Each December the biggest and the most prestigeous international festival-competition called the Global Battle of Bands ends with a gala concert in London. The main intrigue of the impresa is that young bands from the whole world will compete for getting the $100,000 grand-prix.
The respectable panel of judges that will select the winner consists of leading producers, impresarios, and British media representatives. The administration attracts the best specialists from the mecca of the world show business. The main requirement of the competition is that it admits only original authors’ material (no cover versions of someone else’s hits), live sound only, and no electronic samples or computer “chemistry.”
The georgraphic map of the competition broadens with each year, with a total of 35 countries from all the continents taking part this year. Five years ago Ukraine became a full-fledged participant of this global event. Oleksii Belbek and Vlad Liashenko have headed the Ukrainian branch; they both have vast organizational experience. The nationwide selection rounds called “To Be Heard” take place at first in Ukraine’s large cities, where the best bands are selected for the participation in the decisive battle in Kyiv, where a single candidate, i.e., the best music band, is selected to represent Ukraine in London.
No connections, money, official protection, or anything like of this kind has any effect on this competition. No one knows the winner’s name until the last moment.
“The main goal of the activities of the Ukrainian branch is to provide maximum assistance to our young artists in their aspirations to integrate into the world context of modern music,” Liashenko said. “Today Ukrainian alternative rock stage, or the so-called underground, is stronger and more interesting than ever. We know this for sure because we have been observing the development of styles and creative ideas over the past five years.
“We can say for sure that all the bands that ‘have survived’ until the final round in Kyiv are strong professional groups with a bright and original music personality. They are our music Olympians. If there existed a kind of rotation of new names on radio or TV, I guarantee that Ukraine would soon have acquired a whole pleiad of modern, European-level stars. All of our four finalists who performed in London in previous years were very highly assessed by the jury. Let me mention them: Orkestr Yanky Kozyr, Toll, Etwas Anders, and Atmasfera. Some of them were only few points away from winning the grand-prix.”
Indeed the common drawback or the Achilles heel of alternative music is its nearly total absence in Ukraine’s information space, where, as is known, pop music is reigning. The only exceptions are the Enter music channel, two or three radio stations, and several websites.
The situation in the world is totally different. Alternative culture enjoys there no less serious media support than the commercial pop culture. Therefore the demand for alternative music and its status are considerably higher than in our country.”
“The fifth season of the national GBOB finals has recently come to an end in the world, and in particular, in Ukraine. Our final round was extremely intense and dramatic,” Liashenko continued, “The 23 bands that made it to the final (we have never had so many) were from all over Ukraine. These are essentially the cream of the crop in Ukrainian alternative music. That is why nearly all of them performed extremely well with the first five participants having a minimum lead. So the jury had a very complicated task.
“In all regional selection rounds the competition was similarly serious. In Lviv there were finalists who earned the same number of points, so both bands-Dalai-Lama and Niahara-entered the final. A total of 110 bands have taken part in the competition. The residents of Lviv and Kyiv proved to be most active.”
On the homestretch Korali from Ivan-Frankivsk, Anna from lviv, Marakesh and Freddy Marx from Kyiv, Merva from Rivne, Pins from Kremenchuk, Dalai-Lama from Lviv, and Tango Tempo from Uzhhorod led the pack with the audience and the jury. Tango Tempo earned the most points. It is a very lively trip-hop band and a three-time participant in the competition. They will represent Ukraine in December at London’s grandiose music event GBOB Challenge 2008.”
