How nice that Paul McCartney is going to Kyiv for a follow-up to Elton John's benefit concert. Especially since it's such a long way from the England.
Hundreds of thousands of music fans are expected to descend on Kiev this June for a free outdoor concert by Paul McCartney.
The former Beatle and Ukrainian tycoon Victor Pinchuk jointly announced on Thursday an event they have billed the Independence Concert, slated for Kiev's Independence Square on June 14. The show will also be broadcast across the country.
"It's going to be [a] great evening hopefully for the [sic] Ukraine. Pull together, groove, rock 'n' roll — all together," McCartney said in a statement.
Full article here.
I know that Ukrainians are hungry for western music, so I can't criticize the concert. These are pop-music and pop-culture icons which, in their heydey, were forbidden to Ukrainians by the soviet regime. So I don't begrudge them the music that I grew up on (and loved).
But that was then. These days I prefer this Brit:
He was part of a recent benefit concert that had a bit more depth and substance than splashy affairs like this one. And, he composes and performs songs like this which tell Ukrainians their own truth .... rather than blank it out with glitzy, glamorous extravaganzas that will, in the end, benefit the promoters more than the Ukrainian people.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Featured Post
Ukrainian Food Flair became a best seller today!
So thrilled to see this today! Thank you to my dear friend and writing mentor, Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch , and best-selling children's a...
5 comments:
I don't understand how "any" concert could help out the Ukrainian people as a whole.
I think that you are trying to read to much politics into a simple concert from a fabled rock legend.
I'm sorry but if I had the choice of seeing Stepan or Sir Paul in concert it would be a no brainer.
Well, choice is what it's all about, isn't it?
Well, Pinchuk as we all know is trying to show that he is a worldly figure, however, he can't pull the wool over everyone's eyes.
The money Pinchuk has could help out in many more ways than a concert, and to some things I heard recently confirm in my mind that he and those at his foundation don't really care about helping the people. It's all smoke and mirrors.
When approached about purchasing perfectly good medical equipment, that has already been "written off" in some medical establishments in the West, but still has a many years of functionality in it left, Pinchuk's foundation said that they would only purchase new equipment for Ukrainian hospitals.
So you be the judge if they really give a hoot! Pinchuk, wants to have Sir Paul in concert where he can have his private little entourage. The money he is spending on this event would be much better spent on dealing with the problem of TB in the country.
Pinchuk is trying to propagate the image of a patron of the arts. He can pretend to be whoever he wants. Most people see through the facade.
There is no glitz and glamour dealing with TB. This should be an issue that the government is dealing with instead of conducting a three ring political circus in Kyiv. This at least will provide positive positive press which Ukraine needs quite badly.
Providing western style concerts can only encourage Ukrainian bands/groups to have grandiose aspirations.
I've noticed that Ukrainians like Pinchuk seem to have a propensity for self-hatred and, even more troubling, for cultivating self-hatred amongst Ukrainians.
It's encouraging that people are seeing through him, tho.
While such self-aggrandizing, self-promotional spectacles may indeed encourage those "grandiose aspirations" I suspect that smart, self-respecting Ukrainians will eventually outsmart the likes of Mr. P. :-)
Post a Comment