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Journalism of Courage
As Ukrainians flee their country amid the Russian invasion, music has emerged as a symbol of resistance. Now, a video of a woman playing a giant piano sitting amid the wreckage of her ruined home destroyed by shelling has gone viral.
In the video that has taken social media by storm, the woman is seen clearing some ashes from the keys before playing a beautiful rendition of a melody composed by Frédéric Chopin. As she continues to play Polish composer Chopin’s ‘Etude Op 25 no1’ the camera pans to show the devastation—shattered glasses, blown away doors and broken furniture.
At one point, she is seen pausing for a brief moment to take a deep breath to compose herself before continuing to play skilfully. The original TikTok video, posted by user @kkkarysia, captured the moment when the professional musician played one last song on her piano to say farewell to her home.
“Do not judge, my mother is a professional pianist and decided to play to let go of this case,” the post read.
The pianist was later identified as Irina Maniukina, whose home was damaged after a missile dropped a few meters away from the building in Bila Tserkva, south of Kyiv. The poignant scenes were shared online by her daughter Karina. “It wasn’t a sad moment. My mother just wanted to let go of unnecessary thoughts, and I remembered events in our house with a smile,” Karina said according to Mirror.
“Since there was a lot of ash and dust in the keys and everyone was in a state of shock, she could not play for a long time,” the daughter was quoted as saying by Metro. The young girl said soon after the video was recorded they called their friends and began to rummage through the ruins and “took out all the things that were left.”
The family has now fled to Lviv, close to the Polish border, according to the Daily Mail, where Karina said it was a “very quiet and peaceful place” unlike her hometown.
Here’s how netizens reacted to the video:
