It’s not customary to start a party with him. DJ arrive with his military uniformbut this is the reality of his electronic music scene Ukrainian while the war continues.

Before the Russian invasion began on February 24, Kyiv became one of the main nightlife destinations in Europe.

Now his young creatives are beginning to rebuild the cultural fabric torn apart by the conflict. DJ in uniform Arthur Bangow, a 25-year-old ophthalmology student who joined the Kyiv Territorial Defense Forces when the war began. Speaking to Reuters, he said he was happy to play music to raise money for the Ukrainian armed forces.

“As soon as the situation in Kyiv calmed down, we immediately began to think about how to help our friends with the help of music to collect donations and strengthen them at the front,” Bangu said before donning civilian clothes and starting his set.

The crowd gathered in the sunny courtyard of an abandoned factory, one of several huge abandoned Soviet-era industrial spaces repurposed by artists and musicians in Kiev’s Podil.

The fact is that a curfew has been introduced in Kyiv since 23:00. However, the matter is complicated by the fact that the organizer and leader of the event, 34-year-old Garik Plendovsaid there were advantages to being forced to turn to a party in broad daylight.

“I like them even more when they end the day because now the parties are more about music, culture and conversation than when they were at night,” he told Reuters.

Treatment with a child

In Kyiv, hundreds of kilometers from the front line, the memory of the war is alive. “If there is a (air raid) siren, we turn off the music and go to the nearest shelter,” Plendov said.

He organized his first post-invasion event, an art exhibition, in May, but didn’t want to throw “normal parties” until mid-June. “At that moment, it was clear, at least to me, that people needed it, that they wanted to take a break (from the war) when they could,” he said.

A crowd of about 100 people, many of whom were dressed in fluorescent shirts or leather, danced around the dance floor, enjoying their distraction from the war.

“I think this (party) can give people who have had a very tragic experience a certain sense of freedom and a feeling that life actually goes on and will be wonderful,” said the 21-year-old student. Anastasia Lukosina.

For others, the rhythm of electronic music can be therapeutic.

“If I stay at home … my aggression and negativity will have nowhere to go,” she said. Alexandra Psebitkovskaya31 year old IT professional.

In addition to music and dancing, the event offered attendees another form of catharsis: the evening culminated in the throwing of a red barrel-shaped prop, painted with Russian flags and Kremlin towers, into the crowd, who were immediately engulfed in a flurry of kicks and baseball clubs.

Funeral after music

Like all communities in Ukraine, the Kyiv electronic music scene has already experienced the devastating loss of life due to the war.

Those who attended the event shared many stories about how their friends fought or volunteered on the front lines. Some may not return, some will never return.

Plendow recalled his surreal experience DJing shortly after a friend was killed by enemy fire during a civilian evacuation.

His friend wanted to be remembered with a party, not a traditional dark gathering.

“So we played some pretty upbeat music and there were pictures of him all around us. We remembered moments with him, saw his relatives. This whole paradox was the strangest experience of my life,” Plentov said.

He expressed hope that Kyiv’s growing reputation for nightlife would not be completely destroyed by the war. “I think that when we win, Kyiv will take off into the sky like a rocket … although I don’t know how big this ratio is at the moment,” he joked.

Reuters