Ukraine President Zelensky Gives A Moving Tribute To His Homeland At 2022 Grammys With The Help Of John Legend.
It was a star-studded event at last night's 2022 Grammy Awards, but one special guest, in particular, brought a moment of reverence to the evening. In a pre-taped speech, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky was made part of the festivities as part of a tribute to Ukraine.
John Legend was introduced to perform Free to pay homage to the brave people of Ukraine who have been needlessly suffering due to the ongoing Russian invasion of their country. In the video, Zelensky recounts the hardships going on for his people while speaking of the healing power of music,
"The war. What is more opposite to music? The silence of ruined cities and killed people. Our children draw swooping rockets, not shooting stars. Over 400 children have been injured and 153 children died. And we'll never see them drawing. Our parents are happy to wake up in the morning. In bomb shelters, but alive. Our loved ones don't know if we will be together again. The war doesn't let us choose who survives and who stays in eternal silence. Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos. They sing to the wounded in hospitals, even to those who can't hear them. But the music will break through anyway."
He continued,
"We defend our freedom. To live. To love. To sound. On our land, we are fighting Russia which brings horrible silence with its bombs. The dead silence. Fill the silence with your music! Fill it today to tell our story. Tell the truth about this war on your social networks, on TV. Support us in any way you can. Any - but not silence. And then peace will come. To all our cities the war is destroying. Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Volnovakha, Mariupol, and others. They are legends already. But I have a dream of them living. And free. Free like you on the Grammy stage."
John Legend's song was accompanied by a reading by the poet Lyuba Yakimchuk, who read a remake of The Lord's Prayer,
"parents whose house is in the line of fire and who won't abandon it like a tomb," and said of our daily bread, "give to the hungry. And forgive us our destroyed cities even though we do not forgive for them our enemies. Shoot and protect my husband, my parents, my child, and my motherland."
It is great to see an award show working hard to showcase the bigger issues of the world rather than focus on the petty squabbles stemming from a throw-away joke.
