Alinka was six years old when the Chernobyl disaster occurred. What she remembers is the chaos when many tried to leave Kyiv, that only women and children could fit on the trains and that she and her mother spent a few months in Odessa.
– I was too small to understand exactly what happened. But now as an adult, I have of course read and seen films about the accident. It’s crazy to have been a part of it, says Alinka or Alena Ratner as she is actually called.
At the same time, Gorbachev had glasnost started to clear on the iron curtain. In 1987, the whole family hurriedly left Ukraine as Jewish refugees. Via Vienna and through the care of relatives, they eventually ended up in Chicago, an ancient city for a future DJ and house producer to grow up in. But before Alinka came into contact with club culture during her university years, she absorbed American pop music and youth culture, skatedboarding and played basketball.
– I knew all the songs on the radio. There was an abundance of Madonna, Janet Jackson and Nirvana. I guess we as immigrants wanted to fit in. Especially as a child, you try to make yourself at home and create a safe room in your new country and for me the music was very helpful, says Alinka over a video link from home on the sofa in Berlin, where she now lives.
The night before played she at the techno club Berghain and apologizes for being tired on the verge of crying. Over one knuckle, she has the nickname as well as the artist name “Alinka” tattooed with Cyrillic letters. With roots in the then Soviet Union, only Russian she understands and can speak. But since she only had time to go to school there for a year, she has forgotten how to read and write the language. Now she also wants to learn Ukrainian.
– I have an app in my mobile, but I still struggle with German so it is difficult to get everything in my head at the same time, she says and laughs.
It took until 2019 before Alinka first returned to her former homeland for a club gig in Kyiv, where she immediately felt at home and made new friends. Before Putin’s war of aggression, she even had plans to move there in the future.
– When you have had to leave your home at such a young age, it feels as if a piece of the puzzle in life is missing, she states and explains that everything fell into place in the childhood town.
Alinka says she is proud over her Ukrainian origins, but is careful in interviews to point out that she does not want to steal space from the artists who are currently directly affected by the war. Yet her own story is clearly connected to both the present and the past. The mother, who today works in the real estate industry, had plans to become a pianist and put her daughter on the piano podium early.
Alinka has since had time to forget the music reading, but on hearing she still carries on a musical legacy. She says that great-grandfather played the violin in the Kiev Philharmonic Orchestra, but was sent to Stalin’s labor camp. Likewise her grandfather.
– Now I can make a living from music and because of their sacrifices, it feels important for me to work even harder.
Alinka talks about the music in terms of therapy and says that songwriting fulfilled such a function for her, especially during the pandemic. At a gathering published by the company Standard Deviation for the benefit of Ukraine, she contributed in March with the song “Putin huilo”.
The title, a frequent protest phrase, was added at the last minute and roughly means “Putin is a cock head”. But above all, Alinka wants to convey positive energy on the dance floor and the text, which she wrote on the subway home from a demonstration, is about community.
Club culture has always been particularly important for marginalized groups and together with Shaun J Wright (former vocalist in Hercules and Love Affair) Alinka 2017 released the EP “Time for action”, a hard-hitting call to stand up against injustice, racism and violence.
– Dance floors reflect the world, so how could you not be political there? As artists, we have a platform and a responsibility to use our position in a positive way by disseminating information, donating money and helping others instead of just emphasizing ourselves.
The festival summer is starting in earnest
This weekend Alinka is playing at the electronic music festival Departement on Långholmen in Stockholm. The festival takes place June 4-5 and among the other acts are Four Tet and Maceo Plex who also cure each day.
The surplus from this year’s festival donates to the UNHCR’s work to help people fleeing war-torn Ukraine.
Right now is also going on Summerburst at Ullevi in Gothenburg. Today, Saturday 4 June, David Guetta, Alan Walker and Becky Hill, among others, will perform.
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Craving more festival? Do not miss DN’s powerful guide to the music summer 2022
Also read more about music and this week’s album reviews