'This is about more than music': Story behind the Ukrainian choir singing Phil Coulter's Steal Away

The Derry singer and songwriter says the musical project is "extremely inspiring"

Phil Coulter and Ukrainian choir launching a re-recorded version of Steal Away, partially translated into Ukrainian, in Dublin today. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos

When Ukrainian-born Julia Boyko started chatting to Irish musician Dermot Dunne at the National Tchaikovsky Academy of music in Kiev where they were both students, she says she’d never have imagined it would become a friendship that would last decades. Or that it would even take her to live in Ireland.

It was Julia and her husband, Victor’s relationship with the musician all those years ago that set off a chain of events that saw the couple moving to County Cavan and opening their own music school, Gold Star School of Music.

But it was a more tragic twist of fate that brought Julia as music director and Victor as a musician to the attention of another Irish musician; Derry singer and songwriter, Phil Coulter. After the devastating war broke out in her home country, Julia was asked to get involved in a musical project bringing together recent Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war as part of a project to cover Coulter’s song Steal Away. The song, written in 1983, was about a dream he had as a child about stealing away in the middle of the night to escape the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

“Most aren’t singers or musicians,” explains Julia, who worked on the musical arrangement for the song in Ukrainian. “They are just people who escaped from war. The idea was to give them something to escape the trauma. Our choir is hopefully a little light in that tunnel of their problems.” 

Firstly Julia, who has two teenage sons, set about dividing the different voices by melody and harmony. She gathered the recordings remotely and then, once the lyrics were agreed and polished, brought all the refugees from all around the country together to meet in person.

“It’s not just a choir or a song,” points out Julia. “This was something beyond that. It was a way to bond over the shared trauma. There were some women who realised they were both from the same town in Mariupol, which is well-known for all the wrong reasons. They formed a kinship after meeting on this project, by sharing their stories. There’s something about hearing this particular song sung in both Ukrainian and English that represents a unification that is really heartwarming. The Ukrainians feel as if they are bringing something here from their own country too. It’s huge, actually.” 

Julia is both musical director and choral conductor of the choir

Phil Coulter agrees. Even though Steal Away is a song originally written about the Troubles in the North, and the pain of having to leave one’s home, its lyrics resonated.

“When I heard many of those who’d arrived in Ireland after fleeing the war in Ukraine had adopted the song as a kind of anthem, I was speechless. But when you think about the lyrics, it’s about the darkest hours in the North of Ireland, escaping from violence. It’s about leaving behind the streets, the gloom and desolation and starting afresh. We decided to harness that into something more positive,” Coulter explains. 

He was extremely touched when the group turned up in full traditional Ukrainian traditional costume to record the song.

“I have to tell you, I was sitting at the piano, waiting for the first rehearsal to start and watching many of the Ukrainians arriving, and they had pure joy on their faces. Joy and pride. Some had taken a bus from Kerry that morning at 5am. Some are living in hostels or hotels, their families divided. We know that there is research that shows singing together as a community is a very therapeutic experience. In that moment, I could see it. I found it immensely moving.

"As the group sings Steal Away in Ukrainian and then in English, my heart melted. I kept thinking that they might have a brother, husband or son still trapped in Ukraine, being shot at, or that they may never see again. I was tearing up. To come together and sing my song and have it mean so much has been amazing. This has been an extremely inspiring project.” 

Derry singer and songwriter Phil Coulter was thrilled to be involved in the project 

Julia, though living in Ireland for over twenty years, found her own solace in the process of recording Steal Away. 

“My own father has been living in Ukraine all this time. As has my husband’s parents. When we talk to them, we hear the sirens in the background. It’s so horrible. I didn’t think it would affect me personally, but my father passed away suddenly just a month ago. It was devastating, but more so because I couldn’t go to his funeral. It is just too dangerous. Yesterday the town where he lives was bombed.

"When all this started, the first thing my father told me was if something happens to him, not to come. He wanted me to be safe. These circumstances make grief so much more traumatic. Music has helped me more than I can describe. Music isn’t part of my life, it’s my way of life. I live in and with music. It takes me away from my thoughts. I think about those lyrics and what all the singers in front of me are going through, and we let it take us to wherever we need to go in that moment. I find that really beautiful”.

The song will be available for download on Spotify.