On the morning of 21 January 2014, Marichka Kudriavtseva was all set for the biggest day of her career. The Ukrainian singer had three gigs in a row lined up in Kyiv. But on her way to have her hair done, she started getting worried calls from her bandmates in Kyky Shanel, who specialise in French chanson and Soviet nostalgia. "I'm not going down there," said her guitar player. "The show is cancelled," said one of the others. "People are getting shot," said the third.
This was the day when the peaceful protests of Ukraine’s “revolution of dignity” turned violent. With no concerts to play, Kudriavtseva found herself dressed in her finery alongside thousands of fellow citizens in Maidan Nezalezhnosti, the city’s central square. It was no time for singing. Instead, she grabbed a shovel and started loading snow into barricade bags.
