© 2026

Buddy Harly is a Ukrainian musician who creates computer music in the psyhodelic music genre and pays considerable attention to meditative compositions. He has dreamed of becoming a musician since childhood. Despite the lack of support and health problems, he worked hard to get into the conservatory. Find out more about the obstacles to his goal, the role of music in his life, and his studies at the Ukrainian Conservatory on Drive Music Media.
BUDDY'S HARLY CHILDHOOD: DREAMS OF BEING A MUSICIAN AND LOVE FOR MUSIC
The musician, who chose the stage name Buddy Harly, was born in a small town in the Luhansk region, Novoaidar. Since childhood, he was drawn to music. He tried to convince his parents to support his passion, but all he heard was that music was not a way to earn money for bread. Despite the lack of support, the boy achieved his goal: he earned enough money to buy a guitar in 2013 and started practicing music on his own.
Of course, it was hard to practice on his own, and the first thing that helped him get off the ground was working in a music editor.
ABOUT MEDIACAL SCHOOL AND WORKING AS A LABOROTORY ASSISTANT TO FULFILL DREAMS
2015. He had to make a choice about where to go next. Unfortunately, his parents' opinions about the music industry remained the same as in his childhood. Due to the influence of his relatives and problems with his father, Buddy Harly enters medical school, where he stays for two years. When a person chooses a path that is not his or her own, sooner or later, he or she will end up with it. And so it happened. After 2 years, he decides to leave medical school and to fulfill his dream of entering the conservatory, he decides to go to music school. After 5 months of studying, the musician moves to Kharkiv. Working as a laboratory assistant, he was able to earn enough money to move to this city. Then he starts working hard to get into the conservatory, but it's not that easy. At first, he was advised to go to a music college: the conservatory is too difficult a choice after 5 months at a music school. As a result, he enters the Kharkiv Higher College of Arts, where he studies for 4 years. In 2023, Buddy Harly realized his dream and entered the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture.
ON THE ROLE OF IMPROVISATION, ILLNESS, AND STUDYNG AT THE CONSERVATORY
The process of creativity helps Buddy Harly find balance in his thoughts during his illness. This is what is able to suppress the epileptic seizures that the musician suffers from. The disease began to develop while he was studying at medical college. According to Buddy Harly, it was difficult to survive its inception. It was at that time that the musician was in a philosophical meditative state and was trying to understand what he wanted to do in his life. The decision was not long in coming. The cultural sphere came first.
Among the entire creative process, the musician leaves an important place for improvisation. In his opinion, improvisation is an integral part of music: it helps to consolidate and improve the knowledge he has acquired. Also, the knowledge gained during improvisation can later help in the creation of electronic music. The compositions become clearer and more expressive. According to the musician, there is no clear plan in improvisation: it begins with the search for rhythmic squares, which helps to find the form. At the moment, it's hard for the musician to keep the same mood in his music for a long time, because he has trouble concentrating due to his illness.
But this does not prevent him from continuing his studies at the conservatory. According to the musician, Ukrainian teachers provide a good basis, but without his own contribution to 12 hours of different classes every day, it will be difficult to reach his ideal in composition.
A special place in his work is occupied by meditative compositions. The musician conveys lightness and anxiety in his works. Buddy himself interprets one of his psychedelic meditation compositions “Heavy road” as light, but at the same time says that you can also hear fear there. Several other compositions are also in this genre: Meditation trip and Untitled Composition.
ON CHOOSING INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC, STAGE NAME AND NEXT STEPS IN MUSIC
The musician chose instrumental music because of its abstractionism. It helps him to find his own ideal. The name Buddy Harly was chosen for his pop works. It combines the name of Harley motorcycles because it is associated with the road, rock, and the word Buddy, which sounds similar to the musician's real name. In the academic world, he uses his real name. Most of the works on the musician's Youtube channel are demo versions. Now his goal is to complete these compositions.
Among them there are ready-made compositions that surprise with their paradoxicality. Yes, the composition "Heavy road" has such a gloomy name, but when you start listening to it, you hear light music and feel as if you are on an island. The musician himself advises to pay attention to meditation, because the more relaxation, the deeper the connection with music.
