The Messenger, Georgia
March 23 2007
Rock the Kavkaz!
Creating an artistic infrastructure for the Caucasus
By Ekaterina Basilaia
Funk, acid house, electronic music, punk… if you can dance to it,
Georgian punk supreme Lado Burduli and German artist Micha Wiederhold
can give directions.
Sometimes fast and hard, sometimes soft and soulful music rings out
in Mtatsminda from the Art Café, usually heaving with music lovers
when Lado and Micha put on an event.
"We create an open space to bring people together, the rest they make
on their own," Micha said.
Micha and Lado are trying to build a dialogue among people, a network
involving musicians, artist, and anyone interested.
The pair organise events once a week with Georgian bands. They say
that the main is that these events must be regular to create a
lasting impact.
"We ask everybody, it is open for everyone. There are two things that
we want to achieve-we want to set up a meeting point for people where
they have opportunity for dialogue, and at the same time create a
place where people can bring something they have to discuss. We
provide the initial energy that makes people get in contact," Micha
added.
The organisers are seeking to establish an artistic infrastructure
all over the Caucasus. Last Saturday the stage was given to an
Armenian band ‘LSD Flying Tea’. This was the first time an Armenian
band had performed at the event. The organisers say they are planning
to bring more Armenian bands, bands from Azerbaijan, Abkhazia, South
Ossetia, Chechnya, and across the region, to their events. Their
Phoenix Caucasus project will take these bands not only to Tbilisi,
but to other Georgian, Armenian, Azeri, Abkhazian and South Ossetian
cities and towns.
"This is what we want to achieve in the end… bring understanding that
in turn will help bring peace."
Micha is dissatisfied that everything takes place in the capital
cities and nobody takes any notice of the provinces. This made them
organise one of their events in the small Georgian town of Samtredia.
"This does not usually happen there, and what I noticed is-they loved
it, it was so nice," Micha says.
The arrangements are done through their website
where the bands interested make proposals,
and Lado and Micha sort out the rest.
Among the many different angles that Phoenix Caucasus aims to
promote, popularisation of contemporary art plays the key
role-contemporary art of all genres. Hence the bands they want to
attract are not established bands, or the multitude of competent
cover bands, knocking out Pretty Woman night after night. They target
those that are starting out, coming up with new and fresh ideas.
"Mostly the people making this kind of music are young people, who
are in most cases not professionals. For these kinds of musicians
there is not a stage, and we give them the opportunity to perform. We
look for potential. We do not invite cover bands," the organisers
say.
Musicians taking part in the events can join in their partner project
‘CaucasusROCKS’, through which bands from across the Caucasus are
being promoted via the internet, compilation and live concert CDs,
after all, "If you don’t offer anything, nobody will be interested."
After the years of crisis that Georgia had to undergo, Lado and Micha
worry that people have started to forget about art and, at a certain
point, even stopped creating anything new.
"Art is not luxury, it is not something that needs money. It opens
minds to different things and brings you one step further. Maybe
someone is against some piece of art or not, it doesn’t matter. If
you give them something, that’s what’s important," Micha says.
Therefore they named their project Phoenix Caucasus. The Phoenix, the
mythical bird that dies in flames and is reborn from the ashes,
represents what they hope to achieve with art and creativity in the
Caucasus.
"It is always possible to be reborn and start something from the
beginning," Micha says.
"And slowly the changes will become even more noticeable, and they
are already evident if we look back even three years ago".
First on the Georgian stage -LSD Flying TEA
Yerevan’s LSD Flying Tea play Acid Punk and usually consist of seven
people. But this time only three graced the stage in Tbilisi. Arek,
Anush and Vardan, playing Acoustic, tambourine and electric guitar
respectively, laid on a two hour set last Saturday, accompanied by
ethereal vocals from Anush.
"It is an experiment that we are doing now with three people," says
band leader Arek.
This was only the second time vocalist Anush had performed with LSD
Flying TEA.
"We chose her as she has got a very specific and rare timbre of voice
and I like her artistic skills," Arek says.
The music that they play is inspired by famous psychedelic tunes of
the sixties.
"It comes when you try to reproduce some famous tunes, but you end up
with something different, an alternative version of it. This is
something like rendering music in an innovative way," Arek says.
Initially they planned to bring their fans with them, but this
changed at the last minute and they arrived alone.
"The main thing about this concert is that we are here, in Georgia,"
Arek says, "and that we are playing for a large group of people."
But as part of creating an artistic infrastructure, reciprocity is
necessary, and in April Micha and Lado plan to take Georgian band to
Yerevan, this time accompanied by loyal fans.
http://ladoevent.art.ge