"Ocean Elsi" and the cesspool

The concert of the Ukrainian rock band in the northern capital was canceled twice in one day

The concert of the Ukrainian rock band in the northern capital was canceled twice in one day

Photo: RIA Novosti

A month before the performance, the circumstances of insurmountable power suddenly arose. Officially called the "technical", they were discovered exactly at the moment when the statements of some political figures were made.

The Elsi Ocean was going to perform at the St. Petersburg Ice Palace on March 31. But on February 28, on the website of one of the largest concert venues in the city, an announcement was published: “For reasons beyond the control of the ice palace, the concert was canceled. Information about the procedure for returning tickets can be obtained from the organizers of the concert. ” Refused to comment on the “new” reason for the breakdown of the event in the ice.

Nevertheless, this was not a surprise to anyone in St. Petersburg. Since on February 25, a deputy of the St. Petersburg Parliament Vitaly Milonov sent a letter to the Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky, in whom he urged not to let the Zhovto-Blackte infection into the country, “to prevent the concerts of the Ukrainian group“ Ocean Elsi ”in Russia, and its leader, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, is generally“ entering the list of Russian persons non grata ”. Milonov motivated his hostility to the performers: "The artists of the ensemble have long been occupied by convinced anti -Russian and Russophobic positions" and "joined the battle underground of Euromaidan." Milonov wrote: "The Kiev Maidan is of anti -Russian nature, and the Elsi Ocean group belongs to its leaders." The author of the message accused Vakarchuk of "anti -Russian sentiments" and "reluctance to see the Russian language to the second state in Ukraine." Separately, the parliamentarian remembered the Ocean Elsi performance on the Maidan on December 14 last year. On that day, the first composition of the group, considered “gold”, performed at the center of then peacefully protesting Kyiv. The best songs of the team sounded at the concert.

On February 26, Milonova was supported by the leader of the LDPR Vladimir Zhirinovsky, inviting Medinsky to ban the tour of all Ukrainian groups and artists who occupy anti -Russian positions in Russia.

Nobody heard the official answers of the Minister of Culture to Milonov and Zhirinovsky. But on February 28, events in St. Petersburg began to unfold exactly according to the scenario that they dreamed about.

The ice palace refused to the Ocean Elsi in the site in fact without explanation. The wording “for reasons beyond us” is especially interesting if you take into account that 100% of the shares of Sports Palace (Ice Palace) belong to city officials. Their owner is Kugi (city property management committee) of St. Petersburg.

The leader of the Elsi Ocean Svyatoslav Vakarchuk on his blog on Twitter answered unpleasant news with a link to the clip with his own song “I will not give up without a fight”. And on the official website of the group, its participants in the morning of February 28 reported: “Only its organizers can cancel the concert. Such information was not received from them. Today is known about changing the performance site 03/31/2014 in St. Petersburg. We are waiting for additional information from the organizers. ”

On the same day, the organizers of the St. Petersburg tour of the Ocean Elsi - LLC Euro Show - managed to agree with another site.

“The concert of the Ukrainian rock band will be held in the new sports complex on the Krestovsky Island of Sibur Arena,” Konstantin Zhmuro, director of the Euro Show LLC, told the new. - The agreement, including written, has been achieved. True, the capacity of Sibur Arena is slightly less - 7-8 thousand seats, and the ice palace, where the concert was originally planned, is designed for 12-13 thousand seats ( on February 28, more than 5 thousand tickets were sold at the Ocean Elsi concert in St. Petersburg. - N.P. ). But this is better than nothing.

The art director of Sibur Arena Alexei Prokaev explained:

- We will accept the Ocean Elsi, since the group is widely popular. And we consider it necessary to carry culture to the masses. In the near future, on the official website of the sports complex, the concert announcement will be posted on March 31.

However, the announcement did not have time to be born. Instead of him, after only two hours, the news flew about the refusal of the Siber Arena to accept Ukrainian rock musicians. This decision of the “new” was commented by Vadim Prokkornin, the Executive Director of the BFPR ( the Charitable Fund for the Support and Development of the Spartak basketball club, which is the owner of the Sibur Arena . - N.P. ):

- The reason for the cancellation of the concert is the technical issues that we did not initially provide for. I studied the documents that the experts prepared, and came to the conclusion that we will not have time to prepare the site by March 31.

Proskornin refused to decipher the "technical moments". But you can reveal some constituent moments.

The title investor of construction on the Krestovsky Island of the Sybur Arena sports complex was the company Sibur, the one hundred percent owner of which is Sibur Limited. And one of the main beneficiaries of Sibur Limited is the co -owner and member of the Board of Directors of the Novatek gas company, the co -owner of the Gunvor oil oil industry, a close friend of Vladimir Putin is Gennady Timchenko.

Despite everything, both in the Ice Palace and in the Sibur Arena categorically rejected assumptions about the possible pressure from above and political motivation for decisions.

On March 1, the artists and the organizers jointly made an official statement ( we quote with reductions ): “Until the very last moment, we were looking for opportunities for the musicians could go on stage to their fans. But this time something in the usual series of things did not work out in the expected result. You can look for the right and guilty for a long time and in vain, to invent, invent and analyze something. We will leave this to others and we will not despair ... We ask you to show understanding and apologize ... A ticket to the group’s canceled concert on March 31 in the Ice Palace of St. Petersburg can also be exchanged for any concert of the Ocean Elsi group in any city in the world for your choice! ”

Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, leader of the rock group "Ocean Elsi":

- Who do you think the nationalist? If the one whose beloved writer Chekhov is a nationalist. If the one whose first favorite song was “shining an unfamiliar star” - then I am also a nationalist. If the one who has met a girl of Jewish blood for 5 years, then yes, I am a nationalist. If the one who sings in a group in which two Serbs and one half Russian, half Tatar - then yes, I, of course, are a nationalist. If the one who loves Petersburg as his hometown, then again I am a nationalist. If the one who has the same close friends live in Moscow as in Kyiv, then I am an obvious nationalist. If the one from whose lips Russian or English sounds as often as my native Ukrainian, then I am a 100 % nationalist. Well, more ... If the one who loves his country is a nationalist, then I ... do you think? Who am I? And who are you?

Yuri Shevchuk, leader of the rock group "DDT":

-Politicians should not interfere in art, in cultural processes and divide people according to any color, according to political beliefs. This is not their business! It would be better if they thought about their people, and not untied mutual hatred within the country and between the peoples of Ukraine and Russia. If there is a big war, there will be no deputies with machine guns there, young boys will die. I have seen it more than once.

Ilya Damn, leader of the pilot group:

- If our deputies begin to ban concerts, this is a finish. Today Vakarchuk was banned, tomorrow - to us. Musicians have the opportunity to tell the truth - from the heart, from the heart, from the stage. If not they, then who else will tell her?