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Ukrainian and Russian flags waved side by side at a rap concert in Istanbul. Not everyone thought it was beautiful.

Source: Meduza

Belarusian singer Max Korzh performed in Istanbul on June 6, calling for an end to the war in Ukraine, as he has at his other concerts. Ukrainian and Russian flags filled the venue. Online, the reaction was heated.

It was his first concert since February 2022 in a country Russian citizens can enter without a visa. Confining his concerts to Europe made them off limits to most Russians, and the prospect of a show they could attend sparked a frenzy among fans. The Beşiktaş stadium — with an official capacity of 42,000 for sporting events — was packed. The day before the show, fans around the city celebrated the coming performance. They remained peaceful, unlike the unrest that accompanied Korzh’s concert in Warsaw last year.

The venue was filled with national flags from Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus — both the official Belarusian flag and the opposition’s white-red-white banner — along with flags from Kazakhstan, Georgia, Latvia, Israel, and other countries with large Russian-speaking populations. Flag-bearers danced and took photos together.

Korzh performed his anti-war song “Svoy dom” (“My Home”), written in 2022, leading the crowd in chants of “stop the war” before closing the song and addressing the audience: “Each of you can stop it. Simply by not taking part in this hatred. Not taking part in these comments. Not taking part in these arguments […]. And of course, not taking part in it physically.”

Music journalist Alexander Gorbachev’s book Kogda My Poyom, Podnimaetsya Veter (“When We Sing, the Wind Rises: A Brief History of Popular Music in Russia in the 21st Century) traces the rise of Russian pop music in the 21st century, including how Korzh became known to listeners beyond the rap world. It is available for purchase at this link.

The concert has generated fierce debate on social media across Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and beyond. Most comments are positive. Many users write that the concert gave them hope for reconciliation, thanking Korzh for bringing people together through his music.

But many Ukrainians expressed anger that Korzh’s abstract talk of peace never directly named Russia as the aggressor.

Korzh has been accused of absolving “ordinary” Russians of responsibility by placing blame on unnamed politicians while Russian soldiers commit crimes in Ukraine. Some have suggested that displaying Ukrainian flags alongside Russian ones was itself a provocation.

Korzh publicly condemned the war on the first day of Russia’s full-scale invasion and recorded Svoy dom in the summer of 2022. The chorus includes the line: “Right is he who defends his home.” Around the same time, he canceled all his planned concerts in Russia.

Since 2023, Korzh has been performing across Europe, calling at each show for an end to the war and urging audiences to draw a distinction between politicians and ordinary people. Hard-line Ukrainian commentators criticized him for hedging, arguing that he was unwilling to risk alienating his large Russian following

At a concert in Bucharest that preceded the Istanbul show — attended by many Ukrainians — the crowd began chanting “Putin — khuylo!” (“Putin is a prick”). Korzh shut it down: “Guys, at this show and the next one, nobody’s name gets chanted except mine — good context or bad, doesn’t matter. Don’t hype anyone.” Security at the Bucharest show had already been confiscating national flags.