Is there such a person who doesn’t know what «music» is? For some people it is just a melody in a radio morning show, and for others is a profession and a mean of earning money. And also there are such people for whom music is a guide in making decisions. Our hero doesn’t come to the first ones, though by now he calls himself just a beginner-musician. About the life, not devided from music, festivals and Dostoevsky from a citizen of Zhytomyr Andrij Sobuch
«To the musical school I went by myself but very late,at the age of 14. My parents didn’t make me to do that, I had just a burning desire to play on some musical instrument. It was a conscious decision, but I didn’t tell anybody about that, just wanted to take up classes. At those times, we didn’t have the Internet, You Tube, where we could watch something. With the help of a classic guitar to learn to play something in rock style, hard»
«I think that it was my dad who gave me a push. He listened to Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, the Beatles. It was the music with which I grew up. At that time my parents used to give me money for the school lunch, but instead I paid for the studying at the musical school. So passed the first year, till my parents had gotten to know that I am studying. Then they gave me money. There I listened to the music of the early 90-th: « Pearl jam», « Nirvana». I was eager to resemble them and wanted to learn to play as they did»
«At the times of my youth the tapes of «Nirvana» were given from one hands into another. There was a CD ( central deli),where all the informals gathered together. It was very hard without the Internet, much harder, but we had books. I don’t know from where were taken the books about the different groups, and even in English. We brought them to the intepreters and asked to translate those books. They were interested too, and all together learned English due to those translations.»
«In the musical school I was immediately taken to the second grade, as I could play something. And then to the fourth grade. But in the fourth grade all my musical school has ended, as I visited only one lesson in solfeggio. There it was a principal decision made by someone in the leadership. They said that I had to visit lessons, but it won’t come up to me anyway.( Smiling) . Now, of course, I feel pity: if you want to become a professional in some job, you have to work hard. People had invented notes, a musical instrument, and years and centuries had to pass away, so the music we listen to now appeared. We have to learn about it»
« Who am I? Maybe, a beginner musician… I don’t know. By the profession I am a specialist in social work. It just a different sphere of work, connected with people, with psychology. Those who do this work have to contain something special near their souls from the very beginning. There must be a sympathy. Of course, such people live hard, especially due to a small salary. Adding an inner burning out. When you have your own problems, plus problems of the others and you have to solve them. It is very hard. I have worked like this for 11 years»
«Once I started from the trusted telephone. Called people who wanted to divorce with the wife and asked whether they have to do that or not. Someone wanted to commit a suicide. It can’t be forgotten…»
« We live in a world, where the principle « important is not a victory but a participation» doesn’t work. Now you have to win,and only the first place. You have to choose only one goal,only one job and do it the best. Only then you can be supposed as a professional in your work,and so you can win. It’s not easy, it takes long years in practice, but there is no another way. And to win you must ,at the first place, yourself»
«I’m planning to create a musical group of my own. At the moment, I’m working with the professionals who «renew» my fingers,as I haven’t played the guitar for ten years. After that you have bern studying for 5-6 hours a day,then appears a pause in 10 years, when you haven’t dealt with music at all,and then you start again- it is really hard»
«Somewhere in year 2012-2013 we had agreed and took a common trolley bus. An hour and a half we played a concert, people came in, as they drove somewhere in their business, and listened to our music. Then we continued the concert in «Pleasantville». It was great!»
