Taras Borovok (Ukrainian: Тарас Боровок) (born January 1, 197334 выпуск
Минское суворовское военное училище), is a Ukrainian lieutenant colonel, producer, and singer-songwriter. His patriotic song " Bayraktar" came to prominence after its release on 1 March 2022 in the aftermath of the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

Life and career

Graduating from

Suvorov Military School The Suvorov Military Schools () are a type of boarding school in the former Soviet Union and in modern Russia and Belarus for boys of 10–17. Education in these schools focuses on military related subjects. The schools are named after Alexander ...

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

(1988-1990), Borovok was with the army since his teenage years. As an amateur musician, he wrote over 100 songs. After being sacked in 2006 due to cutbacks in the

Ukrainian army The Ukrainian Ground Forces (SVZSU, ), also referred to as the Ukrainian army, is a land force, and one of the eight Military branch, branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It was formed from Ukrainian units of the Soviet Army after Declaratio ...

, Borovok worked as a TV presenter, screenwriter, and film director. On the onset of the Russian invasion 24 February 2022 he signed a contract, rejoined the service and began working at the Ukrainian

Land Forces Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of Earth not submerged by the ocean or another body of water. It makes up 29.2% of Earth's surface and includes all continents and islands. Earth's land surface ...

Center of Information, Monitoring, and Countermeasures (Центр інформації, моніторингу і протидіїІсторія війни у піснях офіцера Боровка: від «Байрактара» до нашої Перемоги залишилося написати ще 15!
/ref>), being promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel.Taras Borovok: Fighting Russia with an ‘arsenal of songs’
/ref> Borovok said in an interview by the Turkish press: “The Armed Forces of Ukraine knew of my creative skills, so they asked me to prepare a video about the Turkish-made

Bayraktar TB2 Bayraktar TB2 (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Standard-bearer TB2'') is a Medium-altitude long-endurance UAV, medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operati ...

, a drone that had been helping our army a lot in the battlefield. I thought it was better to create a song about it. I composed the melody and came up with the lyrics in a short time. The song was written within 2 hours." Overall, after enlisting, Borovok spent 3 months writing more military songs. Together with his colleague Dmitro Naumov, they created "Duet named after

Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

" ("Дуэт имени путина") and wrote sarcastic, teasing songs in Russian, aimed at the enemy (Russian) audience. However they realized than their project serves to unite the Russians in their hatred to Ukraine, so they cancelled it. Taras later released alternative versions of "Bayraktar", including a

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

by Ukrainian DJ Andriy Muzon ( Ukrainian: Андрій Музон), and a

mashup Mashup may refer to: * Mashup (culture), the rearrangement of spliced parts of musical pieces as part of a subculture * Mashup (education), combining various forms of data and media by a teacher or student in an instructional setting * Mashup (mus ...

edition in collaboration with French singer-songwriter

Lisa Schettner Elisabeth Schettner, known as Lisa Schettner (previously Liz Schettner), is a French singer-songwriter and producer, of French, Czech and German descent. Environmentalist and human rights defender, Schettner is known for her activism through her s ...

. Due to his artistic collaboration with Lisa, Taras Borovok became known in France. In July 2022, Taras released song and video "HIMARS", about the missile system of the same name. The song used the similar type of

bawdy Ribaldry or blue comedy is humorous entertainment that ranges from bordering on indelicacy to indecency. Blue comedy is also referred to as "bawdiness" or being "bawdy". Like any humour, ribaldry may be read as conventional or subversive. Ribald ...

humor and simple but catchy tune as in "Bayraktar", beginning with "Our brotherly friend from America scared the Russians so bad they farted smoke". Borovok considers his songs to be an important part of

information warfare Information warfare (IW) is the battlespace use and management of information and communication technology (ICT) in pursuit of a competitive advantage over an opponent. It is different from ''cyberwarfare'' that attacks computers, software, and ...

, and shares his experience with

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

experts. For example, in September 2022, Taras released "Армія - це ти" (Armiya - tse ty, 'The army is you'), explaining that his goal was to motivate people to join the army, by shifting the initial motto "We Trust in the Armed Forces" to "Unity with the Army". he had written 35 songs since the beginning of the war. His second area of responsibility in the Information Centre is documentary films. The song "Bayraktar", as well as its mashup by Schettner, are discussed in the book ''Words, Music and Propaganda'', by Tjaša Mohar, Victor Kennedy.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Borovok, Taras 1973 births Living people Ukrainian colonels Ukrainian singer-songwriters Ukrainian military personnel of the Russian invasion of Ukraine