Marinita performs on the piano with the percussionist Orhan Agabeyli.
It is a surprisingly quiet evening in Kyiv. Anti -aircraft alarms, the continuous threat of attacks with missiles and drones save, at least for one night, the city. In the Jazz Club “32”, Podil district, Miriam, 18 years old, the second son of Marina and Boris Zakharov, performs in a concert, Between American, Brazilian and Ukrainian songs. “Ours is a family full of art,” he smiles and admits proud Marina. «Boris and I have five children. Anna, 22, is a director and videomaker, Miriam is a jazz singer and her dream is to continue her studies in Italy. David, 15 years old, is a passionate romantic soul of the Middle Ages; Dinara, 10 years old, is already professionally engaged in music but also in painting. The smallest, Amir, has turned 5 and he too is a creative spirit full of imagination ».
Singer, pianist, composer of great talent, known by the name of the sea, Marina Zakharova was born 46 years ago in Kharkiv, in the Northeast of Ukraine, 30 km from the border with Russia, the second largest city in the country, a constant target of attacks. His music is a crossroads of cultures, a suggestive encounter of different traditions and atmospheres that, combined and mixed, create compositions with a unique style. “At home, I grew up surrounded by Ukrainian folk, Roma music, Tatara of Crimea, of Azerbaijan,” he says. «I perform with artists from all over the world. I kept most of my duo concerts with my percussionist friend of Azene Orhan Agabeyli origin. I collaborate with musicians from Israel, the United States, Hungary, Poland, and sound with the Ukrainian guitarist Yevhen Sedko. I love to arrange traditional songs – of sefarditis, Azera, Tatara, Turkish, Ukraine and Roma – transforming them into larger compositions. This is why my music often has an oriental influence ».
The mixing of cultures and traditions, moreover, is part of Marina’s very experience. «I have Jewish roots in a predominant way. But my great -grandfather came from Persia and my great -grandmother was Ukrainian. Their story is like a novel: He fell in love with her, took her away from a train and together they ran away to Siberia. My great -grandfather, Iskander, raised horses. But he was killed by the Bolsheviks in the late 1920s. My grandmother, Raisa, was born in Siberia. During the Second World War he volunteered to the front. There he met my grandfather, a Jew who grew up in Odesa. After the war they settled in Kharkiv. A curiosity: I did the DNA test and a predominantly Jewish origin came out – Ashkenazita and Sephardic – with further Turkish, slave and, with my surprise, even Italian inheritance ».
In addition to Ukraine, Marinita performed in different European countries, in Israel, in the United States. In Italy he participated in the Jewish music festival in Pisa. And then at the Sacred Music Festival in Jerusalem, to the “Art of Tolerance” review in Ukraine. To date, Marina has five albums between 1999 and 2015. «All the lyrics of my songs in Ukrainian are written by my husband. His texts are deeply philosophical, often infusions of Christian themes ». And he explains: «We are baptized in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, but our whole family defines itself as centuries and embraces liberal values. We consider ourselves ecumenical in the spirit: we love to visit the Catholic churches and my husband can pray in the synagogues without warning dissonance. Moreover, Jesus also prayed in synagogues according to Jewish tradition ».
Boris Zakharov, human rights activist, and his wife Marina. The couple have three daughters and two sons.
Convinced supporters of the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, against the Russian invasion, Marina and Boris combine artistic and cultural work and the commitment to human rights, which they share with the rest of the family. Son of Yevgeniy Zakharov – Mathematical of Kharkiv, an exponent of the anti -Soviet disquidal in the times of the USSR and well -known human rights activist – Boris, born in 1976, also originally from Kharkiv, is the author and television presenter and in the past he was director of theAdvocacy Center (Center for Promotion) of theUkrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union. He has written numerous articles and projects on the theme of human rights, in addition to the book Essay on the history of the dissident movement in Ukraine-1956-1987 (2003). He is also co -author of several laws in Ukraine, such as the one that guarantees the rights and freedoms of the internal displaced people. «Boris today is director of the Filantropic Foundation Human & Law which, from the beginning of the Russian invasion, supports the Ukrainian armed forces and civilians affected by the war. He regularly collects humanitarian aid and personally delivers them to the front, “adds Marina. «As for me, I keep charity concerts in different countries to raise funds for the Ukrainian armed forces, for hospitals and for people who suffer the devastating effects of the war. I performed at the Ukrainian Parliament in Kyiv, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and the Ministerial Council of the ISCA (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) in Hamburg “. The firstborn Anna, among her works, made the 40 -minute documentary Voices of Mariupolpromoted by Khankiv Human Rights Protection Group, Translated into nine languages.
On the war in Ukraine and the current situation, Marina reflects: «War is a reflection of the weakness of western democracies. They allowed Putin to destroy international law, threaten international institutions, undermining the principle according to which “the force of the law is above the law of force”. A principle that no longer exists. First there was the war in Georgia. Then the conflict in Syria. Subsequently, the annexation of Crimea and the occupation of part of the Ukrainian territory in the East in 2014. Every time, no decisive reaction: the West has given Putin the illusion of impunity and he dared to launch an invasion on a large scale and orchestrate genocidal crimes against the Ukrainian people. Ukraine was saved from the complete catastrophe from the solidarity and courage of its population, which has risen to defend the country, as well as the significant support of the West. Today – without exaggeration – Ukraine is the shield of Europe. The war has evolved technologically and in the renewed international security system, especially European, Kyiv must play a key role. This is why Ukraine must be supported. And we are very grateful to all those who help our country, donors, volunteers, journalists. We would like to receive more systematic support (in terms of weapons, economic aids and even harder sanctions against Russia, including the confiscation of assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine). On the other hand, there are no obvious signs that this war will end soon. How do I see the future? Ukraine must enter the European Union. Soon or later, the war will win, he will receive the right repair and international criminals will be brought to justice. How long and what cost will the victory come? When will a new system of international law be established? We don’t know. In these times of turbulence, we must continue to live, to grow our children, to try to find joy on every single day, albeit in the uncertainty of our future ».
To the freedom of their country, Marina and Boris dedicated a song written by them, sung by her daughter Dinara. «The song Siverskyi Donets It was composed in 2014, when the war in Donbas began. At that time we were waiting for Dinara. When the Russian invasion on vast scale began, ten years later, we recorded this song specifically because she, Dinara, sang it. The video of the song was made by our daughter Anna: it is based on the video material of the war that was provided to us by well -known war correspondents. It includes scenes of the liberation of the Kharkiv region with a Russian employment. The song is dedicated to our defenders, the volunteers who fight for our freedom and dignity. As the lyrics of the song repeats, they have a mission: to save Ukraine, save the whole world ».
