timeline since 2004

• 21 Nov 2007
  Atfer a consultation with officials in Minsk, the listed musicians are again allowed to perform live and are airplayed since that day. One and only condition: the bands shouldn't play at events of the political opposition.
  
  Comment:
  
  1. This proofs that - against all announcements of the official Minsk before - the list was existing! Basic rights of artists were recognized and violated. Such a violation causes juridical clearances in every country in Europe, but obvisiously in Belarus its none.
  
  2. Seems that the pressure from abroad pushed the regime to work on solutions.
  
  3. The main problem will remain: even to know that such an index may exist, its reason enough for musicians to create an effective system of selfcensorship
  
  4. The musicians in between explained that their concert will be visited mainly by those people of Belarus, who already have a critical attitude to the regime.
   
• September 2007
  By Stsyapan Sviderski, BelaPAN
  
  Minsk, 22 September. Police turned back people who were traveling by bus to a Belarusian rock music festival to be held in the Ukrainian city of Lutsk near the Belarusian border on September 22.
  One bus was reportedly pulled over by traffic police officers near Dzyarzhynsk at about 11 p.m. and another bus near Stowbtsy at about 0:45 a.m. on alleged grounds of driving in excess of the speed limit. There were some 40 people on each of the buses.
  The passengers of the bus stopped near Dzyarzhynsk had their names, addresses and occupation data written down and then were put on another bus, which transported them back to Minsk under the escort of an armored police prisoner van at about 2 a.m.
  The other bus was driven to the Stowbtsy district police department under the escort of traffic police cars. Its passengers underwent the same procedure.
  Belarusian rockers who were expected to play at the festival, including Krama, Ulis, Neuro Dubel, Znich, and Tav. Mauzer, managed to reach the Ukrainian border but were allowed to cross it after waiting six hours.
  Belarusian border guards at the Makrany checkpoint, Brest region, took away the travelers’ passports and refused to explain the reason, Krama singer Ihar Varashkevich told BelaPAN. The musicians were eventually given back their passports and allowed to go. Their bus crossed the border into Ukraine at nearly 1 a.m. Mr. Varashkevich described the detention as a psychological attack on the musicians to abate their spirits.
  The Belarusian rock festival titled, "The Right to Be Free", was organized by the Belarusian Music Alternative (BMA) Group, European Radio for Belarus, and StudFarmat, a youth group. It was to take place in Lutsk’s central park and feature rock bands blacklisted in Belarus for their openly negative attitude toward the Lukashenka government. The city authorities allowed performances to last until midnight and gave their consent to a tent camp in the park.
  "The main objective and idea of the festival is to draw public attention to the human rights situation in Belarus", the organizers said. "Musicians have the right to create and play, young people have the right to communicate freely, freely express their thoughts, and listen to the music they like."
  The organizers hope that the festival will be held every year and last two or three days.
  
  
• May 2007
  In May the concert-presentation of new album of famous Belarusian band "KRAMA" planned in Minsk club "Night Star", was forbidden. An occasion became that, in opinion of ideologists of official cultural department of Minsk, "both musicians, and compositions of "KRAMA" have a low art level". That's why the officials couldn't give them the formal license, which is necessary for the organization of the concert. Totally absurd, especially if we can take in a view, that professional musicians are play in KRAMA. Some of them took part in common projects with popular Belarusians singers.
  
  
• News in Russisch, Belarussisch, Deutsch und Englisch www.3dway.org
  
  
• News in English: www.democraticbelarus.eu
  
  
• 9 March 2006
  Famous and very popular now belarussian band "J-MORS" (pop-rock) was ban in rotation on our national TV from behind their refusal to take part in concert "ZA Belarus!" - an agitational action supporting Lukashenko
  
  
• February 2006
  the most original avant-garde Pantomime group of performances from "InZest Theatre", which existed since 1980 and that had been very famous in Europe, fell in disgrace at the ministry for education and Culture. The officials decided that their piece "DK Dance" would be immoral and refused it because of a short sequence when the leading actor were naked, although the whole public was inspired and the show would be normally sold off.
  
  
• October 2005
  the executive director of the "Radio MIR" (107.1 FM) has made a decision to close the – especially among the young people – very respected program "The Forgotten World". The well known Belarusian musician Vladislav Buben was its author and permanent moderator in the last 6 years. In these times the compositions of more than 300 Belarusian groups and performers of the alternative music scene had been sounded on air and some of the newest styles and musical trends worldwide had been broadcasted there. A huge number of parties, concerts and festivals of different styles from punk to techno had been organized under the aegis of the program, too. The official version for closing the program was a change of the broadcasting format. However, there are serious reasons to take that this decision was because of its expression of alternative lifestyles.
  
  
• December 2004
  at the beginning of this month the organizers of the dark electro-gothic festival "DARK WAY" had been suddenly refused to get a place for the festival. Now such an event was referred to the category of shady enterprises. The main cause of the refuse, as it was pointed out later, consisted in the participation of the group DROMOS. It was undesirable because of the specific musician´s image and its fancy performances. In spite of the critical situation the organizers of the festival Somord Prods could solve the problem in finding another place and organizing a closed party.
  
