The backstory of the charity song creation and the main symbols of the lyrics
Hello everyone. My name is Leela Mela. I am a Ukrainian singer-songwriter currently based in Tokyo, Japan. I am releasing a charity song “Blue Skies” in the Ukrainian language, in the hope to raise funds for medical aid for the victims of Russia’s war in Ukraine and to cheer up the Ukrainian people.
I think it’s important to tell a little bit about the backstory of this song’s creation and the meaning of the lyrics.
In Winter 2021-2022 I and Japanese producer/composer Eiichi Saeki were thinking about our collaboration on a new song together, and when at the end of February Russia invaded Ukraine and the whole world was witnessing those terrible atrocities which were unfolding in Ukraine, I’ve got the idea to create a charity music project, because the whole world was trying to help in different ways, so we also couldn’t stay aside. And because we are musicians and music is what we know how to do, we decided to help by creating this rather optimistic and lively song, which hopefully will help not only financially, but also will cheer up the Ukrainian people and will contribute to raising the national spirit. So Eiichi Saeki created the music for this song, and I (Leela Mela) wrote the lyrics and performed it. As for the funds, we will send money to Ukraine through the “United24” foundation which is an initiative of the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Currently, a lot of people from the Japanese music community have joined this project, as well as creative people from Ukraine, Brasil, and the United States. Would like to say separate big thanks to Japanese advertising and music production company Unite Code Limited, and to recording/entertainment studio Studio Décorer.
It was a very big responsibility for me, as a Ukrainian person, to write the lyrics to this song. Because even when I felt extremely sad and was full of anger and hatred, as an artist, I still had to keep it discreet and express my thoughts and emotions calmly, but at the same time make them clear and understandable.
That’s why there are present a lot of hints and symbols in the lyrics, symbols, which probably only Ukrainian people will understand.
Ukrainian history is way much longer than most people in the world know, it’s even longer than Russian history. But our history is full of tragedy and suppression. So even in the Ukrainian National Anthem, we are not praising any royalties or rulers, we are singing that we will never let anyone conquer us. Specifically, in the Ukrainian National Anthem, there are such lines as: “Ukraine’s glory has not yet died, nor has its freedom; Upon us, my young brothers, fate shall yet smile. Our enemies will perish, like dew in the morning sun; And we too shall rule, brothers, in our own land.” That’s why in the chorus of my song the main symbols are the rising sun and the fallen dew (which symbolizes the fallen enemies). Also, I am singing, just like in the anthem, that fate shall smile upon us. Such symbols as blue skies and the yellow wheat are also very prominent in my lyrics, because, first of all, those two are the symbols of the Ukrainian blue-yellow flag, but also they symbolize peaceful times when the sky is blue and the wheat is yellow (and as most of you know, currently Russia destroyed most of the Ukrainian wheat fields and have stollen an unbelievable amount of Ukrainian wheat stocks, which can cause hunger in the world).
The song is in the Ukrainian language (Lyrics in the Ukrainian language), so I would like to attach the translation of the lyrics both in English language and in Japanese language.
Here is Song’s Bandcamp Page where you can buy the song and read more about donations.
You can also donate by pressing “buy” from the widget below.
