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Article: Basovishcha '99 - Belarusian Rock Music Festival to Take Place in Poland
"The 10th festival of Belarusian rock music, Basovishcha '99, will take place at Grodek in the Bialystok province of Poland on July 16 and 17 [1999]. The festival will feature well-known Belarusian bands such as NRM, Krama, Uliss, Bonda, and Palats. Among the performers will also be Myastsovy Chas, Znich, Deviation, and other young groups from Belarus, as well as Polish bands. Concerts will be held on outdoor stages, and performers and concert goers will live in tents. Hundreds of people are expected to arrive at the festival from Belarus."
"Vitaly Supranovich, the leader of the Belarusian Music Alternative (http://bma.agava.ru) association who is one of the organizers of the Belarusian-Polish Woodstock, told BelaPAN that Belarusian bands' performance in the neighboring country has symbolic significance in addition to cultural one. 'The Belarusian authorities have recenlty banned many youth rock actions. Anti-fascist concerts featuring the best Belarusian bands were prevented from being staged on June 20 and July 11. The authorities cavil at every trifle to ban mass political and cultural events prepared by Malady Front. On July 11, they found fault with the power generator which we had to lease, as the administration of the [National] Opera [and Ballet] Theater [on Paris Commune Square] -- the concert was to take place in front of the theater -- did not allow us to plug in. The Minsk City Executive Committee did not provide the necessary equipment. But on the other hand, hundreds of police officers arrived to observe the event which never took place. Vehicles full of police were placed in courtyards around the square. We have postponed the action to July 21, timing it to coincide with the end of President Lukashenko's legitimate rule. And now we are going to Poland since the Belarusian authorities fear Belarusian rock music that much.' "
"Mr. Supranovich intends to tell foreign cultural circles about the suppression of alternative rock music in Belarus."
Concert Report: Uladzimir Katkouski
(Note: Belarusian.com is changing its Internet location and may be temporarily inaccessible in September, 1999.)
Link to Ulad's very interesting Web site: N.R.U. -- Narodnaja Respublika Uladzi (Uladzi's People's--or Democratic-Republic).
Excerpt from Article: Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine Report, 3 August 1999, Volume 1, Number 10
Therefore, it is no wonder that the biggest and most famous festival of Belarusian rock music takes place outside of Belarus, in Grodek (Belarusian: Haradok), northeastern Poland. Grodek is a small town some 40 kilometers east of Bialystok--the center of Podlasie Province, which is inhabited by a 200,000-strong Belarusian minority. The festival, held in mid-July every year since 1990, is organized by the Belarusian Union of Students (BAS) in Poland. The official name of the event is the Music Festival of Young Belarus or Basovishcha (the last name was coined by combining the acronym BAS with the Belarusian neuter ending ovishcha). This year's Basovishcha took place on 16-17 July. It was the 10th such festival. As in previous years, the first night featured a contest between young and lesser-known Belarusian bands from both Belarus and Poland, the second was devoted to the performance of festival stars--the Belarusian bands Ulis, Krama, N.R.M., Novaye neba, Palats, and the Polish band Kult. Some 4,000 attended the event.
Basovishcha is a deeply emotional event, particularly for rockers from Belarus, whom young Polish Belarusians, half-mockingly and half-endearingly, call "our under-the-Soviets brothers." Below are excerpts from a vivid, even censurable, account of the 10th Basovishcha by Uladzimir Katkouski, a Minsk student who attended the festival for the first time. The full version--titled "Belarusian Woodstock"--is on the Internet at http://www.belarusian.com/music/woodstock0799.htm.
(Note: Belarusian.com is changing its Internet location and may be temporarily inaccessible in September, 1999.)
A report on Basovishcha in the 25 July Niva--a Belarusian-language weekly in Bialystok--provides a glimpse into how the festival is perceived by Poland's central and provincial authorities and media. Aleksander Maksymiuk, a senior editor of "Niva" and an organizer of the festival in the early 1990s, wrote: "The festival is a non-commercial event, financed by the Ministry of Culture, the Grodek commune, and private sponsors. What is characteristic of our life here in general [is that] Basovishcha, as a matter of principle, is not supported by the provincial authorities [in Bialystok], although it is the only major international rock event in Podlasie Province, and it could serve as a good advertisement for the region. Over the 10 years of Basovishcha, the attitude of the provincial authorities toward it has not wavered. At the same time, however, we have witnessed a development more important than the 'unwavering' stance of the provincial authorities. The festival has finally gained favor among the local media that serve as the festival's sponsors and defenders. There was nothing like that in the festival's beginning. Nine, eight, or seven years ago the organizers themselves had to seek publicity for Basovishcha. The situation was reversed at [this year's] jubilee festival--now Basovishcha provides an excellent opportunity for the regional media to promote themselves."
Link to the RFE/RL Web site: Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine Report, 3 August 1999, Volume 1, Number 10 (compiled by Jan Maksymiuk).