Review of Belarusian Culture: Music (September-October '22)
REVIEW OF BELARUSIAN CULTURE: MUSIC (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER '22)
REVIEW OF BELARUSIAN CULTURE: MUSIC (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER '22)
REVIEW OF BELARUSIAN CULTURE: MUSIC (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER '22)
REVIEW OF BELARUSIAN CULTURE: MUSIC (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER '22)
REVIEW OF BELARUSIAN CULTURE: MUSIC (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER '22)
REVIEW OF BELARUSIAN CULTURE: MUSIC (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER '22)
REVIEW OF BELARUSIAN CULTURE: MUSIC (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER '22)
REVIEW OF BELARUSIAN CULTURE: MUSIC (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER '22)
REVIEW OF BELARUSIAN CULTURE: MUSIC (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER '22)
REVIEW OF BELARUSIAN CULTURE: MUSIC (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER '22)
Pop & rock. Cancellation and battles for online success
Main Trends of the Season
Pop & rock. Cancellation and battles for online success
Main Trends of the Season
- Cancellation of artists is gaining momentum: the musical space is shaped by both the state policy of banning everything Belarusian and the "public control" of haters.
- Detentions of musicians continue: Tor Band and Litesound were put behind bars. In total, since August 2020, the Belarusian Council for Culture has recorded 214 facts of repression against musicians. State terror destroys the space of creation of meanings, but is unable to offer anything in return.
- Belarusian musicians gather large audiences in Europe and give successful concerts overseas. The diaspora now exists in an active phase. But how much time does an artist have?
- The Belarusian language is in trend, but it lacks quality: sometimes lyrics resemble a mechanical Google translation.
The map of meanings
Era of cancellation: cancelling and hiding
The map of meanings
Era of cancellation: cancelling and hiding
It is interesting and sad at the same time to live in the era of total cancellation. What is happening now sometimes resembles a wild hunt with nuclear weapons: no winners, no losers - only the remains of victims of prohibitions.
On the one hand, Belarusian music within the country remains deep underground and fully exists only outside the territory of despair: when a rare Belarusian band goes on tour to other countries and gets a chance to earn money there.
The state has cancelled independent Belarusian music. Now old and young Russian artists arrive here in unlimited numbers. The cultural landscape has completely changed, and hearing the Belarusian language at a concert in Minsk today is a real challenge. Instead of Volskі - Leps, instead of Vajciuškievič - Viktor Korolev, instead of Naviband - Lesha Svik.
On the other hand, Belarusian community carefully observes public performances of its artists. Every statement and every step are discussed on social networks, and in particularly clinical cases opinion leaders try to edit the reality and even the track list. A vivid example is singer Palina, who at a concert in Warsaw performed the song "Облака - белогривые лошадки" and received a wave of hate from Twitter users who were dissatisfied with the "Russian" repertoire.
Not all Belarusian artists can withstand this consistency check. For example, "ЛСП" band, which in the spring postponed its Russian tour due to the impossibility to perform in such circumstances, and the leader of the band spoke out against the war, successfully toured Russian cities in October and November. What has changed since spring? The question is rhetorical. The war is still going on.
Not all band members took part in this tour. For example, the guitarist of the Russian band "Мумий тролль" played with "ЛСП" as a session player. When information about the tour became public, the musicians simply removed the concert schedule from the official website but did not comment on the situation.
Modern artists must select their repertoire carefully and be good at geography. Rhetoric courses are optional.
On the one hand, Belarusian music within the country remains deep underground and fully exists only outside the territory of despair: when a rare Belarusian band goes on tour to other countries and gets a chance to earn money there.
The state has cancelled independent Belarusian music. Now old and young Russian artists arrive here in unlimited numbers. The cultural landscape has completely changed, and hearing the Belarusian language at a concert in Minsk today is a real challenge. Instead of Volskі - Leps, instead of Vajciuškievič - Viktor Korolev, instead of Naviband - Lesha Svik.
On the other hand, Belarusian community carefully observes public performances of its artists. Every statement and every step are discussed on social networks, and in particularly clinical cases opinion leaders try to edit the reality and even the track list. A vivid example is singer Palina, who at a concert in Warsaw performed the song "Облака - белогривые лошадки" and received a wave of hate from Twitter users who were dissatisfied with the "Russian" repertoire.
Not all Belarusian artists can withstand this consistency check. For example, "ЛСП" band, which in the spring postponed its Russian tour due to the impossibility to perform in such circumstances, and the leader of the band spoke out against the war, successfully toured Russian cities in October and November. What has changed since spring? The question is rhetorical. The war is still going on.
