ALTERNATIVE cabaret stars The Tiger Lillies have collaborated with Ukrainian musicians and animators to create a video which will raise funds for Ukrainian artists in the war torn country.
‘I’m a Star’ - a song about Vladimir Putin’s claims to glory - is already on BandCamp and soon will appear on Youtube.
The song has been created in collaboration with Ukrainian jazz punk band The Hyptotunez, with the video, showing the death of Putin, created by 17 Ukrainian film animators. Singer Martyn Jacques said the unique collaboration was started before the war began.
“We had no idea when we wrote this song that Russia would really attack Ukraine. We also had no idea all these animators would make this great video. Hopefully it is liked by people in Ukraine. We send you our love and solidarity for the horrible injustice of Putin’s barbaric action. May victory soon be yours.”
The Tiger Lillies, who were founded in London, are a truly international cabaret act, with homes in Berlin, London and Athens. The band regularly tours eastern Europe and has a huge following in Russia. Since the beginning of the war lead singer Martyn Jacques has consistently spoken up for Ukraine to the band’s fans, despite constant attacks from Russian trolls.
The animation, which features the death of Putin next to the Kremlin, has been represented in different gory ways, by 17 of Ukraine’s top animators, and was curated by Anastasiya Verlinska, director of Linoleum Contemporary Animation and Media Art Festival in Kyiv.
She says: “Each one of these 17 artists represents the best of our animation community, with his or her own unique style and talent. All of them united at once, knowing the theme and the band they were going to work for. And for each of them, it was the greatest pleasure to make this monster suffer, even digitally, although we still believe what is shown in the video is not enough compared to the tortures the Ukrainian people are going through. In the end, there's only victory ahead. Slava Ukraini.“
The music for ‘I’m a Star’ was written by Gera Luidze, lead singer of the Hypnotunes and Martyn Jacques, who also wrote the lyrics.
The words speak of Putin’s murderous ambitions and vanity, with the chorus: ‘I’m a star, I’m a star. Yes I are.’
Gera Luidze, frontman of The Hypnotunez says: "This for me is not just another musical release. I'm sure our fans were waiting for this collaboration for years. My B-side project "Mr. Hypno & His Lo-Fi" is totally influenced by Dark-Cabaret, Alt-Country, Garage-Blues. Especially dark and punk cabaret. And we all know who are the forefathers of those genres right? That's why collaboration with The Tiger Lillies was so natural and pure. And here you go!”
All proceeds from the song will be donated to help Ukrainian artists.
Animators who created the video for the song are :
Valeriy Lifirenko
Stas Santimov
Mykyta Lyskov
Yelyzaveta Pysmak
Oksana Kurmaz
Anna Dudko
Hanna Strizh
Alice Zaporozhets
Iryna Harkavets
Volodymyr Vlasenko
Karina Orinyanskaya
Denys Spolitak
Kate Kutenska
Vladyslav Molodetskyi
Renata Kazhan
Anastasiia Falileieva
Kristina Davtian
Editor Serhii Yatsenko
Produced by Anastasya Verlinska
