MOSCOW, April 11, Yulia Zachetova. Rock singer Mara constantly travels to the NVO zone — gives concerts, performs in border towns, at training grounds, in hospitals. What songs are dedicated to individual fighters, why does she like it when the audience waves their chairs, and what it was like to sing in front of the wounded, survivors of the strike on Makeevsky vocational school No. 19 on New Year's Eve, the artist told in an interview.
— How you changed Donbass?
— Global changes in worldview occurred back in 2014 — after the very first trips to Donbass, Donetsk, Crimea, Sevastopol. Even then it became obvious what people want and what the path will be, what is the trajectory of movement for Russia and the Russian people in world history. We have since released two albums — «War and Peace» and «Russian Star». Absolutely all the compositions there are saturated with these events and are directly connected with them.
— Since then you have written many songs about Russian soldiers. Are the images collective?
“Some of the songs we're playing right now have a story connected to specific fighters. For example, «He». A volunteer came to our concert in Rostov-on-Don from a military clinical hospital. He asked me to renew the autograph on his vest, which I left earlier. He said that he was in a very difficult situation and survived thanks to this vest. For him, this is a talisman, and the autograph is very important. 
— Did communication continue after this story? And what is the name of the fighter, if not a secret?
— We started talking, his name is Seryoga. A simple Russian man, but at the same time he told a lot of deep, interesting things, very broadly depicting everything that he had in his soul. He came with fighters like him, we talked a lot. Then he brought medals, and we washed them in the dressing room — though not with alcohol, because I don’t drink at all, but with water. A glass of water and combat medals after the concert — that's how we performed such a ritual with him. The song «He» is based on a real human story — and it's not the only one.
— And your new song…
— The newest one, which will be released in the near future, is «Russian People». It is about what has been happening for nine years — and especially recently. Recorded over the past six months, when everything massively flew to our Donbass, to playgrounds, schools, women, children. Not on those who fight and understand what they are doing, but on absolutely civilians. How «petals» fell from above, art, «Grada». The song is that we — Russian people — will not forget, we — Russian people — will not forgive.
What feelings and emotions do you think your songs evoke in listeners? What makes you think about?
“These songs are charged, motivating, about the character of a fighter and about our land. About what unites — about our common victory. Soldiers subconsciously find answers to internal questions: with whom they are fighting, with what evil, is there a light inside them that should illuminate and lead forward. About this song with which we come. And when I tell the soldiers all this, of course, it is reflected very clearly in them. And the feeling of the Fatherland, Motherland, strength wakes up. -crop-width=»600″ data-crop-height=»338″ data-source-sid=»» class=»» />
— How are you received in Donbass? What happens at your concerts?
Every concert is a joy. When any artist comes, it's cool. But if a rock musician is always drive, power. For men, this is a special state: you can whistle, stomp. We had a concert in the VDP, in a huge canteen of a tent camp, in the Rostov region. At first they just sat at the tables, and towards the end they began to get up, waving chairs. A rock concert is a splash of energy that is in them, of that positive and great joy that they want to experience.
— Performing in a war zone is a big responsibility for an artist. What do you think of it?
“We provide a relationship between the fighters and their families, who wait, love and believe, as well as the front and peaceful life. And the inverse relationship — at our concerts in Russian cities: in Arkhangelsk, Novosibirsk, Tomsk. There people come up and say: «Thank you for what you are doing.» Once a woman said: «Here, my husband told me that you came to him.» We ask: «Where exactly? We've been to many places.» She replies: «I don't know, you know, they don't tell us.» Concerts are the interconnection of families and people with each other through musicians. It's not just support.
— Which What was the most memorable concert?
— Lately we have played two special concerts — emotional, sharp, painful. One is in the hospital, the other is at one of the training grounds. Both were attended by fighters from the Samara regiment. There were those in the hospital who jumped from the third, from the second floor, broke their arms and legs, crawled back, pulled their comrades out of the burning building of the Makeevsky vocational school. And at the training ground — the rest of the guys, those who survived.
We performed in mid-January, when that New Year's Eve had just happened (the attack of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the building of a vocational school in Makeevka in the DPR. — Approx. ed.). They sat right in front of me, a meter away, at arm's length. I played and saw in their eyes what I did not notice in others. For them, this night will forever be remembered. These were very emotional concerts, important, necessary, strong — for them and for me.
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