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Can Ukraine’s Biggest Rock Band Help Shape the Country’s Future?

For 20 years, Okean Elzy has been the biggest band in Ukraine. Now, as the country’s fate hangs in the balance, it’s ready to make noise in the West.

Inside, before the band Okean Elzy took the stage, fans spontaneously sang part of the Ukrainian national anthem, which at least three-quarters of the people there seemed to recognize. Okean Elzy (pronounced so it sounds like a duo of “Okee and Elzee”) has been one of the most popular acts in Ukraine for more than two decades, and in the three years since Russia invaded the country, both it and frontman Sviatoslav Vakarchuk have become symbols of its cause. Back in 2022, when Okean Elzy played Prague, Vakarchuk was recognized on the street by people who knew him less from his music than from his appearances on television news, where he sometimes commented on the Russian invasion.

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