  Nevertheless nowadays there are serious problems in realize gothic events, because such official authorities as the committee for religion and ethnical requests and furthermore also the Belarusian Orthodox Church always lump together gothics with Satanists and Extremists destabilizing the social welfare.
  
  
• October 2004
  the organizer of a concert of the world-famous metal group CANNIBAL CORPSE in Minsk in the middle of the October lost his license by an initiative of the municipality of the City, department of culture, almost at the beginning of the concert. The music of this band may too violent and offending. Moreover the musicians of this group were hold without arraignment at the border by authorities of Belarusian custom office. The following up concert of CANNIBAL CORPSE in Ukraine was cancelled because of this delay, too.
  
  
• 17 September 2004
  Minsk city council’s cultural and internal affairs departments, baned Palac, Krama, Neuro Dubel, N.R.M. and Zmicier Vajciuškievic from participating in the famous event "Musicians in support of Musicians", which also featured Vyacheslav Butusov (leader of the famous Russian band Nautilius Pompilius).
  
  
• 15 September 2004
  Drum Ecstasy’s performance at the opening of a charity exhibition "Vodka and Fishtails" did not take place due to insistent requests from Minsk city council.
  
  Using his own budget, Zmicier Vajciuškievic planned to record his new album in a public studio, but was to refused to do so. Instead of giving a clear answer, the TV representatives just looked bashful to the bottom.
  
  
• 10 September 2004
  a Lad TV journalist was not allowed to invite Drum Ecstasy in order to refer about the film "The Night Patrol".
  
  
• 3 September 2004
  the editor of the 5x5 program was banned from inviting Drum Ecstasy onto the film "The Night Patrol". Around the same time, 5x5’s programmed editors are recommended to stop filming a movie about Aleksandr Pomidorov.
  
  
• 1 September 2004
  Aleksandr Pomidorov was dismissed as moderator of STV’s "Tekhnologiya", and has still not been given any official reasons for it.
  
  
• 17 August 2004
  Drum Ecstasy is informed that their appearance at an LG advertising event will not take place because city council representatives insisted that the group had to remove from the festival billing.
  
  a concert at Blindage Club by Pomidor/OFF, ZET and Garadzkija was cancelled after a call from the Ministry of Culture, just a few hours before it was due to start.
  
  
• 26 August 2004
  Drum Ecstasy is informed by the organizers of events for September 11, 2004 (Minsk City Day) that Ministry of Culture officials have removed them from all lists of pre-planned concerts.
  
  In late August, concerts by the band Krama are banned in the cities of Grodno and Brest, as well as around the Brest region.
  
  
• 23 August 2004
  broadcasting of music by the aforementioned bands is stopped. According to DJs, their music has been deleted from the stations’ servers.
  
  During a private conversation, an STV representative confirmed that the channel’s editors are in possession of lists of bands and artists now banned from broadcast by state TV and radio channels.
  
  
• 21 August 2004
  during a private conversation, an ONT representative confirmed the existence of such a document.
  
  
• 20 August 2004
  a representative from the concert department at one radio station informs Drum Ecstasy that they can no longer work together or invite them to advertising events or concerts due to persistent demands from official site in charge of organizing mass events.
  
  
• 3 August 2004
  an article about the radio ban on music by Belarusian bands is published by the newspaper Byelorussia Delovaya Gazeta.
  
  According to Belarusian DJs, a paper appeared at all radio stations and TV channels in mid-August, recommending that music and news about the aforementioned bands should not be used.
  
  
• 30 July 2004
  an interview with Drum Ecstasy filmed on July 26th is not broadcasted on STV, because the Journalist mentioned an interdiction. The bands Drum Ecstasy, Neuro Dubel, N.R.M., Palac, Pomidor/OFF and Zmicier Vajciuškievic are not to show and to mention in the media.
  
  An ONT film crew is refused its request to film a song from Drum Ecstasy for the movie "The Night Patrol" ("Nochnoy Dozor").
  
  
• 26 July 2004
  the newspaper Respublika held back an interview with the band Drum Ecstasy dating from July 10th. Respublika´s editor-in-chief personally vetoed the material, telling the journalist that "...to work for a paper like this means to be politically correct and to know whom to give an interview".
  
  
• 22 July 2004
  the day after this event all members of the folk band Palac are fired from the Belkontsert organization, where they had been working for the past four years. The official reason for their dismissal was that the band’s concerts would only attract a small audience. However, members of Palac have declared this statement to be untrue.
  
  
• 21 July 2004
  the bands Palac, Drum Ecstasy, Neuro Dubel, N.R.M., ZET, Pomidor/OFF and Zmicier Vajciuškievic performed at an officially-authorised Belarusian opposition dedicated to Aleksandr Lukashenka's 10th anniversary of rule.