On both sides of the curtain – Newspaper Kommersant No. 150 (7351) dated 08/18/2022

Almost from the first days of spring, many Russian artists who left the country due to disagreement with the SVO have been actively performing concert activities abroad. And not only artists. Boris Barabanov talks about how domestic organizers of spectacles are settling in Europe.

Oxxxymiron, Noize MC and Monetochka toured Europe with concert tours, and at their performances they not only performed songs, but also raised funds for charitable foundations. Boris Grebenshchikov also performs quite actively – his Aquarium group turned 50 this year, and he had to replace the tour of the country’s cities with concerts around the world. It plays in the countries neighboring Russia and it is not clear why the banned Aloe Vera group. The Russian rapper Face (included in the register of foreign media agents), his punk compatriots Pornofilmy and the Ukrainian group Nervy united in one concert brigade.

After a series of unsuccessful attempts to perform in Russia, the singer Manizha, who represented the country at Eurovision 2021, announced the “Irrevocable Tour”. According to her, this tour is “a dream of a world in which there is a place for equality of different opportunities, about dissimilarity, but commonality of cultures.” On the route Manizhi – Tbilisi, Almaty, Bishkek, Tashkent and her native Dushanbe.

The tour will start with a concert in Yerevan organized by the newly formed creative association Camerata. Camerata is a musician and journalist Kirill Shinin and several of his friends who settled in the capital of Armenia in the spring along with many young people employed in various fields of activity. The first event organized by this company was the Russian-Armenian Camerata Fest, among the participants of which were independent musicians Sonic Death, Alexey Avgustovsky (Uvula), Andrey Tarasov (Source), Daria Korotkova (Ushko), Kirill Gorodnii and others. The purpose of the festival was to collect funds for affected civilians in Ukraine and Nagorno-Karabakh. Subsequently, Camerata organized concerts by Kedr LIvanskiy, Lisokot, the Belarusian post-punk band Loop of Predilection, Noize MC, SBPC, Alik Yuzhny (Bicycles for Afghanistan), but the main thing in the ideology of the company is not Russian names on posters, but cooperation with the Armenian music scene. Camerata don’t make events “for those who have moved”, but create a new musical environment in a new place.

It would be strange if in a city full of people who until recently provided sold-out Moscow venues and festivals, everything was limited only to the Camerata. Ilya Kusnirovich, who has been producing Bosco Fest for many years in a row, launched the Embassy of Aesthetic Pleasures in Yerevan. Along with club space, it has a bookstore and showroom, and plans to sell vinyl. Mr. Kusnirovich and his colleagues initially planned to launch this project in Tbilisi, but they managed to find a completely non-residential house suitable for this purpose only in Yerevan.

The founder of another high-profile festival of the last decade continues to engage in concert activities outside of Russia. This is Stepan Kazaryan, thanks to whom the domestic independent scene received the Pain festival. His new company has settled in Belgrade and has already organized concerts by Canadian post-string violinist Jessica Moss, her Constellation labelmates from Jerusalem in My Heart, and Jim Jarmusch’s favorite lutenist Joseph van Wissem. From the pages of social networks, Mr. Kazaryan communicates with the public in English and asks not to contact him for “registers” for any events in Moscow.

Petersburg booking agency Grains Of Sand Booking has divided its activity between Russia and Latin America. On the one hand, the company held the fourth GOS Fest in July in its hometown, on the other hand, it is actively working in Mexico, presenting the popular Belarusian bands Super Besse, Nurnberg and Long Wave, as well as the Americans A Place To Bury Strangers. Finally, thanks to the efforts of the Russian company Globalclubbing, performances by DJ Boris Breichi were held in Tbilisi and Yerevan, and Paul van Dyk is planning a tour.

If small independent promoters always counted only on their own strength, then large companies expected the state to help them cope with the consequences of the cancellation of 100% of the tours of foreign musicians planned for 2022. Now, desperate to receive compensation from the state for losses similar to that received, for example, by airlines, concert and touring majors are stepping up their international activity, applying their experience and connections in the territories of near and far abroad.

Thus, in recent months, the portfolio of Eventation, which operates in Russia and Greece, has been replenished with concerts of hard rock classics Accept and symphonic rockers Within Temptation, while the planned Whitesnake concert was canceled due to David Coverdale’s illness. Eventation plans Greek shows Saint Asonia and Uriah Heep. Also, with the support of Yekaterinburg promoter Semyon Galperin, Eventation will organize a concert by soul singer Sharon Kovaks in Athens.

The autumn concerts of the American singer LP (Laura Pergolizzi) in Almaty, Baku and Limassol are organized by the efforts of Russian concert companies, whose representatives ask not to be mentioned in the press. Large companies, including those involved in Russian projects, do not want to be associated with the concept of “relocation”. But you have to live. And all they know how to do is to entertain people, without exaggeration, at the international level. It is not surprising that one of the major players who have moved abroad, when asked to comment on his current status, answers the Kommersant correspondent: “I am not interested in the Russian market and the Russian press, too … Come to me at Nick Cave in Vilnius.”