Be Free
Be Free 2008 in Lviv
Be Free 2008 in Lviv
Genrerock
Datesvarious
Location(s)Lutsk (2007)
Lviv (2008)
Chernihiv (2009)
Years active2007–2010
Websitehttp://festsvabody.org

Be Free (Belarusian: Будзь свабодным; initial name: Belarusian: Права быць свабодным (transl. The right to be free)) was a Belarusian rock festival that took place in Ukraine since 2007.[1][2] Bands from Poland, Ukraine, and France participated in the festival too.

Be Free 2007

Date – September 22, 2007.

Location – Lutsk.

Compère – Vitaĺ Malinoŭski.

Bands

Be Free 2008

Dates – August 9-10, 2008.

Location – Lviv.[6]

Compère – Aliaksandr Pamidoraŭ.

Bands

August 9

The beginning of the program was the performances of 3 young bands, the winners of the European Radio for Belarus contest (Belarus).

August 10

Be Free 2009

Dates – August 22-23, 2009.[10]

Location – Chernihiv.[11]

Compère – Aliaksandr Pamidoraŭ.[12]

Bands

August 22

August 23

Be Free 2010

The planned festival was canceled by the authorities of Chernihiv.[19][20][21][22]

Criticism

In 2008 Rock-Princess Kasia Kamockaja as a columnist over at naviny.by made such a takeaway on the festival, “An established group of fans, an established group of musicians come there. For the Ukrainian public, this is not interesting.”[23]

At the second festival, the organizers invited the "generals of national rock" Krama, IQ48, Neuro Dubel due to the fact that the organizers of Basovišča expressed their unwillingness to see them at their event, which, together with a visa-free regime for Belarusians when traveling to Ukraine, gave prominence to Be Free against the backdrop of a competing festival, Zmitser Lukashuk wrote for European Radio for Belarus.[24][25]

At a press conference on the eve of Be Free 2009 in Minsk, Lyapis Trubetskoy’s producer Yevgeny Kolmykov suggested that holding such a festival is not possible in Belarus, as “the atmosphere of the music festival involves relaxation, and there would be a huge amount of police, and this police creates a background that does not contribute to relaxation at all.”[26] His thoughts were echoed by Vitaly Supranovich, director of the BMAgroup label, because the authorities' response to an application for conducting an independent festival usually comes only a few days before the start of the planned event, and even "in case of a positive answer, you need to agree with the musicians, make advertisements, and take ten more approvals, each of which costs a certain amount of money," moreover, "there is still no guarantee that some time after the start of the concert the electricity would not be cut off or something else would not happen."[26]

At the same time, the representative of the campaign “Budzma Belarusians!" Maria Sadovskaya expressed the hope that the festival that carries the idea of freedom "after some time, when this word will be perceived by our authorities in a different way," can be organized in Belarus.[26]

Bans

The departure of the participants at the first festival in September 2007 was accompanied by their preventive detentions on the Belarusian side.[27][5]

The last festival in 2010 was thwarted by the Chernihiv authorities, which, according to the comments by Vitaĺ Supranovič, co-organizer of the event, to Nasha Niva, were “in contact with the official Belarusian side,” which strongly advised “to not to allow the festival.”[28] Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on the political shade of the bans too.[29] In his column over at naviny.by, Neuro Dubel’s frontman Alexander Kullinkovich linked the cancellation of the festival with the approaching 2010 presidential election.[30]

Appraisal

The concept of the festival was positively appraised by Siarhei Mikhalok, Oleh Skrypka, and other musicians.[31]

