A unique NFT-project, Voice of Taras Shevchenko, was launched on April 20, 2022, with the aim of raising funds to help Ukraine and Ukrainians affected by Russia’s war on the country.
The project is based on the artifical intelligence R&D technology of the Ukrainian marketing agency TABASCO, which managed to create a reconstruction of the voice of the most famous Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko who was living in 19th century. 5 of the most iconic Shevchenko’s verses were voiced. The development of the project lasted 11 months and 150 experts from various fields took part in it.
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The total of 650 unqiue and non-repeating NFTs will be released with excerpts from well-known poems by Shevchenko read by the author. The first collection is hosted on OpenSea, which is an excerpt from the poem “Caucasus”:
Keep fighting — you are sure to win!
God helps you in your fight!
For fame and freedom march with you,
and right is on your side!
The poet’s patriotic and motivating words are placed on 75 unique animations, each of which differs in color, thematic icons, words, and timing.
The initial cost of each NFT reflects its importance in the collection. The highest starting price for full fragments (11 seconds of timing ) with the colors of the Ukrainian flag is 1 ETH ( approximately $3000). There are only 5 such fragments in the world. The most affordable starting price of NFT with Shevchenko’s voice starts at 0.03 ETH (roughly $100).
Owners of the TOP-25 most expensive NFTs receive merchandise of the project, which is a branded hoodie with the words of Shevchenko and QR of the acquired NFT.
All funds received from the sales of NFTs will support Ukrainian volunteer projects. We encourage volunteer projects to join our resources on social media and send their urgent funding needs.
All payments and results will be public and approved by the project supervisory board.
By buying NFT with the voice of Taras Shevchenko, the owner:
- gets a unique record of the voice of the Ukrainian poet
- helps Ukraine and Ukrainians
- spreads Ukrainian culture around the world
R&D restoration of Shevchenko’s voice
There are no recordings of the poet’s voice – the first device for recording and reproducing sound, the phonograph, was invented 16 years after Taras Shevchenko’s death.
Accurate anthropometric data were used to implement the project, which was established thanks to his posthumous mask, which is stored in the Taras Shevchenko National Museum. To make the voice as true as possible, a group of Shevchenko scholars joined the project, searching for and analyzing additional information based on eyewitness accounts of the writer’s appearance, voice, lifestyle, habits, and illnesses.
Based on the obtained data, a 3D model of Shevchenko’s head was created. Then, using a multifactor model and a neural network, the three most representative of the 108 candidates were selected. They corresponded as much as possible to dozens of formed parameters, including appearance, height, physique, region, health features, and others. In the last stage, thanks to the technology of neural synthesis, the features of the three voices were combined, and the voice of the writer was restored.
Look more in the explanatory video
The team of the research project of Taras Shevchenko’s voice:
* TABASCO Agency – TOP creative agency of Ukraine
* Wantent – a platform for content analysis based on artificial intelligence
* Taras Shevchenko National Museum in Kyiv
Links
Project page https://opensea.io/ShevchenkoVoice
Website https://www.shevchenkovoice.com/
Instagram https://instagram.com/shevchenkovoice
Twitter https://twitter.com/shevchenkovoice
Telegram https://t.me/voiceofshevchenko
E-mail info@shevchenkovoice.com
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