They are armed with automatic carbines – and trumpets.
Along the front line, the military orchestra travels with a decisive mission: To drum up combat morale.
And the repertoire includes Swedish music.
– Abba is the best, says soldier Bogdan, 51, who fights in Bachmut.
DON BASS. In a secret house outside Slovyansk, seventeen Ukrainian soldiers settle down on the sofa. Artillery fire roars in the distance. Outside, buildings lie in ruins after Russian attacks a couple of months ago.
A door opens in the room. Next comes two saxophonists, a guitarist, two trumpet players, a drummer, a bass tuba player. All in their military uniforms. Armed with each instrument.
The orchestra kicks off. From two Ukrainian patriotic songs, on to “Smoke on the water”.
The soldiers on the sofa nod modestly in time. But without much enthusiasm, tired eyes stare straight into empty nothingness. Bite together.
They come straight from the front line in Donbass, an everyday life full of death, mud and missile attacks.
For a couple of days, they have had the chance to recover at a rehab center in the forest, where they can sleep in a clean bed, shower, and be entertained.
– These are soldiers from the absolute front line. Everyone has a million stories, says Colonel Daniar Petruak, 43, who watches over the room.
– They come here full of anger, and almost want to throw themselves at you. We treat them here for a couple of days to distract from all the horrors.
On the sofa, the audience response is weak, but the orchestra thunders on as if they have taken over the stage in front of a jubilant arena audience. The wind instruments merge into a musical caffeine kick.
After eleven minutes, a familiar loop is heard. Duuuh, you, stupid, you, duuuuh, you, you, you, you, you, duuh. Intro Benny Andersson usually plinks on the keys.
“Dancing Queen”. Now necks start digging in rhythm. Then the trumpets slide into “Mamma mia”, and after another two minutes – to the finale: “The winner takes it all”.
The Abba medley warms up the audience and leads to gentle applause. The final number will be a Ukrainian patriotic battle song, which will make even the most exhausted soldiers sing and shout “Bravo!”.
– Victory will be ours!, trumpets the singer.
The Ukrainian military orchestra, with 25 people from the Edelweiss mountain assault brigade, travels to some of the most dangerous areas of the front line to breathe life into the soldiers’ defense spirit.
A mission, which is apparently insignificant for the development of the war – but they take their risky mission very seriously.
Soldier Bogdan, 51, has just returned from some of the bloodiest fighting in the hard-hit town of Bachmut. He hums along to the Abba songs and looks touched.
– Abba is the best. I grew up with their music, as a child, as a youth. But it was on vinyl of course. We had a record player at home, says Bogdan.
– This helps a lot. At the front we are in the war, down in the mud. It suddenly feels like home here.
The day before, he watched the WC final together with other soldiers. Despite the game being played back in December, neither of them had a clue about the outcome. They hadn’t seen a television set in six months.
The match, and the notes from the orchestra, have given him an injection of energy, says Bogdan.
– Day and night we sleep under artillery fire. Get up, eat breakfast, yes, we do everything under the bombs, he says.
– It is very tough. Here the soul and head can rest from the hellish war.
Even the soldier Viktor, 55, is excited after the concert.
– Loved it. I sang!
Karina, 21, medic in the army, sits down on a bunk in the infirmary. Her eyes glaze over when she talks about the orchestra’s show.
– Every time I listen to them, I get tears in my eyes, even today. They lift us up and are very necessary.
27-year-old soldier Roman agrees. He had certainly never heard of the group Abba before, but he has learned the songs by now, as they are part of the orchestra’s standard repertoire.
His wife is also in the army, but on the other side of the country. The war has put their lives on hold. They want to have children, build a future.
According to him and other soldiers, the music pulls them out of their misery, it becomes a reminder of everyday life; the family, the security. He can pretend everything is normal for a while.
– It is definitely a morale boost. It helps us to continue forward, to have fighting spirit.
Then it’s time for the orchestra to pack up and move on to the next position. A singer and a guitarist go to one of the trenches to perform “Dancing Queen”.
Two other orchestra members, Roman, 35, on guitar, and Roman, 29, on trumpet, don bulletproof vests, with three magazines on their chests, guns over their shoulders, and helmets. They make their way up a mountainside where soldiers are practicing shooting.
In line with instrument in hand, they trot to reach a plateau. They boot through the mud and receive the attention of soldiers, who gather in a semicircle. It is their natural scene, surrounded by pine trees and the city peeking out of the mist down in the valley.
“Check, check, check”, they joke. As if they are testing the sound without having a microphone in front of them.
Then Europe’s “Final countdown” echoes between the mountain gorges. And then: even more Abba songs.
The soldiers, who have paused their shooting exercises, clap the beat of their weapons.
After the gig, Roman and Roman receive resounding applause.
The crowd, the soldiers, return to firing grenades and AK-74s into a dirt wall.
Gitarr-Roman believes that their musical journeys in dangerous environments are worth the risk. Because they see how appreciated the music is among the soldiers.
– It takes so little. If the guys just see a guitar, they feel a change, a little more energy, something positive.
The orchestra are also trained soldiers who take part in active combat, but music is their main task when they travel to hot zones in the war.
Therefore, they face challenges that other orchestras rarely encounter.
– It has happened that we have come under fire. Then we had to stop playing – and run, says trumpeter Roman.
That a significant part of the military orchestra’s repertoire during the war revolves around Björn, Benny, Agnetha and Anni-Frid – a Swedish pop group with a heyday in the 1970s, before most Ukrainian soldiers were born – they do not think is odd at all.
– Abba are legends! Their compositions are also very well suited to orchestral instruments, explains guitar-Roman.
– Their music always lifts your mood. You feel uplifted by the melody itself, and don’t even need words – you feel it with your soul.