira in the UK?
The Krapka: Koma tour is taking place under the banner of Musicians Defend Ukraine, which aims to raise funds to help with the war effort. To western music fans who’ve been fortunate enough to grow up in peacetime, it’s a jarring experience: In a recent interview in Kerrang! Magazine, fellow Ukrainian Psych-Rockers Love n’ Joy were quite clear that, when a country is under attack, platitudes about ‘peace’ don’t cut it. As Love n’ Joy’s Anton Pushkar emphasises:
“Arm Ukraine. That’s what we need right now. We are peaceful guys but at this moment the only thing that can help our people survive is some weapons that could hold back the Russian forces. They just have so [many] weapons and they won’t stop peacefully.”
So far, the money raised by Musicians Defend Ukraine has been for protective equipment such as helmets and first aid kits. But the Russian invasion, coming after the 2014 annexation of the Crimea, has swept away cosy notions of fundraising gigs being all warm and fuzzy. There is no warm glow.
“I don’t have any anger left”, says Ira, “but our culture is our soft power. It’s important to keep Ukraine in people’s minds when there is so much else going on that worries people.”
People like Ira remind us about harsh realities in a dark world. However, this also underlines how artists making art matters. It’s not just a defiant gesture with three verses, and a chorus. It’s not just empty sloganeering. Reclaiming the artistic life that war takes away is as powerful a statement as an artist can make. As such, it’s worth supporting.
Catch Krapka: Koma on tour at the following venues
25 September – Glasgow, The Glad Cafe
27 September – Newcastle, The Little Buildings
28 September – Manchester, The Castle Hotel
29 September – Liverpool, Kazimier Stockroom
1 October – Birmingham, Centrala Space
2 October – Brighton, Sofar Sounds Brighton
4 October – London, The Old Blue Last
5 October – Bristol, The Exchange
7 October – Coventry, Sofar Sounds Coventry