Not all band members took part in this tour. For example, the guitarist of the Russian band "Мумий тролль" played with "ЛСП" as a session player. When information about the tour became public, the musicians simply removed the concert schedule from the official website but did not comment on the situation.
Modern artists must select their repertoire carefully and be good at geography. Rhetoric courses are optional.
Repressions continue
Repressions continue
Repressions against musicians continue. Since August 2020, the Belarusian Council for Culture has recorded 214 facts of repression against musicians: concert bans, harassment, imprisonment. A recent example is the detention of members of the completely trivial pop band Litesound: a "repentant" video with the musicians was recorded and it was noted that unregistered weapons were found in their possession. This is how the state takes revenge on artists who received something from it at one time but turned out to be "unreliable". It is similar to the behaviour of an offended child who has not yet developed emotional intelligence. According to this logic, Belarus is a country of "ungrateful" artists who were allowed to work, but they do not work in the way the state needs.
Another striking example is the detention of the musicians of Tor Band from Rahačoŭ. In 2020 they recorded rock anthems, which eventually became one of the symbols of the protest. Tor Band members were detained together with their wives, and they were not released after 15 days. It was reported that the security forces were also interested in everyone who took part in the filming of the band's music videos, and also seized the Tor Band accounts and deleted all music videos with more than 5 million views in total. This is a state’s attempt to plug the hole in "our common boat" with a rag, and to wave away everyone who noticed that the boat was turned against the current.
Two members of Irdorath band and other Belarusian artists remain behind bars. Being an independent musician and continuing to live in Belarus is a serious risk. Being a Belarusian independent musician and touring Europe while living in Belarus is heroic. Many have put their projects on hold and live in inner emigration. Obvious examples are "Крама" and "Палац", which do not have the opportunity to perform in Belarus but remain within its geographical borders. These bands are on pause, like many others. Only a few can afford working in conditions of inner emigration. As an example, the band Akute, which was blacklisted in 2020 but found the strength to release a new album, "Напалову тут", while remaining in Belarus.
Others emigrated for real and collect their bands and equipment piece by piece, like Relikt and "J:Mopc", or try to earn money and adjust to life in a foreign country in a different way: working in construction or in a shop during the week and touring on weekends - this is a new reality.
Another striking example is the detention of the musicians of Tor Band from Rahačoŭ. In 2020 they recorded rock anthems, which eventually became one of the symbols of the protest. Tor Band members were detained together with their wives, and they were not released after 15 days. It was reported that the security forces were also interested in everyone who took part in the filming of the band's music videos, and also seized the Tor Band accounts and deleted all music videos with more than 5 million views in total. This is a state’s attempt to plug the hole in "our common boat" with a rag, and to wave away everyone who noticed that the boat was turned against the current.
Two members of Irdorath band and other Belarusian artists remain behind bars. Being an independent musician and continuing to live in Belarus is a serious risk. Being a Belarusian independent musician and touring Europe while living in Belarus is heroic. Many have put their projects on hold and live in inner emigration. Obvious examples are "Крама" and "Палац", which do not have the opportunity to perform in Belarus but remain within its geographical borders. These bands are on pause, like many others. Only a few can afford working in conditions of inner emigration. As an example, the band Akute, which was blacklisted in 2020 but found the strength to release a new album, "Напалову тут", while remaining in Belarus.
Others emigrated for real and collect their bands and equipment piece by piece, like Relikt and "J:Mopc", or try to earn money and adjust to life in a foreign country in a different way: working in construction or in a shop during the week and touring on weekends - this is a new reality.
New Belarusian music: attempts of presence
New Belarusian music: attempts of presence
After the protests of 2020, the art of resistance reached its peak: in just a few months, more than a hundred protest songs of varying degrees of quality were created. After that, there was a predictable decline: repression, forced emigration, and attempts to make a living did not contribute to the emergence of new and high-quality music. The same decline can be seen even now.
When it comes to successful examples, we can mention Akute's new album - "Напалову тут" ["Halfway here"] - in which the band returns to its guitar roots after an ambiguous experiment with electronic sound. Or Gregory Neko's quite successful experiment – a contemporary mix of electronics and jazz-like improvization, which sometimes resembles a currently popular London band The Comet Is Coming. A cool release by band "Союз" - a vivid homage to the Brazilian music of the 1970s with gentle melodies. The album, by the way, received a compliment from the American star Tyler The Creator. The album Hlybini by an accordionist Alaksandr Jasinski, a former member of the Fratrez and Bosae Sonca bands, should be mentioned: an interesting combination of progressive rock, experimental music and jazz, at least from the point of view of the use of the instrument.
