AN OPEN CALL FOR ARTISTS TO REDRAW HISTORY THROUGH CONTRIBUTING IMAGES INSPIRED
BY THE HASHTAG #SHELTEROURSKYNFT

LEARN MORE ABOUT CAMPAIGN HERE
SUPPORT AND STAY UPDATED WITH BALAKLAVA BLUES HERE

PERFORMING AT FREE THEATRE'S DOGS OF EUROPE AT THE BARBICAN IN LONDON MARCH 10-12

"When I go up the hill
to look at the stars
they shine but
my mother scolds me
she doesn't let me out
doesn't let me out
she doesn't let me
let me out"
- Balaklava Blues - Shelter Our Sky

TORONTO, ON – March 3, 2022 –  Toronto-based Ukrainian  Canadian duo, Balaklava Blues, have released a timely new single called Shelter Our Sky. It arrives in tandem with their announcement of a collaborative NFT project that seeks to raise funds in support of COME BACK ALIVE, a Ukrainian NGO that helps Ukrainian military, volunteers, and their families on the basis of crowdfunding, inviting artists to contribute works inspired by the song, and its powerfully moving video. Listen to, and watch, Shelter Our Sky here and learn more about the campaign here, with further details below.

“It has become our daily prayer,” says Mark Marczyk. “We sing it every day during rehearsals for a show about the EXACT situation that is now unfolding… with a cast of refugees who can no longer return to their country because it would mean attacking ours… while we anxiously text our families to see if they have made it to the border yet.”

Shelter Our Sky is more than just prayer. The video includes a clear political message at its unexpected climax and includes information and links to resources for supporting Ukraine in concrete ways. 

Balaklava Blues are adding a collaborative approach to the NFT world to not only raise money that can be directly transferred to Ukrainian crypto-wallets immediately and safely, but to create a kind of social capital that allows people to share their support on their social media platforms. 

More on the process: 

Step 1: draw/design yourself or someone you love in the SHELTER OUR SKY
Step 2: upload or send the photo to shelterourskynft@gmail.com
Step 3: wait for the team to send you a link to your opensea NFT auction
Step 4: promote to your friends and family on your socials and use the hashtag #shelterourskynft

If you don’t have a crypto wallet, visit Balaklava Blues' website for instructions on how to do this. All proceeds - 100% - will be directly deposited into the crypto wallet of COME BACK ALIVE.

Balaklava Blues' intention is to create a virtual flashmob with concrete goals and results: to stop Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, to shelter the sky that unites us all as human beings on the planet earth, and to redraw history together.

It’s no surprise to those that know them; Mark and Marichka Marczyk have been engaged in protesting Russian aggression with their music for the better part of a decade. Shelter Our Sky was originally written for Dogs of Europe, a play written and directed by the infamous Belarus Free Theatre to premiere in London at the Barbican Centre March 10, where Balaklava Blues will be performing the score live. It was also the title track of Courage, a documentary film about the Belarusian Revolution that won best feature documentary at the Berlinale and was Belarus’ submission to the Oscars.

Self-described as “Ukrainian folk-noir,” Balaklava Blues is the musical child of real-life couple Mark and Marichka Marczyk, who cinematically met and fell in love on the barricades of the 2014 Revolution of Dignity in Kyiv. Their collective artistic career has since been based on expressing and exploring front line trauma and bringing attention to Ukraine politically and culturally via various projects including Lemon Bucket Orkestra, Counting Sheep, BLOK: Slavic Music Meet, the Folk Songs of Ukraine project, and their wedding, an open invitation 5,000-person world music potluck at Dufferin Grove Park in Toronto, attended by the likes of Reuters. 

Audiences are encouraged to learn more about how they can support, stay engaged and tune into further updates with Balaklava Blues online and across social media - see below for details.  

#ShelterOurSkyNFT - Details

DOWNLOAD - Balaklava Blues Press Photos by Zahra Saleki (@zahrasaleki)

About Mark & Marichka Marczyk - Balaklava Blues
Balaklava Blues is the brainchild of Mark and Marichka Marczyk, creators of the multi-award winning guerrilla-folk-opera Counting Sheep and leaders of the mighty Lemon Bucket Orkestra – Canada’s notorious 12 piece balkan-party-punk-massive. Falling somewhere between a traditional song cycle and a full blown multimedia techno show, the duo fuses Ukrainian polyphony and other folk traditions with EDM, trap, dub step, and more as a launching pad to explore the seemingly never-ending blues that have long emanated from the Ukrainian steppe.

The two met there during the 2014 revolution of dignity and ever since, have dedicated their creative energy to telling the stories of their home country to the world. Their 2015 play Counting Sheep garnered major critical acclaim winning several awards at the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe – including a Fringe First award and Amnesty International’s Freedom of Speech award. It has since had multiple successful runs in The US, UK and Germany and is currently in the middle of a 2 month run headlining the Vault Festival in London until March 17th.

Mark and Marichka composed all the music for Counting Sheep – a story of love and revolution – and four of the songs are on this debut release. “Balaklava Blues music is a reclamation of the violence perpetrated on my home country,” says Mark Marczyk, who spent years back and forth between Ukraine and Canada before meeting Marichka there. “We want to redesign and remix physical and psychological oppression and question how and why it continues to inform who we are and what we can become.”