The war in Ukraine is connected with countless individual fates. One of these fates is that of the musician Natalia Mitskevych. After fleeing, the young woman is currently at home in the small town of Schwabach in Middle Franconia. Before the outbreak of the war, she played in the Ukrainian national orchestra Bandura. The Ukrainian folk instrument bandura is a plucked lute instrument. The strings run in a single plane across the neck of the instrument and across the top of the soundbox. This acts like a cross between a guitar and a zither.
In order to give hope to other local refugees and to introduce a piece of Ukrainian culture to the citizens of Schwabach, a special music project was created. Andy Birko - an instrument maker originally from Ukraine and living in the USA - provided six banduras free of charge for the project. He also donated tuning keys and tuners. Dusty Strings, the world's third largest manufacturer of harps, donated a shipping box for the instruments. As forwarding agent, SENATOR INTERNATIONAL took over the transport on the "SAB" from the USA to Frankfurt and from there on to Nuremberg. In addition to the flight, SENATOR also organized the packaging guidelines and provided advice on customs matters.
In Schwabach, the company artefakt Instrumentenbau is in charge of the project. This includes tuning of the instruments, string repair and storage. At the moment, Natalia Mitskevych is putting together a group of young people who are interested in learning the bandura. The integrative aspect of the project is important: Ukrainian refugees and German youths should learn to know and master the instrument together. The Schwabach Integration Foundation provides rooms for this purpose free of charge. Later local performances are also planned, the proceeds of which will go exclusively to aid projects for Ukraine.
A big thank you to Natalia Mitskevych and all the sponsors involved for their commitment and help. Together they can help to alleviate the consequences of the fatal war in Ukraine, at least in a small, cultural way.
Photos: Heidi Huber, SENATOR Nürnberg
