Pianist plays ‘What a Wonderful World’ as civilians flee war-hit Ukraine

With the sounds of bombings reverberating across Ukraine, a faint sound of a pianist playing the piano in Ukraine’s Lviv signified hope, poetry, and beauty in times of war. 

A viral video on the internet displays a young woman in a beanie playing Louis Armstrong’s ‘What a Wonderful World’  on the piano at a railway station in Lviv. The background of the video shows a crowd of exhausted Ukrainians fleeing their homeland. 

While most of the crowd continues to walk in and out of the frame, a few people are seen stopping, watching the pianist from a distance. While one woman is seen filming the instrumentalist with her phone’s camera, another woman with a toddler is seen smiling at the musician.

The 41-second video was uploaded by Reuters’ special correspondent Andrew RC Marshall on Twitter. 

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“Outside Lviv station, which is thronging with exhausted refugees fleeing war in eastern Ukraine, an accomplished pianist is playing “What a Wonderful World.” It’s hauntingly beautiful,” read the caption of the tweet.

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Since its upload, the video has garnered over 2.3 million views and hundreds of comments on the platform. 

One Twitter user wrote, “Her beautiful playing of What a wonderful world in Ukraine put me to tears! I know it is near impossible (NOT impossible) but I wonder if there is a video interview of the pianist? I for one would LOVE to interview her & chat.”

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Another user added, “Crisis brings about indomitable courage, strength, resiliency … like this woman playing What a Wonderful World outside Lviv station … like @ZelenskyyUa … like the #Ukrainian during attack. We must #StandWithUkraine.”

Composed by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss and sung by American vocalist Louis Armstrong, ‘What a Wonderful World’ was released in 1967. The track was featured in the 1987 war film ‘Good Morning, Vietnam’.