Be Free: The scent of freedom in the air
Festival Be Free which took place in Lviv on 9-10 of August has become probably the brightest event of the summer. It is still actively discussed in the Web and offline and gets the reviews from both state and independent media.
The festival's presenter Alexander Pomidor/OFF, Ukrainian bands and viewers of this real holiday of Belarusian music shares their impressions on the event with the listeners of Euroradio.
Yury Koziy from Ukrainian band "Incunabula" was initially surprized with the concept and place of "Be Free" festival. But after visiting Belarus several times he understood that it would be impossible to organize such a festival in Minsk - for political reasons. When Yuri went to Belarus on business trips, he says he could feel how the authorities suppress freedom of Belarusians. His impressions from Belarusian bands and "Be Free", on contrary, are very positive.
Yury: I was really interested to play on the stage and to listen to Belarusian music which I previously knew on the level of bands "Pesnyary", "Kamerata" and Rasta. I haven't visited a festival in Ukraine where I would enjoy each band so much as I did on Be Free. What I've seen on Be Free was - 80% of it - a high-quality alternative music which can present itself both in its country and abroad.
Alexander Pomidor/OFF has a great experience of being a presenter of concerts and festivals. Being a musician himself, he played with his project on the first day of the festival. Alexander admitted that he didn't expect that Be Free would attract such a huge interest. "Especially on Sunday when despite of futball game played on this day and other things many Lviv inhabitants joined the crowd of young Belarusians. I've even seen old hippies there!"
Alexander: "The show was really great. Musicians themselves came to organizers to express their respect - which is a rare thing. Collecting bands from 4 countries isn't an easy task".
Around seventy per cent of those ten thousand who came to the festival were the public from Belarus. They came to Lviv on buses, trains and very often hitchhiking - remembering the experience of "Right to Be Free" in 2007 some of them feared that there would be problems to cross the Ukrainian border. But this year nothing stopped the young people from coming to the festival and enjoying its atmosphere.
Ales, a listener from Belarus, had a chance to compare the level of Belarusian festival in Poland "Basowiszcza" and a new festival in Ukraine.
Ales: Speaking of the sound quality, it was better than even on Basowiszcza, and much better than on Belarusian concerts. Everything was great, all the logistic was good: we had what to drink and eat, where to buy t-shirts and get all the informational materials. There was a scent of freedom in the air!
Among those who came to Be Free were listeners of Euroradio who won the free trips on euroradio.fm webpage. Andrey said he was happy not only because he and his friends won those trips but first of all because he could realize his dreams: to wave a national flag while listening to his favourite bands live. .
Andrey: Be Free as a new young festival is a great event! I think it is necessary to develop the concept of its title: like printing those small books on human rights this year. Unfortunately, on the border Belarusian border services confiscated some of them...
Generally we have very little chances to listen to Belarusian rock music in Belarus. And here we had some other bands! Like "Tartak" who sang the song in Belarusians or the French band which cheered the public when introduced "Long Live Belarus!" in their song.
The festival's presenter Alexander Pomidor/OFF, Ukrainian bands and viewers of this real holiday of Belarusian music shares their impressions on the event with the listeners of Euroradio.
Yury Koziy from Ukrainian band "Incunabula" was initially surprized with the concept and place of "Be Free" festival. But after visiting Belarus several times he understood that it would be impossible to organize such a festival in Minsk - for political reasons. When Yuri went to Belarus on business trips, he says he could feel how the authorities suppress freedom of Belarusians. His impressions from Belarusian bands and "Be Free", on contrary, are very positive.
Yury: I was really interested to play on the stage and to listen to Belarusian music which I previously knew on the level of bands "Pesnyary", "Kamerata" and Rasta. I haven't visited a festival in Ukraine where I would enjoy each band so much as I did on Be Free. What I've seen on Be Free was - 80% of it - a high-quality alternative music which can present itself both in its country and abroad.
Alexander Pomidor/OFF has a great experience of being a presenter of concerts and festivals. Being a musician himself, he played with his project on the first day of the festival. Alexander admitted that he didn't expect that Be Free would attract such a huge interest. "Especially on Sunday when despite of futball game played on this day and other things many Lviv inhabitants joined the crowd of young Belarusians. I've even seen old hippies there!"
Alexander: "The show was really great. Musicians themselves came to organizers to express their respect - which is a rare thing. Collecting bands from 4 countries isn't an easy task".
Around seventy per cent of those ten thousand who came to the festival were the public from Belarus. They came to Lviv on buses, trains and very often hitchhiking - remembering the experience of "Right to Be Free" in 2007 some of them feared that there would be problems to cross the Ukrainian border. But this year nothing stopped the young people from coming to the festival and enjoying its atmosphere.
Ales, a listener from Belarus, had a chance to compare the level of Belarusian festival in Poland "Basowiszcza" and a new festival in Ukraine.
Ales: Speaking of the sound quality, it was better than even on Basowiszcza, and much better than on Belarusian concerts. Everything was great, all the logistic was good: we had what to drink and eat, where to buy t-shirts and get all the informational materials. There was a scent of freedom in the air!
Among those who came to Be Free were listeners of Euroradio who won the free trips on euroradio.fm webpage. Andrey said he was happy not only because he and his friends won those trips but first of all because he could realize his dreams: to wave a national flag while listening to his favourite bands live. .
Andrey: Be Free as a new young festival is a great event! I think it is necessary to develop the concept of its title: like printing those small books on human rights this year. Unfortunately, on the border Belarusian border services confiscated some of them...
Generally we have very little chances to listen to Belarusian rock music in Belarus. And here we had some other bands! Like "Tartak" who sang the song in Belarusians or the French band which cheered the public when introduced "Long Live Belarus!" in their song.
