Struggle over Identity: The Official and the Alternative "Belarusianness"

26. Independent Rock Music: Critical Reflection and Protest

CHAPTER 26 Independent Rock Music: Critical Reflection and Protest Another sphere conducive to an alternative Belarusianness that has access to public manifestation is Belarusian rock music. A number of Belarusian groups, many of which perform in Belarusian, have become symbols of Belarusian political nonconformism (Krama, Neuro Dubel, N.R.M., Palac, Novaye Neba [New Heaven], and many others). Their music, unlike the cinema and theater described in the preceding chapters or even the tournaments of medieval knight clubs to be described in the next chapter, has an entirely different formula of interaction with the audience. Their CDs become part of everyday life for young Belarusians. Hit parades, concerts, annual festivals, rock award ceremonies (e.g., the Rock Crown) have made Belarusian rock music an influential instrument of manifestation of alternative Belarusianness. Thus, the Basowiszcza festival, Belarus’s largest annual youth-music festival, has been held in Poland for seventeen years; the independent annual rock festival “Rock-Kola” has been held annually for seventeen years in Polatsk (in 2007 the local authorities declared that the following year’s festival would not be permitted in this city, and organizers plan to move the festival abroad).The annual Belarusian rock award “Rock Crown” ceremony was resurrected in 2005. Alternative Belarusian youth music is represented by a wide range of trends from heavy rock music and rap to ethno, folk, folk-rock, folk-modern, and ancient music. Besides solo albums, collective CDs are regularly released in Belarus, which consolidate Belarusian rock music on the basis of a common idea of free Belarus—an alternative to the existing Belarusian state. While these collections often combine compositions of different styles and genres, they are united in their freedom-loving aspirations. An example of such a collection is People’s Album (Narodny Albom) (First released in 1997, and presented as an annual concert under the same title since then), Christmas Album (Kaliadny albom), A Saint Night-2000 (Swiataia Noch-2000), I Was Born Here (Ia naradziusia tut) (2000, a collection of Belarusian songs, marches or anthems of Belarus at various times, is combined with patriotic compositions of contemporary musicians). A concert held in 2000 for the first time in Minsk, with the same title as the latter CD “I Was Born Here,” became the first Disk cover “Songs of Freedom” action of the all-national mobilization election campaign, in which a multitude of public organizations of Belarus participated. “I Was Born Here” was a vivid example of politicization of the actual youth music space, which led to cooperation between musicians and the political opposition. Another, later example of similar interaction is the musical project “Songs of Freedom” (Pesni Svabody, Parts 1, 2, 3).1 Some examples of popular lyrics of Belarusian alternative music provided below show the various forms political messages acquire in contemporary Belarusian music. They reveal the layer of critical reflection in the song lyrics concerning what goes on in the country. Some Belarusian musicians express their civic position by referring to Belarusian history. Their performances of music of the Middle Ages (often in modern arrangements) is in fact a means of popularizing the Belarusian past (the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania [GDL]), as the musicians themselves often mention. The group Stary Olsa (The Old Olsa) is a kind of trendsetter in contemporary Middle Ages Belarusian music with a clear “historical” concept. In its creative activities the group is guided by the style of the Middle Ages and popularizes the epoch of the GDL as a special 1 Three CDs were released in 2006–2007: Pesni Svabody, VoliaMusic, 2006, Pesni Svabody2 , VoliaMusic, 2006, Pesni Svabody-3 Ploshcha Kalinouskaga, VoliaMusic 2007. Tuzin Hitou, (music portal dedicated to Belarusian music), http://music.fromby.net/sliberty. Cultural Manifestation versus Social Reification 242 Independent Rock Music: Critical Reflection and Protest period of Belarusian musical culture. At the same time, the content of many compositions is also connected with the topics of that time. For instance, in the song “Litvin,” the authors refer to the heroic past of Litvin —a historic Belarusian name in GDL times. Here they mention heroic deeds near Smolensk (in wars with the Moscow Principality) and Grunwald . In this case, musicians overcome the gap in historiography caused by insufficient emphasis on the Battle of Grunwald in heroization of the Belarusian past in the works of Belarusian alternative historians mentioned by P. Sadouski.2 Litvin, the protagonist of...