“Serhiy Vasylyuk – about the song “Ikhaly Cossacks” by Oleksandr Usyk”, — write: sport.ua
– In May, you said on the radio that Oleksandr Usyk stopped performing to your song “The Cossacks Ride” because of his public statement that he does not want to divide the Ukrainian and Russian peoples. This was before the start of the great war. When was the last time you talked to a boxer? And were they contacted after February 24?
– I personally spoke with Usyk once in my life. There was a conversation in 2014, when we opened his fight at Lviv Arena. After that we had a short conversation. Even then it was clear that this was not exactly a person from our environment. In terms of image, he is supposedly ours, but when you talk to him a little, you will understand that he is a little different.
But there is an interesting point, I will draw the following parallel: after all, not all Cossacks in the 17th century were anti-Moscow. We had a lot of problems precisely because some of them had pro-Russian sentiments. Especially in the times of Ivan Vyhovskyi and Ivan Sirk. For example, Sirko did not take part in the Battle of Konotop. On the contrary, he attacked the Tatars, who were fighting on Vyhovsky’s side against the Muscovites.
It cannot be said that Usyk shaved his forelock, put on Cossack clothes and should like us in everything. However, we live here and now in the modern world. When the war had already started in the east, and Crimea was annexed, I was not at all close to how friendly our boxer spoke about Russia. Not to mention his religious views. Although there was not only this reason. In general, a whole set of factors played a role in the fact that he stopped playing our song. However, ideological remains the main one among them.
There were more purely business moments, let’s say…
– What kind of business?
– The author of the song, Kyrylo Momot, who at that time was already living in Wroclaw, was counting on certain monetary deductions from Usyk. Royalty as the author. At first, Usyk became attached to him because of this.
– Didn’t want to pay money?
– I don’t really want to delve into it. In addition, this cooperation of ours was not legally supported in any way. That is, he took our song without our permission. But it would probably be more correct if it were somehow legally recorded.
In any case, Usyk did not financially support us or the author in any way, moreover, in one of the interviews at the end of 2015, he allowed himself very unkind, if not rude, remarks towards us.
He certainly popularized the song, although on the other hand, if it was not, in principle, an ideal hit for him, he would not have chosen it as his musical business card. As a band, it was quite convenient for us, so we did not particularly interfere in financial matters. At the same time, after some time it started to be discussed not about royalty, but about Usyk’s political views at that time, which did not suit us in terms of image.