Belarusian rock
Encyclopedia
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
ian rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
has been developing since the early 1980s. The most important rock bands include Mroja (later renamed to N.R.M.
N.R.M.
N.R.M. is a rock band from Minsk, Belarus, founded in 1994. They are considered to be the most popular rock band in the country...
), Bonda, Krama, Kriwi
KRIWI
KRIWI is a Belarusian folk and rock band. The band name literally means "a person belonging to the ancient Belarusian tribe of Kryvians".KRIWI is known for using a variety of European folk instruments and mixing them with modern technology of synthesizer and samples, with powerful vocals of Veranika...
, Lyapis Trubetskoy
Lyapis Trubetskoy
- Early years :The band was formed in Minsk in 1990. By the end of 1990s it received serious popularity in Belarus and other countries of the Russian speaking world....
, Verasy
Verasy
Verasy was a musical band created in Belarus in 1971. It was created under the Belarusian State Philarmony, Minsk, director and composer Vasily Rainchik...
, Open Space
Open Space (band)
Open Space is a rock band from Minsk, Belarus comprising Vitaly Matievsky , Maxim Mestovsky , Seva Maslov and Andrei Malashenko...
, Neuro Dubel, ULIS
ULIS
ULIS is a Belarusian rock band, singing in Belarusian language. It has been created and made its first public performance in Minsk in March 1989...
, Novaje Nieba, Palac, Accent
Accent (band)
Accent was a Belarusian heavy metal band from the city of Minsk. The band played an important role in the development of contemporary music in Belarus.-Early years :...
, and TT-34
TT-34
TT-34 is an alternative rock band from Belarus. They are popular in Russia and have recorded several songs with the Belarusian singer Seryoga. Some of their music was used on the soundtrack of Night Watch, a 2004 film which was a blockbuster in Russia and was, in 2006, released in the U.S. by Fox...
.
Basovišča
Basovišca
Basóvišča — the festival of Belarusian alternative and rock music, which is annually conducted by Belarusian Association of Students since 1990.The festival takes place during two July days in the Borak forest near Gmina of Gródek, Poland...
is the most important Belarusian rock music festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
. Other festivals in the field are "Right to be free" and "Rock-kola".
There is another side to Belarusian music life which is censorship. Researchers Maya Medich and Lemez Lovas reported in 2006 that "independent music-making in Belarus today is an increasingly difficult and risky enterprise", and that the Belarusian government "puts pressure on ‘unofficial’ musicians - including ‘banning’ from official media and imposing severe restrictions on live performance."
In a video interview on freemuse.org the two authors explain the mechanisms of censorship in Belarus (Freemuse.org).