San Diegans inspired to show support for Ukraine through lyrics, music videos
Andrew Granston and Andrés Useche do not know one another.
Yet the two San Diego County residents separately were inspired to write amazingly similar poems in the first days of the war in Ukraine.
Both turned their words, Granston in partnership with his wife, Christine Whitten, into songs and stirring music videos. They capture the story of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops and spirit of the people in a gut-wrenching, heart-tugging compilation of video footage, photos, animated graphics, lyrics and creative music.
Useche was inspired by champion Ukrainian runner, Valentyna Veretska, triumphantly winning the 2022 Jerusalem Marathon a month after fleeing her besieged homeland with her 11-year-old daughter. (Her husband, who also is her trainer, stayed behind to fight but was injured and later joined her in New York City.)
Useche used his music and
directing talents to produce a four-minute music video, “Sunflowers in the Night,” with the aid of musician friends and sound mixer Bryan Cook.
The volunteer effort was aimed at inspiring empathy and continued aid to the Ukrainians and refugees. It highlights the courage of Ukrainians and first responders and pays tribute to victims by branding images and words into people’s minds.
Granston and Whitten recalled
the 1985 “Sun City” music video by Artists United Against Apartheid and the united voices of celebrity musicians singing “We Are the World” on behalf of USA for Africa that same year. Their goal was to emulate those videos to keep Ukraine in the public spotlight and encourage aid.
“The horrible things that were happening in Ukraine inspired me to write a poem, which I then turned into a song,” Granston
says. A career patent attorney, he never has written song lyrics.
Whitten retired late last month as a practicing anesthesiologist. She has written books and created educational videos but, until last year, only on intubation and airway blockages. She took a giant leap and turned her attention to creating graphics and images to accompany her husband’s song: “Ukraine, Ukraine (Half The World Away).”
He consulted a website, www.fiverr.com, to contact musicians, composers and recording technicians in various countries to work remotely to transform his poem into a music video. He engaged singer Wes Lunsford to deliver the words in a style that combines Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan.
The artists worked separately and submitted their recordings to Granston’s Ukrainian producer. The team never met in person.
Less than two months after the invasion began, the music video was finished. The Mira Mesa couple’s dream was to post it on YouTube, attract millions of views and aid to the Ukrainian cause.
“My husband surprised me by entering our video in multiple film festivals,” Whitten says. “He didn’t tell me until after we won one.”
The novice producers won an award in the Best Global Shorts festival in India in November, then in the Onyko Film Awards in Ukraine and the Eastern European Festival in December. The awards kept coming, with 10 awards logged by the end of February.
Early this month, the couple attended the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, where their film was shown in the Golden State Film Festival.
On March 2, for the first time, they viewed it on the big screen. Then they participated in an audience Q&A on how their project came together and what they hoped to accomplish.
But they were disappointed at the gala awards ceremony the next evening when winners in various categories were recognized. “Ukraine, Ukraine” was not among them. Whitten reminded herself that there were more than 400 film entries.
Then came the shock. The grand prize winner for music videos was announced: “Ukraine, Ukraine (Half The World Away).”
“We were just gobsmacked,” says Whitten. Granston gave an acceptance speech but has no recall of what he said.
Festival Program Director Peter Greene said their video was competing against more than 20 others. “It was really wonderful that they were able to do this through the power of the Internet and put it all together. When (technology is) used for something like that, it blows my mind.”
The couple dedicated the award to their recording producer whose father, a doctor working in a hospital in Mariupol, was killed, along with patients, by Russian troops.
While Granston and Whitten rushed their song project through, Useche spent nearly a year gathering images, video footage, talking with refugees, contacting Ukrainian officials and meeting with Veretska and her family.
The finished video was posted online Feb. 24, the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion. Useche is making the film available to Ukrainian refugee groups and others to use for their cause.
After viewing the video, Yury Sibirtsev, a Ukrainian who is rallying support there, messaged him: “I am very thankful to you, to all American people, who support Ukraine.”
“We can’t turn our backs on such suffering, or stay silent,” Useche says. “I felt compelled to do what I could, as a filmmaker and songwriter, to honor such heroism and to do my part to ask governments and people around the world to push to keep the aid coming until Ukraine achieves victory and the peace it deserves.”
The songwriter/singer/ producer brought with him from Colombia a passion for human and immigrant rights and a determination to speak out against injustice with his voice, his music and his documentary abilities.
He became a U.S. citizen in 2013 and worked with the Obama campaign, joined human rights protests and created a documentary called “The Flame You Keep” in support of Syrian refugees.
“I plan to keep working with refugees and asylum seekers,” he says. “We’re all one community.”
He sent a copy of “Sunflowers in the Night” to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s administration and received a response from the Ukrainian government website: “Thank you for standing with Ukraine.”