"Connections" CD release party in collaboration with UNSOUND Festival

The first Unsound Minsk in May 2007 was a revelation for Western European artists who performed, as well as the local audience. It was an event that via club, digital and experimental music created a spontaneous and strong route directly between the Belarus capital and the rest of Europe.

Pole – Stefan Betke – was one of the artists who performed on that night. Together, Unsound & Tone Foundation, Betke via his label scape and the Minsk team IN-Touch decided to take things further, to join Belarus producers and musicians with their more established counterparts from Germany, Poland, the UK, Switzerland and Sweden to form new collaborative projects.
The “Connections” CD is the result, a very diverse collection of tracks recorded in Minsk and mastered in Berlin at scape studios. Collaborations include: Pole (DE) & i/Dex (BY); Pinch (UK) & Pavel Ambiont (BY); The National Fanfare of Kadebostany (Kadebostan & Rational Diet); The Vulva String Quartet (DE) & B_Twisted, Eugene and Uladzimir Likhashapka (BY), Jacek Sienkiewicz & local Minsk poets, MILF (PL) meets Minor Scene (BY), Buben (BY) vs. Herman Muntzing (SW), and field recordings made by Kassian Troyer in Minsk.
On the one hand imbued with a dark, heavy atmosphere, at times the music on the CD is also playful. It promises the opening of more channels, more connections.
Co-presented by the Warsaw-based detroitZdroj, “Connections” CD launch parties will take place in Poznan on 9.10.2009, and in Warsaw on 10.10.2009. Artists performing, and connected to the project, include: Pole (DE), dj Barbara Preisinger (DE), Pavel Ambiont (BY), bshosa (PL). Free CD’s will be distributed at each event.
In Poland, a third launch party will take place in Krakow during Unsound Festival – at the No Visa Required event on 22.10.2009, where The National Fanfare of Kadebostany will have their world premier (the band is soon to release on Mental Groove records).
Pavel Ambiont will also perform at Unsound Krakow on the Bass Mutations night, and a sound installation that is the result of Kassian Troyer’s work in Minsk will also be presented.
Around this time, there will also be a Connections CD release party in Minsk itself.
The project is funded by: European Cultural Foundation (ECF), Pro Helvetia, Goethe Institute Minsk, Polish Institute Minsk, Swedish Institute.
Partners include: scape records (Berlin), Club Transmediale (Berlin) and In-TOUCH (Minsk).