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Meet Mischa Baskinski– Born August 18th. Leo, the aggressive nature.
Meet Mischa Baskinski– Born August 18th. Leo, the aggressive nature.
In Ukranian: Міша
In Ukranian: Міша
Mischa was conceived in a little town outside Odessa in Ukraine by a factory worker named Tamara. His mother, after being part of the clean up crew in Chernobyl, was dying of prolonged exposure to Uranium...He turned to the last bastion of pure strength and masculinity in society: self-aggrandizing commercialized hiphop. This is how Mischa became, the angriest boy in town.
Mischa was conceived in a little town outside Odessa in Ukraine by a factory worker named Tamara. His mother, after being part of the clean up crew in Chernobyl, was dying of prolonged exposure to Uranium...He turned to the last bastion of pure strength and masculinity in society: self-aggrandizing commercialized hiphop. This is how Mischa became, the angriest boy in town.
Odessa (Одеса ):
Mischa (Міша) Bachinski was born in a small village outside of Odessa in Ukraine. Karnak describes how Mischa was brought to Uranium City against his will– his mother was dying, and she had no choice but to give him up.
Odesa is in southwestern Ukraine and is the third most populous city in the country. Odessa is a melting pot of many cultures due to its location on the mouth of a trading port. It was the center of Jewish life in Ukraine for centuries. The three most common languages spoken in Odesa are Ukrainian, Russian, and Yiddish.
“Odesa has long been Ukraine’s window to the West thanks in large part to the maritime traffic at its deep-water port, which serves as Ukraine’s largest trade hub and main international gateway.” says the Atlantic Council.
The youth culture of Odessa is known for its striking creativity and edginess. This is captured well in the film Stop-Zemila by Kateryna Hornostay, who hired real Ukrainian teens to devise and act out dialogue that encapsulated the youth culture and mindset in present-day Ukraine.
A great archive of Odessan youth culture lives in these photos by Yelena Yemchuk.
“everywhere I looked it was like a Fellini movie” she says, being interviewed for The Guardian “Beautiful kids having a birthday party, a crazy woman walking with a pink balloon, a girl dressed as a mermaid. I had brought three rolls of film and, after five minutes, I had to run back and get more.”
This next photoset is from 2017 in Koloymia, in Western Ukraine, where photojournalist Nazar Furyk decided to chronicle the everyday life of teens in their hometown.
Vodka, fights, fast food, and skinny dipping – Nazar Furyk’s stark shots of life in Ukraine are, despite the war-torn location, all-too-familiar. The Kolomyia-born photographer has been capturing his hometown for years, taking pictures of the locals and landscapes for as long as he can remember. “Life here is like bipolar disorder; everything is great, everything is bad, sometimes neutral,” he says of the town. “I’m good with everything.”
For his latest photo series, he turns his lens to the teenagers of Kolomyia. Although growing up in a country riven by conflict, Nazar captures a surprisingly mundane, relatable reality. The shots – which are beautifully bleak, grainy and monochrome – show a group concerned solely with relaxing, drinking, sex, and drug-taking. “Youth culture is pretty similar all over the world,” Nazar says. “It’s shown badly in Ukraine though, and that’s why foreign readers think of the old USSR stereotype – vodka vodka vodka.”
-Huck Magazine
Furyk says the environment that surrounds teens, especially young men, can lead them down dangerous paths– drugs, alcohol, dangerous sex, fighting, and toxic masculinity.
He feels that young men in Ukraine are forced to grow up, “too fast” he says. “They are trying to grow up before they even really know themselves.” (Huck)
Ukraine and Canada:
Canada is one of Ukraine’s oldest and most reliable allies and was the first country in the Western Hemisphere to recognize Ukraine’s independence in 1991. In the war against Russia, Canada supports Ukraine’s right of self-defense and uses material blockages to stop providing excess support to Russia and Belarus.
Immigrants from Ukraine started coming to Canada in the late 19th century. Most settled in the western provinces of Canada– particularly in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Ukrainian Immigrants were able to build a strong community by farming. They built churches, community centers, and cultural organizations to preserve their language and traditions.
During the early years of Ukrainian immigration to Canada, many immigrants faced discrimination and prejudice. Ukrainian immigrants were interned during World War I as a part of the confinement of those deemed to be "enemy aliens." Between 1914 and 1920, thousands of Ukrainian Canadians were interned in camps.
