Musicians boycotted concert for “union” with Russia
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9:00, — Culture
At a concert-meeting on April 2 dedicated to the so-called day of Belarus and Russia’s unity, a few well-known rock-groups had been announced to perform, but most of them refused to appear.
The lead-singer of Tav. Mauzer band Yanka was really surprised when he saw advertising of the concert at informational sites:
“It’s good that these reports appeared late, and couldn’t misinform a considerable quantity of our fans. However, for a dozen of people who failed to see our show we can say that our appearance hadn’t been planned there. All information about it is either a mistake or deliberate misinformation,” he said in an interview to Radio Racyja.
As said by Yanka Mauzer, organizers of the concert really addressed him with a proposal to sing on Bangalore square, but they hadn’t reached an agreement:
“One day it became unpleasant for us to take part in different kind of political actions. The main thing, music, is lost behind chanting slogans. That is why we have a request for organizers: to use such words as “we would like” or “negotiations are held”, and not “their participation is possible” in advertising materials in the future”.
Laureates of the last music festival Basovishcha, “Unia”, agreed to perform on Bangalore Square on that day. However, at the last moment when they took instruments in their hands and went to the stage, they refused to play.
“We haven’t been explained what was happening there, was it an action dedicated to the day of Belarus and Russia’s unity, or an action of solidarity with political prisoners. Everything looked rather lethargic: a few dozens of people, mostly elderly women, and some “chavs” drinking vodka around them. From the point of view of political rallies it was not clear what was the trend of the concert, and from the point of view of the concert’s organization, it was a failure. That is why we decided not to perform,” the leader of the band Pasha said.
Only one group, “Mutnae Voka”, from the five announced played as a result. Its soloist Yauhen Mushka said:
“It doesn’t matter for us where to play. There was wonderful equipment, and our friends were there. Why not play?”
The only thing that disappointed the musician was a little number of viewers. And after the speech of General Bokau who said that “the white-red-white flag was a flag of Nazi collaborators and the fifths column”, even less public was left.
