Ukrainian Popular Music in Times of War: National Identity, Transnational Projections and the Musician as Grassroots Ambassador
This paper investigates the ways in which Ukrainian independent popular music, after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, has contributed to domestic nation-building and international nation-branding. Taking as case studies six artists who have extensively toured abroad with their musical projects, the article traces the evolution of the internal imaginings and external projections of Ukrainian identity enabled via musical activity. The article shows that the war has generated a reconfiguration of the relationship between the artist and their social responsibility, in which music now functions as a fundamental means to raise transnational awareness of the Ukrainian struggle and materially influence Ukraine’s defence. This reconfiguration has prompted the performers to take on the role of the grassroots cultural ambassador and create DIY networks of solidarity, largely outside of state initiatives. While the promotion of Ukrainian identity on the international stage assumed a central role in this urgent, bottom-up and collective endeavour, notions of the country did not adhere to a standardized framework, but rather reflected Ukraine’s unity in cultural diversity.
Marco Biasioli is a Lecturer in Russian and East European Studies at the University of Manchester, UK. His interests include Soviet, Russian and Ukrainian popular music, culture-power interactions, Russian literature and national identity. His recent book, Independent Music in Russia (Routledge 2025), explores the negotiation of spaces of creativity and labour conducted by independent music practitioners vis-à-vis the rising authoritarian state in Russia.
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