MUSIC SCENE IN BELARUS

In this short and rather perfunctory paper I am going to tell you about the music which is listened to and popular in Belarus. Still, firstly it is needed to explain to a reader, what is Belarus. So, we'll begin with a short geographical note.

Belarus is a small country, which is situated west of Russia. This small but a rather proud state was formed after the dissolution of the USSR. Population of Belarus is about 10 million people. In its capital, Minsk dwell more than 1.7 million people. The author of this lines is lucky to live in this city. Telling about the music in Belarus, I will mean mostly Minsk, because main musical news are concentrated there.

So, what is the musical business in Belarus, and what music is listened to in this mysterious country? Telling about the musical scene in Belarus, I need to mention Russian music, because namely Russian music, and especially «famous» Russian pop-music is most popular and listened to here. Playbills of Minsk are full of names of various Russian artists, coming here to give one concert in some club or, if an artist or a group are popular enough, in one of the large concert halls. The first here is Minsk Concert Hall, in which, perhaps, the concerts are given every day. Up to the recent time performances of Russian pop groups and artists could make a rather poor impression to a western spectator, being rather funny than serious. At present this situation has changed and some Russian groups appeared, which have a good, quite European sound, and Western image, often being "copied" from famous groups. Last time most popular are groups including two-three teenagers on synthesizers and sexapile girl-vocalist. For example, I can name such groups as "Demo" or "Virus". Still, variants are possible. And if the group "Strelki", including seven sexual girls-vocalists (it seems that now their number has increased - the author of these lines failed in counting), comes to the stage and began singing something about unhappy love (this is their image), only a person with strong nerves is able not to cry bitterly. In general, all this is rather funny. Still, pop-music develops with the development of club culture, and though here Minsk strongly lags behind Moscow, with the passage of time all this should come to a normal European level. Though, I feel that this process will have some national specific features.

And here I do not mean the style, which can be named the pseudo-Slavonic one: suites a-la Russe, simple, if not to say, primitive melodies stylized by Russian folk tunes, on which an electron rhythm was put. But I am weakly interested such "investigations", because I am looking for a really original specimens, which could be interesting for a Western listener. Here there are roots of new and interesting tendencies. But we'll talk about it later.

Classical music. This music has here strong roots and rich traditions. Classical music is the only style in which the USSR was on one level with the West and could be in match with it. This music has a lot of admirers here and gather full concert halls, in spite of general economic crisis. Here I need to mention, that this country will be a wild place and a school of surviving for a western tourist. Because of economic conditions overall level of living here is extremely low. Still, here we do not talk about economy, though this aspects influence certainly influence the general culture level and musical priorities. Nevertheless, wonderful things can take place here. The level of general culture and education is still high enough on this territory. Concerts in the Minsk chamber music hall (this really perfect hall is situated in the St.Roch church, and there is excellent organ) are characterized by the "sold out" notice up to the present!

Also many intelligent people come to hear bards (the people, which sings their songs by a guitar; the main thing in these songs is poetry and music plays a secondary role). And the concerts of touring bards are not rare here. Also I could mention here Belarussian bards Shalkevich and Shedko. And, strange as this could be, new age music (namely this music is popularized by the author of these lines) also can be popular in Belarus. Still, this popularity needs to be created.

I do not know any Belarussian musician-instrumentalist, who is worth mentioning here. Not long ago the author of these lines has got a CD of new age instrumental music for a review, and he should be ashamed of himself, that he has given a rather fair review for the music of a composer, who has created something ambicious-conceptual, which can be rather associated with the lack of talent than with any fresh and interesting ideas. "Well, this is the first Belarusian new age CD! I need to support domestic composers",- this is what has thought the author of these lines, and how wrong was he! But it's enough for the sad things.

