‘A great honour’ for Mike Scialom as song is recorded by Ukrainian star, Anna Starushkevych
Proving he has more strings to his bow than being the Cambridge Independent’s renowned business correspondent, Mike Scialom has written a song for UK-based Ukrainian recording artist and trained opera singer, Anna Starushkevych.
Titled Lament of the Unknown Soldier (LOTUS), the song was born after a meeting between Mike and Anna, the founder of Music Will Save the World – a non-profit organisation that aims to raise awareness of global issues through the power of artistic projects – in 2022.
It was during the recent promotion of Music Will Save the World’s short film, Magura, which addresses the impact of loss due to war, that the pair decided to collaborate. They go under the name ‘MiStar’.
“I went to a Ukraine rally outside the old council offices [in Cambridge],” recalls Mike, a keen music fan and regular visitor to the Cambridge Folk Festival.
“This was in the summer of 2022, relatively recently after the full-scale invasion, and Anna sang the Ukrainian national anthem at the end of that event – and it was sensational, I was astounded.
“Then later that year we were introduced. I was going to do a story about Ukraine; we met for coffee and we got to know each other over the subsequent period, socially.”
Mike supported Anna, who has lived in the UK for 12 years, “quite a lot” with her Magura project, wrote about it, and also attended the preview.
“After that was over, she said, ‘Mike, you’ve done a lot of work for me, is there anything I can do for you?’,” he remembers. “I was like, ‘That’s really nice’ because you don’t expect that as a journalist.”
Mike was then doubly surprised – and overjoyed – when Anna agreed to let him write a song for her.
“I’ve written songs over many years and I enjoy writing songs and I put them out on SoundCloud or YouTube or whatever,” he notes, “but obviously this was a whole different leap – because I had to write something that was going to appeal to her, both as an artist and as a person. So it took a little while to find the right tone.”
Mike explains that the lyrics for the song were inspired by people who tried to contact their deceased loved ones in the hereafter, via a medium, after the First World War, and notes that he also managed to invent some new guitar chords for the music.
“I presented it [the song] to Anna in November last year,” he says, “and it was quite funny actually because I gave her the lyrics and a rough recorded demo and I didn’t hear from her for a couple of weeks.
“And then she came back and said ‘I love it’. I said, ‘Oh great, is that musical structure OK for you?’
“She said, ‘Oh no, I haven’t listened to the music – I’ve just read the lyrics. I love the lyrics – I’m sure the music will be fine’.
“It’s been a very interesting journey, because obviously I’ve not worked with anyone in her league – she’s a formidable talent. So we did a couple of rehearsals…”
LOTUS – described as “a tale of grief, uncertainty, and the morality of society” – was recorded at Jenny Records in Anna’s home city of Lviv, Ukraine, in late January with Anna on vocals and Mykola Yerega on guitar.
The recording and arrangement was by Ostap Panchyshyn and the mastering was by Mar’yan Kryskuv, the founder of Jenny Records.
The track has been released as an accompaniment to Music Will Save the World’s aforementioned short film, Magura.
When Mike heard the finished recording for the first time, he says it sounded better than he’d ever imagined, describing it as “ethereal”.
“I was like, wow, she’s taken this onto a whole different level… It sounds thrilling, I love listening to it and the attention to detail that she put into it is fantastic.
“It’s just awesome to hear your song being recorded by somebody who’s really on their game.
“I’m just thrilled and made up – and it’s been a very enjoyable and a very educational process for me, because I’m a sort of hobbyist, kind of amateur sort of muso.
“I love music; I’ve been a busker before, but I like writing music and to be able to contribute to her cause is a great honour.”
Anna says: “Mike kindly offered to write a song for me. It was an unexpected proposal as I knew him as a journalist and had no idea he was also a songwriter.
“I was touched by this offer, but we were both very busy so the idea was put on the shelf. Then in autumn 2024, Mike presented me with the lyrics and I must say that I didn’t expect to be so touched by the depth and the meaning of the poem.
“It was then, even before I heard the music, that I knew that this is going to be a very special and deeply meaningful work.
“Time passed and Mike and I met up for him to play the song for me on his guitar. As he played and sang I immediately felt a country/folk kind of vibe.
“Joni Mitchell and Dolly Parton came to mind. I am a professional opera singer, but as a teenager in Ukraine, I used to sing in a band and we would perform all kinds of styles of songs.
“It was a very nostalgic time for me and I cherish every opportunity to take part in creating new music and experiment with styles.
“After hearing Mike presenting the song, I then tried singing it for the first time and – as I usually do – I tuned into the words and the harmonies I was hearing and let my voice explore the turns, twists and decorations to embellish and shape the melody presented to me.
“This was the moment when the song was truly born. There was still quite a way to go to make it into the final record, but it was a very special moment for us as a collaborative duo.”
She adds: “It’s heartbreakingly simple and beautiful. A woman is standing on the sea shore and singing into the vastness of the water, she is singing to her loved one who is missing.
“In the opening line we hear ‘I wondered if you’d ever be coming home to me...’ This line really hits home as my family in Ukraine are waiting for our missing relative who disappeared at the front to return to us.
“The energy of the sea in the song makes me think of Mariupol and all those innocent missing men, women and children whose destiny is unknown…
“A very important message of the song is the question it poses: ‘Do you believe in right and wrong?’
“This is a question that every person should ask themselves – especially as we are living through such incredibly turbulent, almost surreal times – and then, true to their answer, act accordingly.”
Lament of the Unknown Soldier (LOTUS) is available for download on Bandcamp at mistar1.bandcamp.com/track/lament-of-the-unknown-soldier – price £1.50 – and on Spotify, YouTube and other streaming channels.
To learn more about Music Will Save the World, visit musicwillsave theworld.com.