But these are all quite well-known names. New Belarusian music lacks a fresh perspective and interesting ideas. On the one hand, this is the result of total state censorship. On the other hand, it is also a question of musical horizons of an artist when an initially secondary product is used as a reference. Thus, music parasitizes genre clichés and tries to conform to certain standards: it sounds either childishly naive or predictable and uninteresting. In the first case, there are timid reasons for optimism, in the second case, one can safely switch on the “grandpa” mode and dwell on the fact that Belarusian music is no longer the same.
In October, a popular TikTok artist kirkiimad released the album “Crowd of Krots”: a compilation of genre clichés of teenage pop music, decorated with a decent sound design. Another example: in September, a new track by a currently popular trio uniqe, nkeeei & Artem Shilovets was released – a song completely devoid of ideas but with 300,000 views on YouTube.
A new Belarusian musician dreams of getting into trends on TikTok or beating the YouTube algorithms. This is a fight with artificial intelligence for the right to exist on the Internet. And the artistic value of expression here has completely secondary importance. For a beginner Belarusian artist deprived of media support, this is the only way to a potential listener. Design and survival tactics are in the first place, artistic value is a nice bonus.
At the same time, the Belarusian language is an important element of creative expression even for Russian-speaking artists. This is a legal expression of a position and a painless attempt to say something that supposedly cannot be said. For many musicians, this is a difficult philological experience, so it turns out to be inappropriate, to put it mildly. The lyrics of the songs are created based on the school course of Belarusian and Google, so they limp on both legs with Russian words and weak rhymes. The question of whether it is for better or for worse is debatable and does not require an answer.
A vivid example is the song "Дзікунка" (“Savage”) by a young singer Iva Sativa. This is an attempt to combine the Belarusian language and a fashionable beat, but the attempt is quite weak. It can be seen that in the artist's mind, Belarusian culture is a clichéd image of grandmother's singing about maidens and round dances, through which ridiculous lines appear: “Карацей кажучы, ну што б ты панімаў, гэта Беларусь, ёў, ацані запал” ("In short, well, so that you understand, this is Belarus, hey, check out the passion.")
When it comes to successful examples, we can mention Akute's new album - "Напалову тут" ["Halfway here"] - in which the band returns to its guitar roots after an ambiguous experiment with electronic sound. Or Gregory Neko's quite successful experiment – a contemporary mix of electronics and jazz-like improvization, which sometimes resembles a currently popular London band The Comet Is Coming. A cool release by band "Союз" - a vivid homage to the Brazilian music of the 1970s with gentle melodies. The album, by the way, received a compliment from the American star Tyler The Creator. The album Hlybini by an accordionist Alaksandr Jasinski, a former member of the Fratrez and Bosae Sonca bands, should be mentioned: an interesting combination of progressive rock, experimental music and jazz, at least from the point of view of the use of the instrument.
But these are all quite well-known names. New Belarusian music lacks a fresh perspective and interesting ideas. On the one hand, this is the result of total state censorship. On the other hand, it is also a question of musical horizons of an artist when an initially secondary product is used as a reference. Thus, music parasitizes genre clichés and tries to conform to certain standards: it sounds either childishly naive or predictable and uninteresting. In the first case, there are timid reasons for optimism, in the second case, one can safely switch on the “grandpa” mode and dwell on the fact that Belarusian music is no longer the same.
In October, a popular TikTok artist kirkiimad released the album “Crowd of Krots”: a compilation of genre clichés of teenage pop music, decorated with a decent sound design. Another example: in September, a new track by a currently popular trio uniqe, nkeeei & Artem Shilovets was released – a song completely devoid of ideas but with 300,000 views on YouTube.
A new Belarusian musician dreams of getting into trends on TikTok or beating the YouTube algorithms. This is a fight with artificial intelligence for the right to exist on the Internet. And the artistic value of expression here has completely secondary importance. For a beginner Belarusian artist deprived of media support, this is the only way to a potential listener. Design and survival tactics are in the first place, artistic value is a nice bonus.
At the same time, the Belarusian language is an important element of creative expression even for Russian-speaking artists. This is a legal expression of a position and a painless attempt to say something that supposedly cannot be said. For many musicians, this is a difficult philological experience, so it turns out to be inappropriate, to put it mildly. The lyrics of the songs are created based on the school course of Belarusian and Google, so they limp on both legs with Russian words and weak rhymes. The question of whether it is for better or for worse is debatable and does not require an answer.
A vivid example is the song "Дзікунка" (“Savage”) by a young singer Iva Sativa. This is an attempt to combine the Belarusian language and a fashionable beat, but the attempt is quite weak. It can be seen that in the artist's mind, Belarusian culture is a clichéd image of grandmother's singing about maidens and round dances, through which ridiculous lines appear: “Карацей кажучы, ну што б ты панімаў, гэта Беларусь, ёў, ацані запал” ("In short, well, so that you understand, this is Belarus, hey, check out the passion.")
