Be Free ( be, Будзь свабодным; initial name: be, Права быць свабодным ()) was a Belarusian rock festival that took place in Ukraine since 2007. Bands from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

participated in the festival too.

Be Free 2007

Date – September 22, 2007. Location –

Lutsk Lutsk ( uk, Луцьк, translit=Lutsk}, ; pl, Łuck ; yi, לוצק, Lutzk) is a city on the Styr River in northwestern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Volyn Oblast (province) and the administrative center of the surrounding Lu ...

. Compère – Vitaĺ Malinoŭski.

Bands

Krama A krama (; km, ក្រមា ) is a sturdy traditional Cambodian garment with many uses, including as a scarf, bandanna, to cover the face, for decorative purposes, and as a hammock for children. It may also be used as a form of weaponry. Bo ...

(Belarus) * Neuro Dubel (Belarus) * Tav.Mauzer (Belarus) * Indiga (Belarus) * :B:N: (Belarus) * Znich (Belarus) * Sciana (Belarus) * ULIS (Belarus) * Tin Sontsia (Ukraine)

Be Free 2008

Dates – August 9-10, 2008. Location –

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...

. 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 European Radio for Belarus (Eŭrapéjskaje Rádyjo dla Biełarúsi, ERB, Euroradio.fm) is an international radio station that provides independent news, information, and entertainment to the citizens of Belarus launched on February 26, 2006. ERB ...

contest (Belarus). * :B:N: (Belarus) * Partyzone (Belarus) * Incunabula (Ukraine) * Pomidor/OFF (Belarus) * ROCKAWAY (Poland) * žygimont VAZA (Belarus) *

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, c ...

(France) * Znich (Belarus) *

Zet Zet or ZET may refer to: * Zagrebački električni tramvaj, Zagreb Electric Tram, public transport operator in Zagreb, Croatia * Zet (hardware), a clone x86 processor * Radio ZET, Polish radio station *Association of the Polish Youth "Zet", pre-19 ...

(Belarus) * Haydamaky (Ukraine) *

Voo Voo Voo Voo is a Polish rock band formed in 1985. Band members * Wojciech Waglewski – guitar, main vocals, and lyrics. Founder and leader of the band; its name comes from his initials (the English pronunciation of "Voo Voo" sounds like Polish ...

(Poland)

August 10

* Akana-NHS’s Nastya Nekrasova’s band (Belarus) * P.L.A.N. (Belarus) * Яр (Belarus) * Джамбібум (Belarus) * Litvintroll (Belarus) *

Stary Olsa Stary Olsa ( be, Стары Ольса) is a Belarusian medieval folk band, that plays medieval Ruthenian music of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The band has also released classical rock cover works in their Medieval Classic Rock where classica ...

(Belarus) * WZ-Orkiestra (Belarus) * Showcase performances of knight clubs (Ukraine) * ХуЧ (Ukraine) * IQ48 (Belarus) * METANOIA (Poland) *

(Belarus) * ULIS (Belarus) * Neuro Dubel (Belarus) *

Habakuk Habakkuk, who was active around 612 BC, was a prophet whose oracles and prayer are recorded in the Book of Habakkuk, the eighth of the collected twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible. He is revered by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Almost al ...

(Poland) *

Tartak Tartak (Polish for ''sawmill'') may refer to: Places Poland *Tartak, Greater Poland Voivodeship *Tartak, Lublin Voivodeship *Tartak, Augustów County *Tartak, Siemiatycze County *Tartak, Sokółka County *Tartak, Suwałki County *Tartak, Mińsk Co ...

(Ukraine)

Be Free 2009

Dates – August 22-23, 2009. Location –

Chernihiv Chernihiv ( uk, Черні́гів, , russian: Черни́гов, ; pl, Czernihów, ; la, Czernihovia), is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative center of Chernihiv Oblast and Chernihiv Raion within ...

. Compère – Aliaksandr Pamidoraŭ.

Bands

August 22

* Небо для Себе (Chernihiv, Ukraine) * Pipl Plant (Chernihiv, Ukraine) * Re1ikt (

Gomel Gomel (russian: Гомель, ) or Homiel ( be, Гомель, ) is the administrative centre of Gomel Region and the second-largest city in Belarus with 526,872 inhabitants (2015 census). Etymology There are at least six narratives of the o ...

