Ira Bilyk / Human Music Lab
– Independent Ukrainian music media
"Through blackouts and drones, the music doesn't stop in Kyiv. And we film it.”
Photo: Roman Solonynko
Human Music Lab UA is an independent music media project documenting Ukraine's jazz scene from the inside — the jams, the clubs, the festivals and the people who keep them alive through the war. Founded in Kyiv in 2026, it films and publishes what the scene actually looks like week to week. From 2027 the same work extends into Ukrainian classical music and the space where the two worlds meet.
Ukraine's music scene did not stop when the war started. Human Music Lab UA is the independent media that films it: programs at 32 Jazz Club, Carlo Muscat's (Malta) among them; JAM STREET at HVLV; Pavlo Halytskyi's Traditional Jazz Jam at Jazz Club 43, and Jazz Kolo, Ihor Zakus's teaching project, where he keeps bringing new musicians in — Bendik Hofseth (Norway), Rafał Sarnecki, Grzegorz Pałka (Poland) and many more.
Human Music Lab UA publishes in Ukrainian for people in Ukraine, and in English to introduce those musicians to the world.
Volunteer-run, looking for partners. In 2027 it opens into Ukrainian classical music as well.
In September 2026 Human Music Lab UA became a partner of the new Kyiv UNESCO City of Music office — a shared belief that archives and new work matter equally.
