April started with an unusual exhibition in Minsk called “DEPRESS and Arrhythmia“. It was a collection of drawings and graphics from Ihar Varashkevich, a blues-musician from the band Krama who also paints, and Nika Sandros, a painter who makes pictures of songs. The exhibition was a truly unusual event in the Belarusian art scene and made many people talk about it, especially if we take into account how rare we hear about modern art of Belarus.
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The visit of the 5 most famous belarusian rock musicians – Lyavon Volski (NRM), Pete Paulau (NRM), Aliaksandar Kulinkovich (Neuro Dubel), Ihar Varashkevich (Krama) and Aleh Hamenka (Palac) – to the main “ideologist” of the country – Aleh Praliaskouski – raised a great debate among Belarusian bloggers about politics in music and loyalty to the principles of democracy. The bloggers community divided into two fractions: those who think that the musicians betrayed democratic principles by collaborating with the Belarusian regime (in their opinion going to a meeting to which they were invited is already a form of political collaboration) and those who defend the musicians from groundless accusation of political mistakes.
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