PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A punk rock album compiled by a Neumann University professor aims to raise money for humanitarian aid in Ukraine.
Janis Chakars, an associate professor of communication and digital media at Neumann, has done research on Eastern Europe. He’s also a longtime guitarist for the punk band Citizens Arrest.
Feeling the need to help the Ukrainian people, he solicited contributions from nine American and seven Ukrainian bands for the new album called Band Together.
“People screaming and singing and crying out in the way that they do in this genre of music—you can’t listen to this record and not get hit in the heart a little bit,” Chakars told KYW Newsradio.
He said that in many cases, the Ukrainian bands sent their music to him under dire circumstances.
Related Jawncast: How religion is playing a part in the war in Ukraine.
“Death Pill sent me their song and they wrote, ‘Sorry this took me a minute. We’re fleeing Kyiv, but here’s the song. We’re trying to get to safety,’” Chakars said. “I mean, talk about resilience!”
Some band members, Chakars said, have joined the army or are scattered throughout Ukraine.
“I get reports from them, but they’re kind of intermittent because bombs are falling and they’re in a war and every time I hear from them, it just reminds me of how important it is for us to try and do something,” said Chakars.
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Chakars added that the contribution from the band Kat came with a note about their uncertain future.
“Right after they sent it to me, they wrote and said, ‘We decided to just put everything that we have not released yet up on the internet, because who knows what tomorrow will bring?’”
Proceeds go to the nonprofit Razom, which means “together” in Ukrainian.
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Click here for more information on the Band Together project for Ukraine.
[Photo credit: Janis Chakars on guitar taken by Michael Thorn]