Lament of the Unknown Soldier (L.O.T.U.S.)

Some losses do not have an ending. For the families of people missing in war, there is the long, difficult space between hope and grief: the absence of news, the waiting, and the life that has to continue around it.

Lament of the Unknown Soldier grew from that space. Created by MiStar — composer/lyricist Mike Scialom and singer Anna Starushkevych — it is a musical response to the world of MAGURA, the film about the effect on loved ones when a soldier in Ukraine is missing in action. The song stays close to that human experience, giving shape to feelings that are often hard to put into words.

Listen to the song on your preferred streaming platform, including Spotify and YouTube Music.

It is also available on Bandcamp.

Made in Lviv

The recording was made in Lviv in February 2025 at Jenny Records Lviv Studio, then released in April 2025. Anna Starushkevych sings, with Mykola Yerega on guitar. Ostap Panchyshyn recorded and arranged the track, and Mar'yan Kryskiv mastered it.

The people behind the recording brought different skills to one carefully made piece of music. That sense of collaboration is part of the song itself: a composer and singer working across disciplines, and a Lviv-based recording team helping bring the work into the world.

Final note

Lament of the Unknown Soldier was made with care, in Lviv, by artists who understand that music cannot resolve the realities of war. What it can do is make room for remembrance and attention. In this song, a private act of listening becomes a way of acknowledging the people who wait, the people who are absent, and the lives changed by that absence.

The people behind the song

MiStar — Anna Starushkevych, singer; Mike Scialom, composer
Recording — Jenny Records Lviv Studio, Lviv, February 2025
Guitar — Mykola Yerega
Recording and arrangement — Ostap Panchyshyn
Mastering — Mar'yan Kryskiv
Artwork photo — Dasha Tenditna
Cover-art design — Man-wai Wong

A note on MAGURA

MAGURA is the film that opened the way for this collaboration. It centres on the lives of people affected when a soldier in Ukraine is missing in action. Lament of the Unknown Soldier is its musical companion: not a retelling of the film, but another way of staying with the questions it raises.

View Project

It was just a misty morning
Far away at sea
I wondered if you’d ever
Be coming home to me

And in the furthest distance
Floating in the breeze
I saw no life forsaken
And fell down to my knees

Do you believe in right and wrong, right and wrong, right and wrong?

Browsing at the station
Looking for the news
Now longing’s back in fashion
‘N y’all can sing the blues

And in the purple twilight
Whatever should I see?
All the dreams I’d hoped for
Washed back up to me

Do you believe in right and wrong, right and wrong, right and wrong?

It’s everything you wanted
As far as the eye can see
And I will never mention
The land where we were free

And in the everafter
They sing a different tune
'Cos we are dancing hand in hand
Under a silver moon

I do believe in right and wrong, right and wrong, right and wrong
I do believe in right and wrong, right and wrong, right and wrong
It was just a misty morning, just a misty morning….