«In the « Around the cultural space» evety Thursday there is a jam- you cane take your own instrument, come up and play. There come different people: with some experience, very young, and even those who are afraid of their first performance at stage. They all play together, improvisate. Such jams are the collaboration. The professional musicians who seriously relate to their work, started their way from something too. They do not just give some pieces of advice, they teach you not to make some mistakes»
«Right now we have a real team, and almost 5 songs. All the meaning of this project is to start from the very beginning. We have a certain goal, to embody which will take 2 years. During this time, we have to write a program, to perform, to organise a solo concert, to record an album and a video, to be rotated, and we are keen on performing on some respectable festival. Those are the steps of the development. And now, the first interview» (Laughing)
«In Zhytomyr in 2007-2008 there were groups, which garhered 450-500 listeners at their solo concerts. And the previous year the «O.Torvald» concert was cancelled , because there was no needed amount of people for the concert. The concert of «Bumbox» was also cancelled. During the time of «Eurovision» last year, «O.Torvald» had lived through the highest point of their popularity. In America and Europe «Bumbox» gathers 5 000-7000 people at their concerts. It has just happened somehow,that Zhytomyr became «a white spot» in touring… Vunnuk and Dzidzio always bring their own light and sound, but not every group can afford this. It is much more profitable to get that from the contractor, but we don’t have such a sound rental, which can give a raider claimed equipment»
«That fact that Kyiv is very near is a plus, but at the same time us a minus for a musical development of the town. You can go to concert not to the Zhytomyr drama theatrе, but in an hour and a half get to Kyiv. There would be a concert of another level: another sound and light, another atmosphere. Alas, there is no hall for the rock groups. Rock is a freedom, and when in the theatre comes a granny and asks the youngsters to take their places…there is no fan zone there, VIP zone…for that, there must be a concert-hall»
«Nowadays I rarely organise concerts, because it takes a lot of time. Some time ago we worked with different groups: «Dryga Rika», «Onuka», «Ljapis Trybetskoj», «Byta», «O.Torvald», «The Hardkiss», «Pianoboy». We organised concerts, worked in different formats. In 2009 made a two-day open- air fest « Sabotazh», where came nearly 20 groups from all around Ukraine. There were different locations, poetic and art stages, but this format didn’t live through, as it isn’t profitable. Actually, when you organise a fest you must have a team, which consists of 100 of people. Those are the volunteers, security, fire engines and food Corts. Usually there are ni strangers, there are people who are just like you. The target audience of the fest feels each other at the intuitive level. People gather together to enjoy the music, the evening»
« If I have free time I visit Ukrainian festivals. There are lots of different people, but usually there is a friendly atmosphere, where non-agressive people treat each other normally. It is a magnificent mood, especially when you listen to a group that some years ago was unreachable. And at the festival people play at the distance of 20 m from you and you listen to them in live»
«These days in Ukraine there are lots of events, where many cool singers and musicians are invited to. Such fests change the human culture. When there WC’s for the invalid people, and noone else goes there. I have seen people read for whom those WC’s were and went to another one. I have seen like people helped each other when someone got sick: told to the security, the musicians who did a pause. When the illuminators searched in a crowd the person who got sick for an ambulance to find him/her quickly. I have seen such a situation at the tattoo-festival, where there was saved a young girl’s life. In Zhytomyr I organized nearly 600 concerts and there were no fights»
«Of course, it is much more profitable to organise a festival in Kyiv, as there are lots of them…sometimes the singers with the known names just sleep in Zhytomyr. If there would be a concert, so great, if no-ok. When there are four people at the stage- there four more people behind the stage: driver, illuminator, manager and the director of the group. It is a whole bus of people, whom you have to feed, to settle, and solve all the problems connected with a concert. Someone performs just to maintain the image. It is the same principle when the widely known boutiques in Kyiv open in Zhytomyr, that is also done just for maintaining the image. Simply, but the most depends on money, the local politics»
«When a musician arrives from Europe or Japan, so the fee in 2500-3000 Euro is ok. If you transfer this money in UAH it would be a huge amount. And how many people needed to pay 200 UAH for the entrance. It is unreal in Zhytomyr to gather so many people. If the level of life will rise so I think there would be more people who would be eager to visit festivals. How many festivals are there at the VDNG in Kyiv? And there a ticket price 1500 UAH is normal, and for us 300 UAH is a huge amount»
«Nowadays I read rarely, mostly I listen to audio books, and even now I don’t know better writer than Dostoevsky. He grabbs you deeply into the atmosphere, so you can not go out from it for a long time. He does it that way when dive deeply into the atmosphere it is very hard to percept the surroundings. I experienced it on myself. With what season of the year does «Crime and Punishment» associates for you? The majority will answer- with autumn. And the book starts with words «It was a hot summer month August». Due to the author you connect yourself with a msin character so that you can not see nothing of wetness and cold. It is Dostoevsky. Nothing else touched me so»
«I will for sure teach my kids music. If they wouldn’t like it, so- dancing. But actually kids must be taught love and sympathy»
« Zhytomyr impresses me by its calm, quietness and silence. It resembles me an old silver- haired sloth, somewhere even a bit dirty. But all in all it is beautiful. Someone has called it a little Switzerland- there is a river, forest ….Beauty»