References

  1. ^ Еўрарадыё (2007-08-23). ""Права быць свабодным" — новы фестываль беларускай музыкі ва Украіне" (in Belarusian). European Radio for Belarus. Archived from the original on 2020-01-24. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  2. ^ Еврорадио (2007-08-23). ""Право быть свободным" — новый фестиваль белорусской музыки в Украине" (in Russian). European Radio for Belarus. Archived from the original on 2020-01-24. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  3. ^ Панкавец, Зьміцер; Арсень, Пахомаў (2007-09-24). "У Луцку ўсё па-людзку. Рэпартаж і фота з рок-фэсту "Права быць свабодным"" (in Belarusian). Nasha Niva. Archived from the original on 2020-01-24. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  4. ^ "Фэст "Права быць свабодным" на беларуска-украінскай мяжы" (in Belarusian). Viasna Human Rights Centre. 2007-08-22. Archived from the original on 2015-01-16. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  5. ^ a b Вячорка, Франак; Пахомов, Арсений (2007-09-24). "На рок-фест "Право быть свободным" вход был максимально затруднен" (in Russian). naviny.by. Archived from the original on 2017-06-02. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  6. ^ Печанко, Сямён; Пілецкі, Алесь (2008-08-11). "Be Free: Свабода пад дажджом і сонцам". Nasha Niva (in Belarusian). 30 (580) (published 2008-08-14): 1, 11. Archived from the original on 2020-01-19.
  7. ^ Грахоўская, Віталіна (2008-08-10). "Фотарэпартаж з фестывалю Be Free" (in Belarusian). European Radio for Belarus. Archived from the original on 2009-09-16. Retrieved 2019-11-02.
  8. ^ Грахоўская, Віталіна (2008-08-12). "Фотарэпартаж з фестывалю Be Free (дзень 2)" (in Belarusian). European Radio for Belarus. Archived from the original on 2009-09-16. Retrieved 2019-11-02.
  9. ^ Владимирова, Надежда (2008-08-16). "Быть свободным белорусский рок пока может только в Украине" (in Russian). naviny.by. Archived from the original on 2012-04-17. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  10. ^ "Пять человек могут бесплатно попасть на фестиваль Be Free — 2009" [Five people can get to the festival Be Free – 2009 for free] (in Russian). naviny.by. 2009-08-13. Archived from the original on 2019-03-05. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
  11. ^ Пульша, Сергей (2009-08-22). "В Чернигове открылся фестиваль Be Free". BelaPAN (in Russian). Tut.By. Archived from the original on 2020-02-02. Retrieved 2020-02-02.
  12. ^ Макарэвіч, Сяргей (2009-08-12). "Канчатковая праграма фестываля Be-Free". Nasha Niva (in Belarusian). Tut.By. Archived from the original on 2009-09-18. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  13. ^ "Наибольшее количество зрителей на фестивале Be Free в Чернигове собрала группа "Ляпис Трубецкой"" (in Russian). BelaPAN. 2008-08-24. Archived from the original on 2019-03-05. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
  14. ^ Студзінская, Іна (2009-09-22). "Беларускія музыкі паехалі ў Чарнігаў" [Belarusian musicians went to Chernigov]. Радыё Свабода (in Belarusian). Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on 2019-06-26. Retrieved 2019-06-26.
  15. ^ ""Воплі Відоплясова" выступали под бело-красно-белым флагом (Фото)" (in Russian). Charter 97. 2009-08-24. Archived from the original on 2019-03-05. Retrieved 2018-11-16.
  16. ^ Яр, Маша; Киянко, Кастусь; Витальев, Юрась (2009-08-24). "Воплі Відаплясава на Be Free вучылі беларускую мову" (in Belarusian). European Radio for Belarus. Archived from the original on 2009-09-16. Retrieved 2019-11-02.
  17. ^ "Музычны фестываль Be Free-2010 не адбудзецца (Абноўлена)" (in Belarusian). Charter 97. 2010-07-14. Archived from the original on 2020-01-26. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  18. ^ "Фестываль Be Free адбудзецца 20-22 жніўня ў Чарнігаве" (in Belarusian). Budzma Belarusians!. 2010-05-19. Archived from the original on 2020-01-24. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  19. ^ Euroradio (2010-07-13). "Charnihau authorities disrupt Be Free festival". European Radio for Belarus. Archived from the original on 2020-01-26. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  20. ^ Еврорадио (2010-07-13). "Власти Чернигова сорвали фестиваль Be Free?" (in Russian). European Radio for Belarus. Archived from the original on 2020-01-26. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  21. ^ Еўрарадыё (2010-07-13). "Улады Чарнігава сарвалі фэст Be Free?" (in Belarusian). European Radio for Belarus. Archived from the original on 2020-01-26. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  22. ^ Макарэвіч, Сяргей (2011-01-22). "Музыка ў 2011-м" (in Belarusian). Nasha Niva. Archived from the original on 2020-02-22. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
  23. ^ Камоцкая, Кася (2008-08-17). "Кася Камоцкая. ШОУ-БІЗ. Салідарны з рок-н-ролам?" (in Belarusian). naviny.by. Archived from the original on 2015-03-30. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
  24. ^ Лукашук, Змитер (2010-05-20). "Нынешнее "Басовище" пройдёт без NRM, Крамы, и "Нейро Дюбеля"" (in Russian). European Radio for Belarus. Archived from the original on 2020-09-22. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  25. ^ Лукашук, Зміцер (2010-05-20). "Сёлетняе "Басовішча" пройдзе без NRM, "Крамы", і "Нейра Дзюбеля"" (in Belarusian). European Radio for Belarus. Archived from the original on 2020-09-22. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  26. ^ a b c "Организаторы Be Free: фестиваль несет идею свободы" (in Russian). naviny.by. 2009-08-14. Archived from the original on 2015-03-27. Retrieved 2020-02-04.
  27. ^ Свабода, Радыё (2007-09-22). "Беларуская міліцыя не пускае моладзь на фэст "Права быць свабодным"". Радыё Свабода (in Belarusian). Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on 2020-01-24. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
  28. ^ Макарэвіч, Сяргей (2010-07-13). "Фестываль Be Free-2010 сёлета не адбудзецца" (in Belarusian). Nasha Niva. Archived from the original on 2020-01-26. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  29. ^ Свабода, Радыё (2010-07-14). "Фэст Be Free ў Чарнігаве скасоўваюць з-за палітыкі". Радыё Свабода (in Belarusian). Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on 2020-01-26. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
  30. ^ Куллинкович, Александр (2010-07-18). "Александр Куллинкович. ХРОНИКИ. Пернатый спецназ" (in Russian). naviny.by. Archived from the original on 2017-09-25. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
  31. ^ "Be Free яднае ідэяй свабоды творчасці і самавыражэння" (in Belarusian). Viasna Human Rights Centre. 2009-08-18. Archived from the original on 2015-01-16. Retrieved 2020-01-27.

External links