Belarusian bands: mobile triumphs
Belarusian bands: mobile triumphs
Popular Belarusian musicians find their audience outside the geographical borders of Belarus. Four times a year "Петля пристрастия" tours Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Germany, the Czech Republic, Cyprus and Georgia. Optionally – Austria and Armenia. Attendance at such concerts is much higher than before 2020, and this can easily be explained by mass emigration. Nizkiz and Naviband organize regular European tours.
Lavon Volski and "J:Mopc" band successfully toured the USA and gathered quite a large audience even in those cities where it seemed impossible before - Belarusian diasporas all over the world are very active. Belarusian concerts are a platform for starting self-identification and reflection, a territory for uniting according to nationality.
For popular bands, this is a great opportunity to attract a new active audience and earn money. On the other hand, young Belarusian projects are completely deprived of the possibility of a stage debut: there are simply no venues. Major media have crossed off the cultural and educational mission from their agenda and only watch famous artists. Niche music media have ceased to exist. There are several Telegram channels that write about new Belarusian music but their audience is very limited: the largest one has less than 2 thousand subscribers.
It is difficult to call the conditions for creating music favourable, the main task for an artist is to find an opportunity to reach listeners. And almost the only way for debutants here is to fight the algorithms of large social networks.
Lavon Volski and "J:Mopc" band successfully toured the USA and gathered quite a large audience even in those cities where it seemed impossible before - Belarusian diasporas all over the world are very active. Belarusian concerts are a platform for starting self-identification and reflection, a territory for uniting according to nationality.
For popular bands, this is a great opportunity to attract a new active audience and earn money. On the other hand, young Belarusian projects are completely deprived of the possibility of a stage debut: there are simply no venues. Major media have crossed off the cultural and educational mission from their agenda and only watch famous artists. Niche music media have ceased to exist. There are several Telegram channels that write about new Belarusian music but their audience is very limited: the largest one has less than 2 thousand subscribers.
It is difficult to call the conditions for creating music favourable, the main task for an artist is to find an opportunity to reach listeners. And almost the only way for debutants here is to fight the algorithms of large social networks.
Conclusions and predictions
Conclusions and predictions
For some time, popular Belarusian musicians will have the opportunity to perform in front of a large audience, but this resource is, unfortunately, exhaustible. For those artists who live in Belarus, European tours can end at any moment - when the borders with the European Union are closed for good. Those who live outside the country can face the passivity of people, who will inevitably stop going to concerts en masse. First, it will be a reaction to studio passivity of Belarusian musicians. Second, endless tours will inevitably overfeed the audience.
The activity and quality of creative work of new Belarusian artists will decline. Now they do not have channels and venues for their broad presentation. Belarusian media only occasionally pay attention to artists and are completely passive in relation to culture.
Distribution of creative work is now a struggle with artificial intelligence for the right to exist: in such conditions, it is not about a unique product, but about compliance with certain standards.
The pressure of repression forces artists to censor themselves and carefully select messages to feel safe, while the public, in turn, expects bold actions and statements from opinion leaders. A perfect newsmaker in 2022 must be uncompromising and ready to sacrifice. But what will they get in return? A prime-time moment of fame that ends the next day, and the consequences can be disastrous. Artists have long assessed possible risks and are not ready to sacrifice.
Belarusian musicians are now under tremendous pressure. On the one hand – repression by the authorities, on the other – cancellation in case of unpopular steps and creativity manifestations. In such circumstances, an artist (if possible) usually puts creative activity on hold and engages in a more rewarding and profitable business.
The activity and quality of creative work of new Belarusian artists will decline. Now they do not have channels and venues for their broad presentation. Belarusian media only occasionally pay attention to artists and are completely passive in relation to culture.
Distribution of creative work is now a struggle with artificial intelligence for the right to exist: in such conditions, it is not about a unique product, but about compliance with certain standards.
The pressure of repression forces artists to censor themselves and carefully select messages to feel safe, while the public, in turn, expects bold actions and statements from opinion leaders. A perfect newsmaker in 2022 must be uncompromising and ready to sacrifice. But what will they get in return? A prime-time moment of fame that ends the next day, and the consequences can be disastrous. Artists have long assessed possible risks and are not ready to sacrifice.
Belarusian musicians are now under tremendous pressure. On the one hand – repression by the authorities, on the other – cancellation in case of unpopular steps and creativity manifestations. In such circumstances, an artist (if possible) usually puts creative activity on hold and engages in a more rewarding and profitable business.