Ukrainians in Longford are part of national choir

The choir is made up of 40 people including four singers from Longford town, who fled Ukraine as a result of the war.

Nataliia Marchenko, Nataliia Feshchenko, Alina Chumachenko and Oleksandra Kurova, are all members of the National Ukrainian Choir.

The single, translated into Ukrainian, was launched at a special event in Saint Stephen’s Church, Dublin, this week where the choir performed the new single with Phil Coulter.

The song, originally written by Phil Coulter 40 years ago, tells the story of a couple who escape from the Troubles and there are many parallels with the current situation facing Ukrainians today. The song will be available for download via Spotify, and the road to the launch forms the subject of a documentary due to be released in coming months.

Commenting on his involvement in the initiative, Phil Coulter said: “When I wrote Steal Away in 1983 the song was in response to the conflict that was happening in Northern Ireland at the time.

"I couldn’t have imagined that 40 years later it would have a connection to the situation facing Ukrainians today. I hope that the initiative has provided a source of unity and has given the choir some semblance of hope for a brighter future.”

Speaking about the launch of Steal Away, Adrian Greene, CEO at Longford Community Resources, said: “Since the arrival of the Ukrainian community in Co. Longford, engaging and supporting this community has become an essential part of our work in LCRL.

“We are proud to see how well Ukrainians in Longford are integrating and becoming an active part of our community.

“This project is another great example of an initiative that helps Ukrainians in Longford to identify themselves as a united community and to once again speak out about Ukraine,” the LC R CEO said.

“It has also helped to give them a sense of empowerment, and to identify their own human assets which leads to the development of new initiatives and projects,” Adrian concluded.