Music carries a special kind of power, settling into the spaces where words fall short. It uplifts, challenges, memorializes, and offers solace. And in moments of crisis – especially those marked by violence, displacement, and loss – it becomes something even more profound: a lifeline.

Soldiers of Song is an extraordinary new documentary that tells the story of Ukrainian musicians who continued to sing, play, and create while bombs fell and homes vanished. These artists did not turn away from suffering but leaned into it, using their craft to bear witness, process trauma, and preserve identity. The film, which premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival and won an Audience Award at the Warsaw Film Festival, is a searing, beautiful reminder of why music matters – especially now.

Since moving to Portland nearly a decade ago, I’ve been constantly inspired by the ways our community uses music as a tool for social change and emotional healing. The connective tissue that binds this city’s creative work together is intention; concerts and projects tend to be programmed with purpose, designed to hold space for reflection, catharsis, and often activism. The stories captured in Soldiers of Song resonate deeply with this ethos. They remind us that even under siege, even in exile, music remains. It carries culture, memory, and love across borders. It comforts the grieving. It stirs the brave.

We need this kind of storytelling. As a musician, concert producer, and publicist, I’ve seen firsthand how sound can transform a room, a mindset, a moment. Soldiers of Song is not only a film about musicians in a war zone; it is a meditation on art’s role in our collective humanity. As global conflicts continue and our sense of division deepens, films like this serve as a call to remember who we are and who we can be. They remind us that even when everything else breaks, the arts hold.

I hope you’ll join me in experiencing this remarkable documentary. Not just to witness its story, but to feel the way music connects us to each other, to history, and to hope.