Glastonbury 2022: Ukrainian musicians unite on Pyramid stage in plea for world to ‘stop Putin’

Ukrainian singer Jamala appears as a guest with folk quartet DakhaBrakha performing on the Pyramid Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset. Picture date: Sunday June 26, 2022. Festival goers wave Ukraine flags. PA
Festival-goers waved blue and yellow flags as Ukrainian singer Jamala guest-appeared with DakhaBrakha. Credit: PA

Ukrainian musicians issued an emotional message for the world to "stop Putin" as they appeared on stage at Glastonbury Festival.

Folk band DakhaBrakha and Eurovision 2016 winner Jamala performed together on the Pyramid Stage, as they called for an end to Russia's Ukraine invasion.

Jamala won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2016, representing Ukraine, and was welcomed on stage as DakhaBrakha’s special guest for the performance on Sunday afternoon.

Jamala, whose full name is Susana Alimivna Jamaladinova, told the PA news agency after the set: “We can stop this evil only if we are united, only if we are together.

DakhaBrakha called on those watching to ‘stop Putin’ Credit: Yui Mok/PA

“We are fighting for freedom, for equality… it’s my first time in Glastonbury and I see that freedom here.

“It’s a treasure to be human and to express yourself, and you even don’t know how important it is.”

On a weekend when Kyiv experienced its first Russian bombing in weeks, part of DakhaBrakha’s act featured an animation on a screen showing birds transforming into fighter jets.

Other images included Ukrainian tractors dragging Russian tanks, and crowds marching towards armoured vehicles adorned with the letter “Z”, a Russian pro-war symbol.

Karolina Livsicaite, 38, from Vilnius, Lithuania, told PA she “really enjoyed” the performance.

“It made me feel sad and also uplifted”, she said.

Karolina Livsicaite said the performance made her ‘really emotional’ Credit: PA

Ms Livsicaite added that the performance served to “remind Glastonbury (and) remind the world that war is going on, and Ukraine needs everyone’s help”.

Speaking on stage, Marko Halanevych, one of the band members of DakhaBrakha, said: “Ukraine became (a) victim of Russian aggression, but Ukrainian people became real heroes of resistance.”

Jamala and the band were met with cheers during the performance, with many Ukrainian flags visible in the crowd.

Smoke billows into the air from residential buildings following explosions in Kyiv on Sunday Credit: Nariman El-Mofty/AP

It came the night after Sir Paul McCartney's historic performance, in which the 80-year-old former Beatles star became Glastonbury's oldest ever solo headliner.

He waved a huge Ukrainian blue and yellow flag during his performance, to cheers from the audience of tens of thousands.

The Ukrainian musicians’ appearance at the prestigious came after Russia attacked Kyiv for the first time in weeks, with missiles striking at least two residential buildings.

The general prosecutor’s office said preliminary information indicated one person was killed and four injured in the attack.


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