We have already mentioned earlier in this blog our collaboratiove project TARAS with ZengTu animation director from Sichuan Fine Art Institute Chongqing, China. As we are getting closer to completion of the project we thought we tell you more about TARAS.
Taras song was inspired by Ukrainian story of Taras Bulba. The lyrics unfold as a young Cossack awaits for a battle in the early foggy morning over the Dnieper river in Ukraine. He thinks about his home and wife, and is ready to accept his fate the battle holds for him- whatever it could be. The battle starts, people become as fierce as animals, the blood is shed…
….Scattered bids, scared beasts
Mother wolf protects her cubs-
People gathered for a devil feast
Wild butcher swords scatter the blood….
As a female songwriter Iryna also looks at women’s fate when men are killed at war. A woman says goodbye to her dear husband and sons who she loved and cherished all her life, only to loose them to the violence of war. As a result she is left to bring up the children, keep up the household and take all the hardships of the lonely life on her own.
Although the Cossack theme is taking place in about 16-17 century, the story is relative to today as much as it was 300 years ago. Husbands, fathers and sons are still being killed at wars and women are left behind, having to deal with the consequences of glorified wars.
The international collaborative project TARAS is bringing three cultures together. The song TARAS has Ukrainian traditional Cossack theme , it has been written and recorded by UK music collective MuHa, and TARAS animation movie is created by Chinese animation studio, making this project a celebration of multi-cultural global creative work.
Below are the latest screenshots from TARAS animation beeing created by Sichuan Fine Art Institute team.
We hope to have the finished piece in time for WOMEX film submissions for this year and hopefully we get selected for screening at this world music fair.
The dates for the official launch of the animation are to be confirmed 🙂
