Assignment: A Song For Ukraine
Artist: Sasha Maslov
On Feb. 23, Ukrainian musicians were doing what they’ve always done: getting together with their bands, recording in studios, writing new songs, planning concerts and tours. The next day, Russia invaded their country, and everything changed. Some took solace in songwriting, performed secret concerts for soldiers or took in refugees at theater shelters. Others, plagued by bomb-induced migraines, were unable to contemplate a single note. Some music artists joined the military; some used their bands’ vans to transport supplies. “Obviously, you’re not thinking about touring,” says Sasha Maslov, the Kharkiv-born photographer who returned to Ukraine from New York. In these images he shot for Billboard in late March, Maslov captures regional pop stars, folk groups, rappers and bandura players. “A lot of people can’t concentrate. You’re going about your business and the Russians are everywhere. War is always present.”
click to view the full set of images
