The famous castle in Zbarazh, which Bohdan Khmelnytsky could never capture in his time, hosted the Black Lyre International Goth Music Festival last weekend.
People who refer to themselves as Goths, an offshoot of post-punk culture, first emerged sometime in the 1970s. At first they were members of rock groups, and their music was frightening, sinister, with various ghostly overtones. Gradually those who were developing a fancy for this kind of music began sporting the dark clothing favored by their idols, with dog collars, metal spikes, unusual hair styles, and accessories shaped like spiders, bats, and crossbones. In Ukraine, Goth-oriented rock groups appeared in the mid- 1980s, followed by Komu VnyZ and Viy, although this subculture formed comparatively recently. Almost simultaneously with Kyiv’s Goth clan, the first regional association was set up in Ternopil, known as the Gammadion Goth Club. According to Torquemada (pseudonym of Roman Nahuliak, host of the youth program “Fourth Quarter” on TV-4), “people dressed in black profess decadent ideas, so everything that is oppressive and frightening to the rest they regard as an inalienable and serious component of life.” Nevertheless, they know how to relax and enjoy themselves, but they do it in a different way and to the accompaniment of a different kind of music, compared to what people their age listen to in discotheques and bars. We realized this during a concert staged by people from this subculture. The show took place on a stage erected in the castle’s courtyard. Rock groups from Kyiv, Lviv, and local groups ZSUF and Audi-sile performed rather noisy numbers. Disk jockeys specializing in Goth music presented their program. Among the festival’s main attractions was a photo exhibit by the Invisible Woman from Ternopil, including pictures of castles, churches, graveyards, and Goths. At midnight the castle’s dining hall offered old horror movies dating from the early 20th century, definitely not for people with weak nerves. As the first roosters crowed, the Goths left the castle, promising to meet again next year.
