A Growing Rave Scene in Ukraine’s War-Torn Severodonetsk
Over recent years, raves have become a common feature of Kyiv’s burgeoning electronic music scene, which not only attracts the city’s progressive youth, but internationally respected DJs. And while this culture thrives in the country’s cosmopolitan center, it is almost unheard of in the eastern regions, which were once Ukraine’s industrial powerhouses, but have struggled economically and socially.
Over recent years, raves have become a common feature of Kyiv’s burgeoning electronic music scene, which not only attracts the city’s progressive youth, but internationally respected DJs. And while this culture thrives in the country’s cosmopolitan center, it is almost unheard of in the eastern regions, which were once Ukraine’s industrial powerhouses, but have struggled economically and socially since the start of the war in Donbas.
READ MORE: Rave Season: Inside Kyiv's Underground Club Scene
However, in February, Luhansk region’s Severodonetsk played host to its first ever rave showcasing Ukrainian artists and DJs from Europe. Exhibitions, presentations and film screenings on urbanism and society prefaced an all-night techno party, all set against the industrial backdrop of a dilapidated resistor factory.
READ MORE: Eastern European Rave Capital Goes Silent
Hromadske was there to speak to the artists and attendees and find out how this underground subculture is developing in Ukraine’s lesser-traveled east.
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