Orange Revolution – 20. The Voice of Maidan Nyshchuk Told How He Was Saved in the National Opera.

During the Orange Revolution, the director of the Ivan Franko National Academic Drama Theater, actor, and former Minister of Culture Yevhen Nyshchuk, who 'conducted' the main stage of Maidan, almost lost his voice – he had to sing in December 2004 at a temperature of minus 15 degrees.

'The Voice of Maidan' emphasized that, even despite the frost that was present during the revolution 20 years ago, he did not sing to a playback track: 'What playback track, come on? That's why it was sung the way it was. Not always perfectly. While I entertained the crowd, the artists were setting up their equipment. And it was all in front of people's eyes. The guys' fingers froze, and they couldn't play the strings. I was telling them: 'That's enough, let's get someone else.' But they said to me: 'Wait, we just warmed up, we'll sing now.'

Nyshchuk admitted that after long singing sessions, he would lose his voice and run to the phonologists at the National Opera, where they would give him rather painful injections. There was a risk of completely losing his voice.

'I remember, Oleksandr Shlapak, who later became the Minister of Finance, once asked me: 'What is your shoe size?' I said: 'Why is that?'. He brought some warm boots, thermal underwear, and said: 'Come on, change your clothes. What are you wearing? This is no joke – it's winter outside, it's freezing.' He brought me a down jacket and forced me to change,' recalled the theater director.

Nyshchuk also shared whether he had problems in relationships with other stars of Maidan. 'It was not a permanent team. Musicians would come and go to engage in other business. Marichka Burmaka and Anzhelika Rudnytska, after singing, would go to make sandwiches and prepare hot tea... There was no Time for whims – it was winter, and among everything else, people needed warming up, needed to be kept moving. It was very useful to have the Christmas nativity plays – they were held on Maidan practically from Andriy (the feast of Andriy was celebrated on December 13 according to the old calendar). At that time, we began to revive folk festivities, which was both a revival of traditions and a way to keep those who came to Maidan occupied,' said the former minister.

On Maidan, as Nyshchuk recalls, there were many artists and creators: 'Khoreia Kozatska' with Taras Kompaniychenko, Valeriy Gladunets, 'Drevo', 'Bozhychi', and the Hontchar Museum participated in the festivities and nativity plays. They held master classes in dancing, traditional art, and told about customs for Saint Nicholas and Christmas. 'In the midst of all this, I could be told: 'Zhenya, just without panic, but the situation is unpredictable, and anything can happen tonight'... I made announcements from the stage to take children away from Maidan. Because mothers and fathers began to bring children, as we had fun, and it was delicious – how many preserves people just brought! And although I was convinced that there were no children on Maidan, I later found a bunch of lost student IDs... I even left my autographs on the IDs if they asked – wishing for victory,' said 'the voice of Maidan.'

Let us remind you: what happened on November 21, 2004

On November 21, 2004, the first rally was held in Independence Square in Kyiv in response to large-scale falsifications in favor of the pro-government candidate Viktor Yanukovych during the presidential elections. Protests spread across the country in a few days and grew into the Orange Revolution. The events were named after the color used by supporters of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko and the opposition party 'Our Ukraine'. Under the orange banners, citizens gathered who cared about Ukraine's fate.

On the anniversary of the Orange Revolution, which changed the course of history, Ukrainians shared memories from those days on social networks and published photos taken on Maidan.

'Hlavkom' prepared a series of materials for the anniversary of the Orange Revolution. Among them, besides the interview with Yevhen Nyshchuk, is a conversation with Roman Bezsmertny, one of Viktor Yushchenko's closest associates, a people's deputy of several convocations, and twice a vice-premier in the governments of Yuliya Tymoshenko and Yuriy Yekhanurov. In the parliamentary elections of 2002, Roman Bezsmertny was the head of Viktor Yushchenko's 'Our Ukraine' election headquarters. In 2004, he was the commander of the tent camp on Maidan. In the interview, he analyzes the reasons for the orange team's defeat, internal conflicts, and the conditions that were created for the revival of Viktor Yanukovych.

In addition, 'Hlavkom' recalled how the symbolism of the orange movement arose, what artifacts embodied it, and what happened to them after the Orange Revolution.