Polish TV refuses to air “Solidary with Belarus” concert

At the same time, the event lacks the major part of its financing andmany Belarusian musicians will not be able to perform in Warsaw this year.
The fourth concert “Solidary with Belarus” will take place in Warsaw on March 22. Belarusian and Polish bands took part in it every year. The Polish TV aired the concert and sponsored it. However, the television has refused to air the event this year.

According to one of the organizers of “Solidary” Yas Visnevski, they have to lower the number of participants. The band “Dali” and the leader of “Jab Club” Yauhen Valoshyn will arrive from Belarus. A former member of “Parason” Andrei “Carp” who lives in Warsaw and a Belarusian -Polish project “Honey” will also perform at the concert.

Yas Visnevski: “Our budget had been reduced a lot in connection with the problems in our cooperation with Polish TV. We cannot pay for the tickets of all the Belarusian musicians we would like to invite to the concert. There will be much fewer participants due to the lack of money in comparison with 2008”.

The head of “Free Belarus Initiative” Yacek Kashtelyanets has informed ERB that the concert will take place in any case.

“We will do everything to hold the concert and it will be held. However, we organize the concert in order to show the Polish society what is going on in Belarus, we show them this problem. From this point of view, it is a pity we will not be able to air the concert”.

The Polish TV explains it all by the crisis. Yana Sviderskaya, programme issues secretary, has informed that they do not have enough money for such events because of the crisis.

Yana Svіderskaya: “Out budget has been cut down a lot. If nothing changes, we will have to refuse from various programmes besides this concert”.

Ms. Sviderskaya says that airing concerts during the crisis is profusion for them.

Yana Svіderskaya: “We should make sure that our usual programmes can be broadcasted normally. A concert is profusion for us. We really want to air it but we lack money for it now”.

The organizers of “Solidary with Belarus” say that the concert’s budget has been decreased twice in comparison with the previous year.