After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Ukrainian Immigration in Canada increased once again. Today, Ukrainian Canadians are still an important part of Canada's culture. In 2021, there were an estimated 1,258,635 people of at least half- Ukrainian origin in Canada (the majority being Canadian-born citizens), making them Canada's eleventh largest ethnic group. Canada has the world's third-largest Ukrainian population behind Ukraine and Russia.
There is a whole specific dialect that Canadian descendants of Ukrainian immigrants speak, known as Canadian Ukrainian. Today, there are still 70,000 speakers in Canada– the number has increased since 1991.
Ukrainian and English street signs in Saskatchewan
Ukrainian and English street signs in Saskatchewan
A 100 years of Ukrainians in Canada celebration stamp
We can discuss:
What would it be like to be taken from your mother and sent across the world, as a teenager?
How do you think Mischa learned English?
How long ago did Mischa come to Canada?
What kind of photos would Mischa have from his teenage years in Odesa? What stories would he have to tell?
What impact do you think it had on Mischa to grow up in an area impacted by war and political unrest?
What do you think Mischa’s family, even extended family, was like?
What does Mischa miss most about Ukraine?
Mischa spent his life so far caring for his single mother. How has that impacted how he views life, death, and what it means to truly exist as who you dreamed you’d be?
The world of This Song is Awesome:
Micha’s obsession with “self-aggrandizing, commercialized hip-hop” (38) is more than him trying to fit into a certain box that Western culture provides for angry, lonely teenage boys. Mischa’s rapping and his online persona provide an outlet to channel his ‘passion and rage’.
“I feel the rage,” says Mischa, on page 40, “I rap about money. In Autotune.” (40)
In the article from Playbill, by Richmond says “This song initially sprung from the idea that Mischa would rap battle himself. I thought this was a cool idea, and we tried it in a couple of productions. It was a cool idea, but didn’t really fit the vibe of the show as we wanted to highlight each kid inhabiting their rockstar fantasy, not trash-talking themselves in a funhouse mirror.”
“So,” he continues “we came up with “This Song Is Awesome.” In this song, we asked what would be amazing to a teenage boy who never had money but imagined what it would be like to have money—unlimited chicken nuggets, a VIP pass at the Hard Rock Café, a Honda Civic.” (Playbill.com, Track-by-Track Breakdown).
We can discuss:
Why does Mischa decide to rap about a fake, positive life as opposed to rapping angrily? Or being Sad Egg and doing a Lil Peep type thing?
What do we take advantage of here, in America, that Mischa may have lacked in childhood?
Is Mischa truly angry? What is he angry with? Who is he angriest at?
RAP INFLUENCES:
These are some personal takes on Mischa’s rap and possible aesthetic influences– these rappers are all slightly more niche and currently popular with more alternative rap fans today. These are just my takes on a 2024 Mischa's playlist.
UKRAINIAN RAP INFLUENCES:
aloyna aloyna, youtube rapper from Ukraine.
From highsnobiety.com:
“Life comes at you fast. One minute you’re a kindergarten teacher, and the next, you’re Ukrainian rap’s poster child. Although she has been making music on and off since her late teens, 27-year-old Alyona Savranenko (known as Alyona Alyona) has become Ukrainian rap’s most electrifying figure in less than a year. Her viral hit "Ribky" (“Fish” in Ukrainian) was not without its detractors, but her rise since has been nothing short of meteoric.”
Yarmak is a Ukrainian-born rapper and singer who raps in both Russian and Ukrainian. His songs use humor to tackle difficult issues, such as social injustice and political unrest.
The World of Talia:
One thing Mischa does not do in This Song is Awesome, which is a center point of self-aggrandizing, white boy YouTube and Soundcloud rap– he never degrades women. This reveals a lot about Mischa’s character, especially as TSIA transforms into Talia, and we get to see his passion and love for his girlfriend back home manifest in the song. Richmond says “ In a much earlier version of the show, this melody was dressed as a Beatles-esque rocker, a duet between two characters that no longer exist. Reduce, reuse, recycle.” (Playbill)
Talia is modeled on Ukrainian folk music, and many fans of the musical, specifically in the Jewish community, have noticed Jewish motifs in the original score and choreography of Talia. Whether that is intentional or coincidental is unknown, but it is a popular theory that Mischa is both Jewish and Ukranian.
