Music in Wartime: Value, Aesthetics or Therapy?
Music in Wartime: Value, Aesthetics or Therapy?

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the mass musical product created after February 24, 2022 in Ukraine, and also focuses on Ukrainian music, which is an identifier of Ukrainianness in the world. The phenomenon of "music of war" is studied in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian confrontation and the role of Ukrainians in the evolution of wartime musical culture is depicted. Attention is also drawn to the recent change in the musical tastes of Ukrainians, which is interpreted as cultural resistance and a way of struggle. Some Ukrainians call music "therapy during war", because it praises the moral and spiritual values of the Ukrainian people, and also forms aesthetic ideals in the axiological oppositions "peace / war", "good / evil", "own / foreign", etc. We screened the musical moods of Ukrainians during air raids (in shelters at the "Universytet" and "Teatralna" metro stations in the center of Kyiv) and formed an outside opinion about these moods from the perspective of a foreigner (Chinese) who lived in Kyiv throughout this difficult period . The research partially answers the question: does there exist aesthetics in the music of war and does music "heal" during war.

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