Sylvie Vartan engages in song in favor of Ukraine. The singer announces this Monday the upcoming release of a five-track EP titled Odessa, to support the country in the face of Russia’s violent offensive. “The profits will be donated in full to Unicef”, for the benefit of Ukraine, specifies the artist on Instagram.
As this UN agency recalls in a press release, the singer was born on August 15, 1944 in Iskretz, Bulgaria, and fled the Soviet occupation in 1952:
“When I saw the images of these Ukrainian people under the bombs, fleeing, it was a shock. Inevitably, it revived in me many images and intense feelings from my childhood”, explains Sylvie Vartan. “I was only 8 years old, but my memories are intact. And even if the situation was very different because we were not fleeing a war but a brutal dictatorship, I understand the feelings of the Ukrainian people.This Slavic people and neighbor of Bulgaria speaks to me, we have the same DNA.”
Old titles that resonate with the news
For the creation of this EP, Sylvie Vartan drew on her repertoire where there are “many songs that evoke from near or far (her) childhood and in particular exile, resilience and freedom”. She drew five titles from it: Odessa (1998), which tells the story of a woman who leaves Ukraine for Paris, but also The Maritza, The Blue of the Black Sea, Nicolas and a cover ofImagine by John Lennon. The EP Odessa will be released on May 13 on streaming platforms and May 27 in physical.