Rock music in Belarus

N.R.M. at concert wRock for freedom, Wrocław, June 17, 2007

Belarusian rock has been developing since the early 1980s. The most important rock bands include Mroja (later renamed to N.R.M.), Bonda, Krama, Kriwi, Lyapis Trubetskoy, Verasy, Open Space, Neuro Dubel, ULIS, Novaje Nieba, Palac, Accent, Litvintroll, and TT-34.

Basovišča is the most important Belarusian rock music festival. Other festivals in the field are "Right to be free" and "Rock-kola".

There is another side to Belarusian music life which is censorship. Researchers Maya Medich and Lemez Lovas reported in 2006 that "independent music-making in Belarus today is an increasingly difficult and risky enterprise", and that the Belarusian government "puts pressure on ‘unofficial’ musicians - including ‘banning’ from official media and imposing severe restrictions on live performance." In a video interview on freemuse.org the two authors explain the mechanisms of censorship in Belarus (Freemuse.org).

External links

• Lemez Lovas and Maya Medich: 'Hidden Truths – Music, Politics and Censorship in Lukashenko’s Belarus' (Freemuse Report no. 7)
• Articles on music censorship in Belarus