Talia is a nod to Mischa’s cultural identity, and the “other side” to his hardened gangster persona. It shows him comfortable, it shows him at home, singing to the only person he has left in his life who can talk to him in his first language. Longing for her, and longing to be back where he belongs.
Ukrainian Words in Talia:
MISCHA:
Кохаю
OOH
LA LA, OH MY TALIA
MY TALIA
OH MY LOVE
TALIA
Кохаю – Love (as in, my love).
Я тебе кохаю – I love you.
Here are some photos of the Cheremosh River, where Mischa longs to propose to Talia.
For more musical inspirations, check out these Ukrainian folk songs, each with their own specific style and instrumental backing. There is no specific type of folk music in specific that Richmond and Maxwell were inspired by– they combined elements of different singing and instrumental traditions from Ukraine in order to create Talia.
ажурились галичанки | Ukrainian song | 1918 | Бережани
Жито, мати | Rye, mother | Ukrainian folk song | В. Синельник
За нашим стодолом - "Отинійські музики" (Ukrainian folk song)
Here is an attached playlist of Ukrainian Folk Music for further listening!
We can discuss:
Write a love letter from Mischa to Talia before the accident.
What kind of texts do Mischa and Talia send to each other?
Is Talia real? Is Talia a symbol? Is she both?
What is the significance of Ukrainian culture and music being highlighted onstage in our current world?
How is Ukraine similar to Uranium City for Mischa? How is it different?
Leo in the Zodiac:
Traits: Passionate, Headstrong, Loyal, Caring, Warm
Strengths: Natural born leaders, intuitive, loving, strong, confident
Weaknesses: Constant need for attention, impulsive, easily agitated, displays emotions loudly.
From Co-Star: “Leos are bold, warm, and loving. They are also the ultimate performers. They can dazzle with the theatrical flair of a Broadway star and the charisma of a politician. They are captivating personalities. No matter how quickly they’ve just been introduced to a topic, they can speak eloquently about almost anything because they have such a way with words. Leos inject ambition into everything they do. They are ruled by the heart. Their actions are natural and effortless because they are brash and confident and trust their instincts.”
Chart from Almanac:
You might want to try it….
Did you know Chicago has a historical Ukrainian neighborhood, known as Ukrainian Village? Shokolad Cafe, located at 2452 W Chicago Avenue is a local Ukrainian-owned business that serves Ukrainian and American food and pastries. Down the street, you have Old Lviv restaurant, serving more traditional Ukrainian favorites. Walking around Ukranian Village gives you insight into Chicago’s vast Ukrainian Community. Let dramaturg Eva know if the Slavic diaspora is of interest to you-- she can point you toward endless resources in Chicago and beyond.
Sources:
“Capturing Teenage Life in Ukraine.” Huck, 2 Aug. 2017, https://www.huckmag.com/article/youth-ukraine.
Dickinson, Peter. “Odesa’s Unique Place in Ukraine’s Cultural Evolution.” Atlantic Council, 9 Sept. 2021, https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/odesas-unique-place-in-ukraines-cultural-evolution/.
Kitsoft. “Embassy of Ukraine to Canada - Political Cooperation.” Embassy of Ukraine to Canada, https://canada.mfa.gov.ua/en/partnership/political-cooperation. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.
Korniienko, Artur. “War, Crime, Teenage Angst: Best Ukrainian Movies of 2021.” The Kyiv Independent, 30 Dec. 2021, https://kyivindependent.com/war-crime-teenage-angst-best-ukrainian-movies-of-2021/.
O’Hagan, Sean. “‘Everywhere I Looked, It Was like a Fellini Movie’ … the Youth of Odesa, Photographed before the Invasion.” The Guardian, 4 May 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/may/04/fellini-movie-young-odesa-photographed-before-invasion-ukraine-war.
“Track-by-Track Breakdown: Brooke Maxwell and Jacob Richmond on the Creation of Ride the Cyclone.” Playbill, 10 Dec. 2021, https://playbill.com/article/track-by-track-breakdown-brooke-maxwell-and-jacob-richmond-on-the-creation-of-ride-the-cyclone.
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