Before the war in Ukraine, Yaroslav Dronov, known by his stage name "Shaman," was a 30-year-old singer with a mediocre career and was virtually unknown. Since then, however, his ultra-nationalistic songs and full-throated support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine has gained him millions of followers and made him wealthy. Ever ready to seize on an opportunity, however horrifically based, Shaman whipped out a song and music video less than 48 hrs after the event occurred. Even in jaded, cynical Russia this was all a bit much, with some on social media speculating that he must have known about the event in advance.
Whether there's a real backlash or not remains to be seen. As of this writing the music video already has over 5 million views on YouTube.
Still, there's something deeply unsavoury about commemorating a terrorist attack from a country that commits terrorist attacks in Ukraine. And the added irony that Shaman can't "believe" that people can just brutally kill, take someone's life, like a candle and extinguish when Russians do that every day.
I don’t believe that this can be so
Just take and brutally kill
Someone’s life, like a candle, extinguish
I don’t believe...
This pain in the soul cannot be quelled
But I know that we cannot be broken
And we can no longer retreat
From now
on Forever in every heart of Russia
03/22/24
Source: Focus (Ukraine)
People wondered how, in one day, the singer managed to both write the song “Requiem” and release a full-length video for it. Some users even suggested that Shaman could have known about the tragedy in Crocus City Hall in advance.
Russian singer Yaroslav Dronov, better known in show business under the pseudonym Shaman, wrote a propaganda song and released a video for it dedicated to the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall, which angered even the Russians themselves. The video was published on the artist’s YouTube channel.
Shaman called the track "Requiem 03/22/2024". According to the singer himself, he wrote the song quite quickly: in one day. Moreover, Dronov even managed to film and release a video for it. In it, a singer in black against a gray wall sings: “I don’t know who you have to become in order to shoot him point-blank, in order to take the lives of innocents...”
The song also contains lines that can be considered as a call to the Russian Federation to continue its aggressive military actions.
“This pain in my soul cannot be relieved. But I know that we cannot be broken. And we can no longer retreat,” the song also says.
Shaman's heart was so broken he promised to pay for the funerals and hospital expenses of those injured. With 137 dead though and nearly 200 injured he soon had a change of heart.
Some online reaction from Russians, translated.
The full music video.
