The album ‘1654’ is the result of the second music-and-military camp, Camp3, launched in 2025. The LP was created by active-duty military artists from the Third Army Corps between combat missions, with Ukrainian musicians Kurs Valüt, The Maneken, Zhenia Kurhan, Nord Division, and Hyphen Dash serving as mentors on the release. The album is also accompanied by a four-part film documenting the entire process of creating ‘1654’
About the album
Over the course of the three-day camp, service members of units within the Third Army Corps ‘turned their own wartime experiences into part of contemporary Ukrainian military culture’. The LP features nine tracks, each telling a distinct story.
The album title ‘1654’ refers to the founding year of Kharkiv — the Camp3 organizers call it an important city not only for the project’s participants but also for the broader Ukrainian military context.
In the rap lyrics, the soldiers explore themes of fear, loss, brotherhood, expectations, rage, love, memory, and life between combat missions.
‘For me, the microphone and the studio are first and foremost a way to reset and an opportunity to put into words what you feel between combat missions. There are no fictional stories here — we write about what we saw, what we went through, about our brothers-in-arms, and about what remains inside’, one of the camp participants with the call sign ‘Druh Eminem’ shares.
The album was released on the AB3.MUSIC label.
A four-part documentary project was also released alongside the album. It documents the entire recording process of ‘1654’ and the interactions between the soldiers and the musicians and sound producers. The first episode is already available to watch on the YouTube channel of the 3rd Army Corps.
About Camp3
The music-and-military camp was first held in 2025. The three-day intensive is designed to give service members an opportunity to express their wartime experiences through music.
At the same time, while working on the project, the organizers wanted to emphasize the need to unite civilian and military societies. Ukrainian musicians and sound producers are invited to curate the album recordings.
‘This is the first music intensive in history created by soldiers for soldiers, directly in the area of combat missions. Not just in Ukraine, but in the world. We had the opportunity to capture not only the soldiers’ voices, but also their thoughts and emotions — something that may eventually become the folklore of this war. Just as Cossack songs and songs from the era of the Ukrainian War of Independence resonate with us today’, the camp’s founder and service member Oleh Hrabar says.
About the first Camp3 release
The camp’s first collaborative release was the self-titled ‘Camp3’ EP. In 2025, it was recorded by military artists from the Third Assault Brigade together with Ukrainian musicians GRABAR, Badwor7h, Yuvi, Hyphen Dash, Zhenia Kurhan, and Sasha Chemerov.
The intensive brought together both service members with a musical background and those who were self-taught or wanted to learn how to make music.
Read more about the release in our article.
