© 2025

Independence Day of Ukraine echoes in the heart with pain and joy at the same time since the beginning of the war in Donbas. Joy because of celebration of this day since 1991 and pain because of sad times in Ukrainian life after war started. Russia attacked our country back in 2014, and this indescribable pain has filled the soul of Ukrainians for almost a decade. In 2022, Russia struck another blow against Ukraine – it started a full-scale war on our territory, and now all Ukrainians have felt what Donbas felt for all 9 years. Unfortunately, the war is irreversible, but Ukrainians continue to fight for their freedom, and now Independence Day has a new face – even more important for each of us than it was a decade ago. Now in all corners of Ukraine, people know who is who and that we have only one enemy – Russia. The Ukrainian diaspora abroad continues to fight for a place under the sun for Ukrainian culture, using concerts and evenings of Ukrainian creativity. One of the concerts was held in the German city of Hamm on August 24. One of the guests was Demone Ritti, a Ukrainian musician from Odesa. The organizers of the concert were Alina Rusinova, Roman Melnyk, Jenny Wulf and Valery Twin. The stage was given to artists by Herr Werner Reumke. About preparing to concert and how was the concert read more on Drive Music Media.
On August 24, despite the rain, Ukrainians began to gather at Martin Luther Square in Hamm around 5 o'clock. They took the flags, their children and began to wait for the start of the concert dedicated to the Independence Day of Ukraine. A group of people began to help with the decoration of the stage – they inflated yellow and blue balloons, attached ribbons and prepared the equipment for work.

Children were the first to appear on stage. The young man performed the song "Let's sing a song for Ukraine", then a girl with a bandura and a little girl sang a song about Ukraine. After that, Valery Twin (ed. – one of the organisators of the concert) introduced Demone Ritti to everyone.

Demone Ritti, a popular Ukrainian musician from Odesa, was a participant of the concert. He sang a melanholic song "You fill your lungs with cigarretes". At the beginning of his performance, the guy congratulated everyone present on the Independence Day of Ukraine and started to sing. The singer shared his impressions of the performence with Drive Music Media:
"Valery Twin invited me to participate in the concert. Feelings during the performance were very warm and homely. So many Ukrainians gathered in the center of Hamm to listen to music, celebrate Independence Day and it's very cool. I found out that the concert would definitely take place in less than one day, so there was no time to prepare songs in Ukrainian. I made the decision to sing my English song "You fill your lungs with cigarettes" because it is melancholic and tender. Of course, next time I will prepare better and sing more songs, but I was also happy with the opportunity that I got. Now I'm preparing an album in rock style, in English, and of course I'm working on Ukrainian songs too. I plan to continue taking part in concerts, including charitable ones in support of Ukraine. I think it's important."
Many people said after the concert that they liked his performance.
After performence of Demone Ritti is over, Alina Rusinova, the host of the concert, invited Valery Twin to the stage, who performed several songs. At some point, several women came out with flags and began to dance around the center of the square. The songs they danced to were upbeat. After a while, more and more people joined them. Atmosphere of the event was homely and so dear.

During the concert, people could donate money to plastic boxes. All the money that the organizers managed to raise will be transferred to help the Ukrainian military, who are undergoing rehabilitation in military hospitals.
Photo by Asya Radko
George Manta is a digital artist, illustrator from Argentina, and founder of his own design studio — someone who was never drawn to the traditional path or classical art education systems. George believes in self-education and is convinced that if you truly love what you do, you will succeed. He works in the field of concert posters, portraying artists with a deep sensitivity — capturing their individuality while maintaining his own distinctive style. According to the artist, his journey into creating concert posters began with his friends who played in local bands. It was the independent music scene that first opened the doors to art for him. The artist’s main goal is to evoke emotions and create true works of art — not just serve as a visual tool to convey information about a concert. George has created posters for artists such as Paul McCartney, Dante Spinetta, The Rolling Stones, and many others. Most recently, he designed a poster for Paul McCartney's Got Back Tour 2025. George shared with Drive Music Media his insights on the beginning of his artistic journey, his commission for Paul McCartney, the creative vision behind the concert poster, and the easiest and most challenging sides of the artistic profession.
Sofia Lapsiuk is a Ukrainian makeup artist specializing in creative makeup who has chosen to avoid using any animal-based products in her work, creating all her looks without gelatin. Unfortunately, the exploitation of animals for the sake of art still goes unpunished in the fashion industry. According to Sofia, she doesn’t like it when her work is called “creative,” as she considers her looks simple. With Halloween approaching, her next project will be a Frankenstein-inspired look — Sofia is drawn to eerie and macabre styles. Sofia shared with Drive Music Media about the beginning of her journey, her refusal to use animal-based products in cosmetics, and her upcoming projects.
On October 9th, the founder of our media, Asya Radko, was invited to a private viewing of the exhibition "Women in Water" by the renowned American artist and one of the protagonists of pop art, James Francis Gill, held at Castle Fine Art Gallery in Exeter. The collaboration between James Gill and Castle Fine Art began in 2019. The event was attended by Richard Roden, Sales Director at Castle Fine Art in Exeter, and took place with the support of Queens Kunst Galerien and Ted Bauer, CEO of Premium Modern Art. For the artist himself, this exhibition represents a sense of calm and a desire to preserve beauty in such an unstable and turbulent world, given everything happening around us. His goal as an artist is to bring people peace. James Francis Gill began painting in the pop art genre in the 1960s and became one of the first artists to introduce pop art to the world. Our founder, Asya, had the chance to speak with James personally about the private viewing, his favorite painting from the «Women in Water» series, and his upcoming projects.
FEIA is a Ukrainian singer who feels a deep connection to nature and believes that her defining quality is her sense of magic. For her, FEIA is not just an image — it’s who she truly is. She brings all her emotions and the breath of a forest fairytale into her music. In our conversation, FEIA opened up about the beginning of her musical journey, honesty in music, and the meanings she weaves into her songs.
Paul McCartney is a British multi-instrumentalist musician and one of the deepest lyricists of our time, as well as a member of The Beatles, who has remained faithful to his simplicity and craft throughout his life. But he has another side — a love for photography, through which he has captured many important moments of life during the early years and the first wave of The Beatles’ popularity in 1963–1964. The uniqueness of Paul’s photographs lies in their sincerity: they are not staged shots, and they can transport the viewer back in time. The slight blurring and defocusing in some photos adds a feeling of being able to see the beauty in every moment. This is exactly the kind of exhibition titled Rearview Mirror: Liverpool - London - Paris, which opened at the end of August in London at Gagosian and will run until October 4, 2025. Drive Music Media received background information about Paul’s works and how they capture a time before "Beatlemania" through the lens and perspective of 21-year-old Paul — how he saw that time and how he preserved it on his film.