Jazz. This genre always had a rather narrow circle of its admirers, being at the same time rather stable. Jazz concerts take place rather regularly here. So, it is not so strange, that namely in Minsk is issued a respectable "Jazz Kvadrat". Possibly this is one of the best jazz editions, which are issued on the territory of the former Soviet Union. And though thanks to the efforts of the author of this article the "Jazz Kvadrat" began paying much more attention to world and new age music, in many respects this magazine is orthodox jazz-oriented up to the present. Well, in any case it is connected with the very name of the magazine. By the way, not only this respectable edition is issued in Minsk. "Musical Newspaper" is issued here, too. This is a musical edition which has a few analogues in the Post-Soviet countries. "Musical Newspaper" specializes mostly on the youth culture. Techno, progressive rock, jungle, ambient, indie, electro, industrial, extreme, rap, pop, rock and so on are the main trends of materials placed in the newspaper. Still, now it contains a regular page of new age music…

What's next? Hard rock and heavy metal! This music also has a stable popularity here, and possesses a steady circle of admirers among young people. There is a so-called "philophonist club" in Minsk, being the place where music lovers come, where they can exchange CDs and buy new ones, mostly of "pirate" production. In general, the problem of "piracy" is a separate broad topic, which demands more than one article. So, I will tell about it in a few words. This is a serious problem, which will be here for a long time. In spite of the fact that the state tries struggle actively with the piracy, it is unconquerable at such a low level of life. For example, how can a person buy a legal CD for $15, if he earns $30 - 40 (yes, don't be surprised, these are our monthly salaries)? Certainly, this music lover will buy such a CD not for $15, but for $1.5 - 2. And nothing could be done with this now. Still, if music companies would find an opportunity to sell licenses for their production for a cheap price to support the legal market, in spite of the low income, this will of course play a positive role here. All the same, musical market here will be civilized. The question is, when will it happen.

One of the companies, which promotes a legal musical production and struggle with piracy here is PAN-Records Company. The author has mentioned this company here not because he is collaborating with it, but because the efforts of PAN-Records are worthy of respect and support. Thanks to these companies, legal musical market is being formed here.

Now, what next can I tell you about? Progressive rock, punk and so on. Please, don't be surprised that I have mixed progressive rock, punk and wrote "and so on". I just can't tell you anything interesting about it. Still, there is one group, which is "widely known in a small circle of admirers". Its name is "Neiro Dubel'". The guys are playing a little bit somber and rather original punk music. So, they are real punks.

There are groups here, which are playing traditional rock, for example "Krama" or "NRM". Still I think that these groups, playing good music, at the same time being not very original, are not of particular interest. As more interesting I could mention here high-professional group «Mojo Blues». More traditional is "Lyapis Trubetskoy" group, performing original music, which, maybe is not very complicated. Still the songs by this group can be characterized by ironical texts. No wonder that this group became rather popular also in Russia.

And here we have come to the most interesting part of our short narration, to that living, original music, which has a real future. How do you think, what music is very popular both in Russia and here? This is the music by "Ivan Kupala" group. The authors of this project has made an electronic mastering of Russian folk songs, having preserved a living soul, melodies, folk instruments in such a way, that it can be heard freshly and originally in a most popular dance club. And though this Russian project was made under the influence of "Deep Forest", which is clearly heard in the music, in this songs we can feel something very ancient, which was before Christianity, thousand years ago. The essence of Russian soul is displayed in these melodies. While listening to this music, which is quite close to traditional Irish melodies, one can understand, that all this music has come from one source.

There are some groups in Belarus, which play folk music in completely new interpretation, quite modern and unexpectedly. Here we can name such groups as "Palac" and "Kriwi". Namely this original music, containing unique Belarussian color, will provoke interest in Europe, and maybe in America. And it already comes to Europe. I have no doubts that this music has good future. I will be not surprised if I will hear, for example, a chorus of Belarussian folk singers together with American Indians with some techno rhythms, or something like this. This would be really great! I am sure, that this will happen in not so distant future.

So, I think that Belarus can contribute many interesting things to the music of the World. Obviously this time did not come yet. But I am sure that it will come soon.

This is a musical scene of Belarus. If you are interested with this short and perfunctory notes, I could continue this tale about music in Belarus. I am waiting for your responses and I am ready to tell you more about it!

Serge Kozlovsky