IRDORATH for several years: Vladimir on bagpipes, and Nadezhda on davul.They played at medieval festivals, street fairs, holidays - it was a good experience. But it was time to move on, there was an understanding that they were ready for more. The first to join the duo was Anton Shnip, a talentedmusician and sound producer, and it was these three people who created theproject and set its direction in music. In 2012 Irdorath presented the debut album ‘Ad Astra’ and then the line-up of musicians became wider and changed periodically. Concert activity in Europe began. With the current war raging in Ukraine,we could almost forget what is happening in Belarus, the northern neighbour of Ukraine. Five musicians connected to the Belarussian fantasy folk band Irdorath are currently in jail. Their crime? They protested peacefully against the election results of August 2020, which were broadly claimed to be rigged. The protests were answered by the regime of autocrat Alexandr Lukashenko – who is in power since 1994 – with merciless repression. We had the chance to talk to Aliaksei Palauchenia, the drummer of Irdorath who also spent 15 days in jail after the violent arrest of the band members and their supporters at the birthday party of singer Nadezjda Kalach. Aliaksei Palauchenia: In connection with the events in Ukraine, I am obliged to say on my own behalf and on behalf of Irdorath that right now there is a monstrous war going on in the countrywhere our friends and relatives live. We beg to stop this crime against the people of Ukraine! Thank you Aliaksei. Let’s focus on what’s happening in Belarus. Howwas Irdorath formed and how did you join the band? Thank you for your interest in Belarus and Irdorath. Irdorath was born in 2011, when Vladimir and Nadezhda Kalach –the foundingmembers of Irdorath –moved from Grodno to Minsk,where there were more opportunities to implement the project and find musicians for cooperation.Until that time, they had been playing together www.peek-a-boo-magazine.be I had heard about Irdorath many times, but I did not see them at concerts until 2018. In December 2018 we participated together in the Christmas festival in Minsk. I came with my band Osimira and sawhow they performed. It was a well-staged costume show with an explosive program! It was immediately obvious that Irdorath had a lot of experience on the European scene.Later I sawan ad on social media that they were looking for a drummer from Minsk. I live in another city 200 km away but still decided to come to the casting. Not everything worked out right away but in January 2019 I started coming everyweek for rehearsals,and after a few months we played a big concert together in Munich! During that year we travelled to many countries for concerts. Irdorath describes itself as a fantasy-folk band. The songs are often based on traditional folk themes but the songs also tackle fantasy themes and serious societal criticism. Can you tell us more about the subjects of Irdorath’s music? The image of the musical heroes of Irdorath, as it were, take us back to fairy tales and legends.We use the images of mystical creatures to describe different human qualities, not from the side of magic, but more often from the side of real emotions and feelings, from joy and admiration to hatred and deceit. Everything you hear in music is a reflection of the modern world and what is happening in it. Some of the material we have is from Western European folklore but most songs are Belarusian and author's songs. Irdorath has songs in different - 30 -
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