For this concert, for the first time in the history of the district House of Culture, the first four rows were removed from the main hall. "It is not customary to sit at a hip-hop festival," warned the organisers, who were also a local band from Lepel, and from the very beginning they invited the audience onto a dance floor specially made in front of the stage.
For this concert, for the first time in the history of the district House of Culture, the first four rows were removed from the main hall. "It is not customary to sit at a hip-hop festival," warned the organisers, who were also a local band from Lepel, and from the very beginning they invited the audience onto a dance floor specially made in front of the stage. More than a hundred people came to listen to rap.
The first hip-hop festival held in the Lepel region featured groups from Vitebsk, Minsk, Dubrovno, Polotsk, and Novopolotsk. The town's youth eagerly awaited their fellow countrymen – formerly the group "Nelegal style". Its soloists recorded their first song five years ago. "A track lasting a minute and a half, recorded on a bad dictaphone," they recall that time. Today, each of them writes songs and prefers to perform solo under nicknames (pseudonyms). The guys have no musical education, and rap is a hobby for them.
Reciting about their hometown, about love, they now count their songs in the dozens. For example, Artem Kameko already has 35 songs, and Oleg Tukhto, who also writes music, has about 30. Both of them, incidentally, are rescuers at the Lepel District Department for Emergency Situations. Alexey Khudozheshko has 90 compositions, while Ruslan Pechenev, a student at the Polotsk State Agrarian and Technical College, plays the role of MC (host) in the team: his duties include not only introducing the performer but also rousing the crowd. Incidentally, the artists had no problems with this at the festival. The style of their free performance, which such concerts imply, immediately captivated the audience. Spectators were invited onto the stage, and not a single song was allowed to be listened to while sitting down... Undoubtedly, the main audience consisted of teenagers, but there were also those in the hall who were around 30 years old. The guys knew how the Lepel rappers had started and wanted to hear what the group had become now. By the way, they were satisfied with the performance.
The organisers did not expect the festival to generate such interest among the residents of Lepel.
Ekaterina OSOVSKAYA