Davide Martello plays for peace in Medyka, Poland on 16 March 2022;
Credit: Ali Sahib
It was Karl Marx who said that "history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce".
This is not a photograph from The Pianist film but it was taken in the same place, Poland, where German pianist Davide Martello recently played for peace in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Davide Martello is a German pianist of Italian descent, who often performs under the name "Klavierkunst" ("piano art" in English). He has gained renown over the past ten years by travelling to conflict zones and playing his grand piano, which he tows behind his bicycle using a powered trailer. His goal is to travel the world and spread a message of hope and peace through his music.
Over Christmas 2012, Davide Martello played for soldiers in Afghanistan. He also performed at the Maidan Revolution in Kyiv and during the civil war in Donetsk in Ukraine in April 2014. In November 2015, he played John Lennon's "Imagine" outside the Bataclan theatre in Paris following the terrorist attacks. More recently, in June 2021, he played at the memorial of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota (United States).
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on Thursday 24 February 2022, the travelling pianist was spotted playing at the Poland-Ukraine border where he greeted refugees and sang the words "Ukraine please stay strong!".
Luxembourg-based freelance photographer Ali Sahib took these photographs of Davide Martello playing in Medyka, the border crossing that connects Poland in the southeast with Ukraine, on Wednesday 16 March 2022. Mr Sahib recently undertook a trip to Poland and Ukraine to document the war and its consequences, as well as to help those affected by the conflict.
