by Sarah Mills
LONDON – Manizha, the last musician to represent Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest, has released an anti-war track but says she is unable to perform it live in her adopted country.
“Gun”, a rewrite of a track written a decade ago, was released as a single late last month. It will also be part of the extended play “Hope”, to be released on September 4.
“The main idea is to create something that is about peace in Ukraine. Peace in Russia. Peace in Israel. Peace in Palestine,” he told Reuters in a Zoom interview from Moscow.
Born in Tajikistan, Manizha, whose full name is Manizha Sangin, fled the civil war there in the 1990s and was initially welcomed in Russia.
But after she made public her opposition to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and campaigned for LGBTQ rights, she said she was banned from performing in the country, which means she can no longer compete in the Eurovision Song Contest.
His Russian identity also makes international exposure difficult.
“I’ve been rejected in my country and all over the world,” she said, adding that her thoughts about this are expressed in her track “Standing Between Two Walls,” which is also on her upcoming EP.
Ultimately, he believes there is hope.
“Every war has an end, as I have experienced it in my country, Tajikistan. This is a very dark part of our times,” he said.
She also said she still loves Russia and is helping displaced people following Ukraine’s surprise attack on Russia’s Kursk region.
This article is generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