Photos provided by Buddy Harly
Video from the musician's YouTube channel
Kelsey Falconer is a Canadian actress and wood worker whose role as Tessa Cooper in The Way Home was not fully revealed on screen, but it shaped the actress’s portrayal of the character. What was important to Kelsey was that she never perceived Tessa through the lens of her mistakes. The character itself is, in fact, very deep and very real — there is no performative heroism in her, but rather the feeling of a real person moving through her own pain and love, making decisions in circumstances she could never have anticipated. An important part of her story is that the writers do not romanticize motherhood, but instead show it for what it can be — and the only thing you feel while watching is an inability to understand how anyone could treat a woman that way when she was not ready for it. Kelsey’s perception of the character and her empathy for her complexity played an important role in the Tessa we ultimately saw on screen. Beyond The Way Home, Kelsey has had roles in several TV shows, including Lenore Hunk on Fargo, Nurse Zoe on DOC, and she plays the title role in the upcoming film Celia as well as the lead role in the feature film Fortescue. Kelsey shared with our founder, Asya Radko, her own perspective on Tessa, the characters she personally connects with in The Way Home, woodworking, creative risk, and the roles she questions whether she would take on.
Devin Cecchetto is a Canadian singer and actress who recently released her first single from a four-song series, with each track representing a different stage of her life. The first release, “Desert Cold,” is a melancholic and nostalgic song with a strong cinematic feel. The song reflects on a period in Devin’s life when she was living in Los Angeles. As the artist herself described it, she felt caught somewhere between “everything around me is so bright and there’s so much going on” and a deep sense of loneliness. Devin spoke to our founder, Asya Radko, about that period of her life, the songwriting process, and her own artistic vision.
AJ Ingson is an American artist and craftsperson working in the fields of digital illustration and woodworking. One of the key aspects of their artistic practice is embracing mistakes and experimentation. When something needs to be changed in his illustrations or projects, they see it as an opportunity — the process of solving problems brings them half of the enjoyment because it allows them to refine their skills and improve their craft. One of their current projects explores genetics and the idea of inheritance through the lens of craftsmanship. They is fascinated by the idea that they can be both similar to their parents and, at the same time, not completely either one of them. AJ Ingson shared with us about the beginning of their creative journey, his current projects, and the values that guide them as an artist.
Sonny McCartney is a photographer who hopes that what he creates will live longer than he does. He describes his journey as passionate. From an early love of graphic design to music photography and eventually opening his own studio in his hometown of Liverpool, every step of Sonny’s 18-year career holds deep personal significance for him. When Sonny was younger, he moved to London because Liverpool did not yet have a photography studio like the one he would later go on to create himself. He believes that the role of a photographer should not cross ethical boundaries and feels that, unfortunately, paparazzi culture has cast a shadow over the profession as a whole. Throughout his career, he has remained committed to his own principles. One of Sonny’s most powerful projects is Don’t Mind Me, which explores mental health and documents the real-life experiences of people who have faced it. Through this work, he both filmed and photographed participants, creating an honest and deeply human record of their stories. Sonny spoke with Asya Radko, founder of Drive Music Media, about his project Don’t Mind Me, his work supporting artists after amputation and people with disabilities, the creation of his own studio, and what exists beyond the frame of his camera.
Angelina Spilnyk is a writer who believes that stories should not be simple. For her, literature is an opportunity to reveal new perspectives, challenge familiar ideas, and invite readers into a world where every layer hides another meaning. She is drawn to complexity, symbolism, and questions that rarely have straightforward answers.Whether writing about memory, migration, war, technology, or identity, Spilnyk explores the connections between personal experience and the broader forces shaping our lives. Her work ranges from therapeutic fiction and poetry to speculative narratives that examine humanity's future and the societies we build.Her stories have appeared in several Ukrainian anthologies, including Light Between the Lines, Beyond Yourself, and Prose of a New Era. Alongside her shorter works, she is currently developing her epic poem Peccata Mundi and her debut novel Steppe Stork.About her literary journey, the challenges facing contemporary Ukrainian writers, the stories closest to her heart, and the mission she carries as an author, Angelina Spilnyk spoke with Drive Music Media.