Vaitsiushkevich: We should try to get everywhere with culture matters!
"WZ-Orkiestra" and "banned" musician Vaitsiushkevich presented a new album during the week of the Swedish culture.
Zmitser Vaistsiushkevich's new project is called "Chara" and is composed of a series of songs to the poems of Swedish poets Klemets, Leonduer, Frostensen, translated into Belarusian.
"It can be compared with a trunk or some box, or a vessel, – explains the name of the project its author Zmitser Vaitsiushkevich. - This poetry is like ecology and water-colours to me. It's in the air, in the fiords, in the waves, in the wind".
"Chara" has already been presented at one of the concert halls in Stockholm - the musicians played it in the Northern Theatre in the center of Swedish capital on June 2.
"Literature elite got together in one of the concert halls - translators, poets, musicians, – Zmitser Vaitsiushkevich says. - Some Swedes told me it was a real party of the elite".
Despite numerous warnings of people who tried to convince Zmitser that no one needed Belarusians abroad and there was no point to try to get there, Zmitser went on.
Zmitser Vaitsiushkevich: "I think that we should try to get everywhere with culture matters! Moreover, it is worth it to look for cultural understanding exactly in Sweden".
The majority of texts that Zmitser picked for "Chara" songs, had already been translated by the Belarusian poets. As for musical part, this album differs a lot from the previous ones.
Zmitser Vaitsiushkevich: "Swedish literature evenings have existed for more than 10 years, and the majority of these texts have been translated before so I had choice. Some of them suited me, some - not. I spent several years to get it all right".
Sweden's Ambassador to Belarus Stefan Eriksson is satisfied with the results of their cooperation. Besides, the diplomat wrote an introduction to "Chara", and his daughter Alexandra Eriksson participated in recording of one of the songs.
Stefan Eriksson: "This project differs from previous Vaitsiushkevich's projects a bit. However, you need to be brave in creativity! Swedish poetry is a bit untraditional, with no rhyme. I think that some Swedish poets did not even believe that someone could put their poems to music. Zmitser proved it was possible".
Stefan Eriksson
Photo: Tsimafej Skibenka
