The short film is a collection of footage from the Russian invasion of Ukraine which I gathered online during the period February 24th–28th 2022. The soundtrack consists of three Ukrainian folk songs.
The nightingale is the national bird of Ukraine and is known for its beautiful and melancholic voice. Under the invasion it is not the song of the nightingale, but the air raid sirens that occupies the sky. The eire mechanical song of the sirens, be it far away from the song of the nightingale, still do transmit a song of similar sadness and urgency in its alarm call. The song symbolizes danger and creates a void in which people on the ground are faced with the decision of leaving their homes or to stay hidden. In the sky, the international air ways are rerouted and the birds unaware of the border lines below fly in any direction away from the bomb shelling, away from danger.
Соловейко (Nightingale)
Short Film
Special thanks to the ones who helped me translate the lyrics while their family or they themselves where directly influenced by the war: Maryna Zevako, Orysia Zabeida, Peter Tranelund, Karina Suli and Misha Davydov. This film was made with the supervision of Paul Elliman.
Women in Zbran'ky
Translated by Maryna Zevako
Скаче жабка над річкою, Ходить хлопчинка з гнуздечкою.
The frog jumping under the river, The boy walking with a bridle (it’s meaning for horse)
– Хочеш, жабко, залізай, Хочеш сєсть і поєхати
– Do you wanna come with me, frog, Do you wanna sit and go
Хочеш сєсть і поєхати Мою дєвочку одвідать
Do you wanna sit and go, And meet with (more close for “check”), my girlfriend
Йой, чи жива чи здорова Моя дєвочка чорноброва
Oh, whether she alive or well My dark eyebrow girl
Oi tykhyi Dunai, ta y tykhyi Dunai
O quiet Danube, dormant Danube
Translated by Orysia Zabeida
Oi tykhyi Dunai, ta y tykhyi Dunai, oi berezhky roznosyt.
Ta y molodenkyi kozachenko polkovnyka pro[syt]:
O quiet Danube, dormant Danube, flooding river banks.
There, a young Kozak asks his commander:
—Oi pusty, pusty, ta y polkovnyku, oi z polku dodomu,
Ta y rozplakalas, roztuzhylas divchyna oi za mno[iu].
—O let me, please let me, commander, from the regiment, go home,
To my weeping, saddened lover, she is missing me.
—Oi nekhai plache, ta y nekhai plache, oi shche troshky y potuzhyt,
Ta y nekhai oi zhe kozachenko try hody oi poslu[zhyt].
—O let her weep, let her weep, wait and miss you more,
You, young Kozak, must still serve three years.
Oi sluzhyv sluzhbu ta y voiennuiu ta oi stav pomyraty
A oi stav sobi pered smertiu divchynu oi bazhat.
O it's while serving service that the young fighter started passing
And standing before his imminent death, that he longed to marry.
Oi ne po pravdi, ta y kozachenku, a y v mohylu liahaiesh,
Ta y shcho ty sobi pered smertiu divchynu oi bazha[iesh].
O you do not deserve, young Kozak, to lye in a coffin,
And that standing before death, marrying a lover you desire.
Соловейко
Nightingale
Translated by Orysia Zabeida
Ой у саду на вишеньці
Oh in the cherry orchard
Соловейко щебетав;
The nightingale chirped;
Під вишнею козаченько
Under the cherry tree a young Cossack
Дівчиноньку улещав:
Courting a young girl:
«Не йди, мила, за другого,
"Don't go, my dear, for another,
Пожди мене, молодого».
wait for me, young man."
Дівчинонька гірко плаче,
The girl crying bitterly,
Соловейко все те баче,
Nightingale sees them all,
Та й щебече:
And chirps:
Тьох, тьох, тьох!.. (Тричі)
Thump, Thump, Thump!.. (three times)
«Чого ж тужиш, чого плачеш,
"Why do you mourn, why do you weep?
Серце розриваєш,
My heart is breaking,
Чи вже ж мене, молодого,
Don't you love me, young man,
Не вірно кохаєш?
Don't you really love me?
Не плач, мила, я вернуся,
Don't cry, darling, I'll be back,
Тоді з тобой одружуся».
Then I will marry you."
Дівчинонька гірко плаче,
The girl crying bitterly,
Соловейко все те баче,
Nightingale sees them all,
Та й щебече:
And chirps:
Тьох, тьох, тьох!.. (Тричі)
Thump, Thump, Thump!.. (three times)
Не вернувся козаченько,
The Kozak did not return,
Помер на чужині,
Died in a foreign land,
Поховали чужі люди,
Buried by strangers,
В чужій домовині.
In someone else's homeland.
А дівчина, як зачула,
And the girl, as she heard,
До вишеньки прилинула,
Embarrassing the cherry tree,
Тужить, в’яне, гірко плаче,
Longing, weeping bitterly,
Соловейко все те баче,
Nightingale sees them all,
Та й щебече:
And chirps:
Тьох, тьох, тьох!.. (Тричі)
Thump, Thump, Thump!.. (three times)