, Belarus) * :B:N: (

Byaroza Biaroza ( be, Бяро́за, official Belarusian romanization standard: ''Biaroza'', formerly Бяро́за-Карту́зская; rus, Берёза, Beryoza; pl, Bereza Kartuska; Yiddish: קאַרטוז־בערעזע, tr. ''Kartùz-Bereze'' ...

, Belarus) * Zatoczka (

Mogilev Mogilev (russian: Могилёв, Mogilyov, ; yi, מאָלעוו, Molev, ) or Mahilyow ( be, Магілёў, Mahilioŭ, ) is a city in eastern Belarus, on the Dnieper River, about from the border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from the bor ...

, Belarus) * Partyzone (

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

, Belarus) * Scrudg (Chernihiv, Ukraine) * Pomidor/OFF (Minsk, Belarus) * Znich (Minsk, Belarus) *

(France) *

Lyapis Trubetskoy Lyapis Trubetskoy (russian: Ляпис Трубецкой, be, Ляпіс Трубяцкі) was a Belarusian rock band. It was named after comical hero from Ilya Ilf's and Yevgeny Petrov's novel "The Twelve Chairs", poet and potboiler Nikifor Ly ...

(Minsk, Belarus)

August 23

* Lena Ivanova (Chernihiv, Ukraine) * Glofira (Gomel, Belarus) *

Hair Peace Salon Hair Peace Salon is a power pop band from Minsk, Belarus, influenced by British indie rock. Hair Peace Salon's music is distinguished by its use of English lyrics with emotional flow and drastic mood swings in songs. The group was founded in 19 ...

(Minsk, Belarus) * Tarpach (Minsk, Belarus) * Назад Шляху Немає (

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

, Ukraine) * Litvintroll (Minsk, Belarus) *

Imprudence Prudence ( la, prudentia, contracted from meaning "seeing ahead, sagacity") is the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason. It is classically considered to be a virtue, and in particular one of the four Cardinal virtu ...

(Minsk, Belarus) * ZERO-85 ( Białystok, Poland) * ULIS (Minsk, Belarus) *

Vopli Vidopliassova Vopli Vidopliassova ( uk, Воплі Відоплясова ), also shortened to VV (), is a Ukrainian rock band. It was created in 1986 in Kyiv, in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union (present-day Ukraine). The leader of the band is singer Ol ...

(Kyiv, Ukraine)

Be Free 2010

* Dates – August 20-22 (21-23), 2010. * Location —

. The planned festival was canceled by the authorities of Chernihiv.

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.” 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 Basóvišča (pronounced ; Music Festival of Young Belarus) is the festival of Belarusian alternative and rock music, which is annually conducted by the Belarusian Association of Students since 1990. The festival takes place during two July ...

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

. 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.” 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." 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.

Bans

The departure of the participants at the first festival in September 2007 was accompanied by their preventive detentions on the Belarusian side. 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 ''Nasha Niva'' ( be, Наша Ніва, Naša Niva, lit. "Our field") is one of the oldest Belarusian weekly newspapers, founded in 1906 and re-established in 1991. ''Nasha Niva'' became a cultural symbol, due to the newspaper's importance as a p ...

, were ''“in contact with the official Belarusian side,”'' which strongly advised ''“to not to allow the festival.”'' Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on the political shade of the bans too. 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.

Appraisal

The concept of the festival was positively appraised by

Siarhei Mikhalok Siarhei Mikhalok (born January 19, 1972 in be, Сяргей Міхалок, russian: link=no, Серге́й Михалок, Sergey Mikhalok) is a Belarusian rock musician and actor. He was the frontman of the ska punk band Lyapis Trubetskoy that ...

Oleh Skrypka Oleh Yuriyovych Skrypka ( uk, Оле́г Ю́рійович Скри́пка, Oleh Yuriiovych Skrypka, ; born 24 May 1964) is a Ukrainian musician, vocalist, composer, and leader of the group Vopli Vidoplyasova. Biography Oleh Skrypka was born ...

, and other musicians.

References

External links

{{Commons
Official site of the festival
Rock festivals in Ukraine Ukrainian music Censorship in Ukraine Rock festivals in Belarus Censorship in Belarus