The cello trio “Melo-M” together with Ukrainian musicians give a support concert for Ukraine at the Freedom Monument / Article

Musician Darja Leleko left Ukraine with her two children in mid-March and currently lives in Sigulda. She continues to play music in her spare time, which also helps her to disconnect from the dangers in her homeland. She says: “The older I get, the more happy I am to be a musician, because not only in the current situation in Ukraine, but in general, if you are sad or bad, music always saves you. You pick up an instrument and just fly away in emotions. When we perform our Ukrainian songs or the national anthem, I try hard not to cry.”

Darja Leleko is a virtuoso of the Ukrainian national instrument – ​​the bandura. Thanks to Latvian artists who noticed the musician, she has the opportunity to play music both on bigger stages and also at the Freedom Monument in a charity concert initiated by the cello trio “Melo-M”.

Cellist Kārlis Auzāns says: “This is more like an action, like a show of faith – we believe that we can do it together and we have the power to do it. And this time, all the pieces that were chosen were chosen very symbolically. Each piece has its own meaning in our philosophy, what we think about this situation that is happening now.”

Auzāns emphasizes: “Music has always been one of the most important tools to express our opinion about the current situation, express our emotions, how we feel, and also create new emotions that can make us happy and cheer us up. Therefore, music has a huge power.”

The collaboration between the musicians became so close that Darja Leleko is already planning to bring the trio to her homeland: “I sit during the composition, waiting for the introduction of my party and thinking how to bring the guys to Ukraine when the war ends. How to come up with a project or how to get them to attract to us. I would very much like them to visit us. They don’t know about it yet. But if I want it, it will happen.”

The musicians will give another support and charity concert at the Freedom Monument on July 29 at six o’clock in the evening.

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