Belarus musicians forced to perform live

The new edition of the law on advertising that came into force on September 5 requires that artistes must mention on concert announcement boards whether they perform live. Reporters of the European Radio for Belarus got to the streets to find out what is written on concert announcement boards, to talk to by-passers and pop-musicians that at times have to resort to taped shows.

Eighty percent of the announcements had a mention of “live sound”. Rockers like Alisa or Nightwish had this text mentioned in capital letters and were part of the announcement design. Several musicians had the words “live sound” stuck together with the information about their concert certificate. It is hard to figure those who use phonograms, because their announcements have no mention of the live sound.

They say discontented member of the public were behind the new regulation. The European Radio for Belarus talked to people on the street to find out if it was important to them if musicians used phonograms.

"Music, not the show, important to me. That’s why I don’t want to pay for a phonogram".
"I don’t care whether it is a phonogram or not. If I like a singer, that’s the most important thing".
"I go to concerts to see a show and get positive emotions. That’s why I don’t care about phonograms."

Most musicians were surprised to hear this news. However, it was a pleasant surprise for Tyani-Tolkai’s Pavel Klysheuski.

Klysheuski: That’s good new, because everyone will start singing live. We have no conditions to play live, but one can sing live for sure. In every more or less big touwn, one can get good voice speakers.

Hanna Sharkunova is also pleased that the country will know phonogram artistes but disagrees with Klysheuski over the sound capabilities of Belarusian concert stages.

Sharkunova: Virtually everywhere, there are no possibilities to stage a decent performance. For instance, I bought my own microphone and carry it around for my concerts. I am happy, because even if there is no equipment somewhere, I have my microphone at least.

The singer notes that if she has to bring musicians and sound technicians along, the concerts will not be profitable.

Uladzimir Pugach from J:Mors pop band says live performance does not depend on the possibilities of the stage but on whether an artiste is in demand.

Pugach: We have made three tours around the country. I think people lie when they say it is impossible to stage a live concert. It is possible and it has always been possible. We perform live only apart from few exceptions on TV channels that have no equipment to record a live sound.

Therefore, Uladzimir Pugach supports this initiative and reckons consumers have the right to know what they pay their money for.