Forced homeland

"Bi-2" and the free love of the Fatherland, which deprives free will

Bi-2 has a song that I am listening to more often than others-“Homeland”. And not because it is somehow especially close to me in music or theme. It’s just that every time I try to understand what her text means, and it annoys me, then it seems to be something important. In the light of the current situation, the song has become much more understandable.

Perhaps for the Bi-2 themselves the concept of "homeland" is always problematic, changing over time. Two founders of the group, Leva* and Shura, have a very winding fate of crossings, attempts to implement in different countries.

The group appeared in Belarus - in Bobruisk. There were the first notes and concerts. Then - several years of life in Israel, after - in Australia. And the group shot and became known already in Russia, when they began to twist their album on the radio, originally called "and the ship is floating."

After February 24, 2022, when the musicians first refused to speak under the ZA President banner, and then they publicly condemned the regime, they do not perform in Russia - but they even go around the world more actively. So does Bi-2 have a homeland?

If, in the sense of something located in one place and forcibly requiring you “cloth patriotism” from you, of course. Because Bi-2 has always been one of the most international active pop and rock bands known in Russia. They were never limited only to the Russian audience, only by local labels and musical studios. And the texts of the songs are full of direct references to the works of Italian, British, Latin American and other cultures. And even in the anti-American “brother 2” the group performs in the USA-and looks quite relevant in the context of alternative music of the early 2000s. "Bi-2" always existed on top of state borders.

Unfortunately, the Russian state is also trying to exist on top of the borders and reach those who do not share its understanding of the "homeland." And here not only the Chekist and imperial logic works: we will get you where we want, and make you apologize or put you in prison. There is still confidence that a person who lived or worked in Russia is now obliged to act exactly as the current state believes.

In the song, the empire is opposed to the "sweet home." But nowhere is it said that this house is motionless, that it does not move with us, is not recreated again.

The Russian state seems to consider man as property and a bag for money.

It is not for nothing that the narrative is found in official media so often: nobody needs you in the West, you only earn without a lot in Russia. Here we will deprive you of the opportunity to earn - and you will find out, etc. In the song "Bi-2" they are opposed to this:

*It is impossible to prohibit

Love your homeland for free.*

Now the latest situations look very symptomatic and creepy when, at the instigation of the Russian consulate, concerts of artists - Maxim Galkin*, Ruslan Bely*. Now I got Bi-2.

True, they managed to play the concert, but then they got into the migration prison for improper paperwork. Alas, the Russian state tried to take advantage of this in order to try to steal musicians and, apparently, punish for “disobedience” and free movement around the world. And only thanks to the painful negotiations and collective efforts of diplomats, Australian and Israeli, the entire group managed to get out of a dangerous situation and send to Israel - despite the fact that only two participants have citizenship of this country. It is good that “Bi-2” managed to break out of the power of the Russian forced homeland and, I hope, they will continue to travel around the world, finding their native at the most unexpected points of the planet. And it turns out that the Motherland is actually those safe places where there are solidarity and help where you can live without looking around with fear. “ I find Solovyov’s marvelous songs - close places to my heart .”

And where people are stolen and their mouths plug, they can’t find their homeland.

In this light, the refrain of the song released five years ago sounds incredibly nicer:

*Sweet house -

In the field an abandoned car.

I can't see without tears

Photos of birches.*

This is a person’s view that looks at expensive places from afar, through a photograph, through the screen, through inaccessibility and abandonment. In today's times, it does not stand still and appears as a miracle - at different points in the world, not only in memory.

The rethinking of this concept by the group has been going on for the fifth decade. Back in 1989, under the name “Board of Truth”, the musicians recorded the magneto -album “traitors of the Motherland”. It was wearing the song of the same name, in which there are such words:

*Rosa settled on tram tracks,

The sun goes over the horizon.

You and I cannot stay here:

You and I will not forgive the people ...*

*We are traitors of the Motherland,

We are traitors of the Motherland,

We are traitors of the Motherland,

We are ideas enemies!*

After 35 years, it became even more relevant: it is really dangerous to be where the “homeland” can reach you. And if the idea is a lack of choice and freedom of will, then it is not sacred to become her enemy.

Now, after Leva Bi-2 was declared a “foreign agent”, and they tried to deport the group to Russia, apparently for a demonstration court, other countries turn out to be the homelands, and not repressive Belarus and Russia. The word is no longer tied to its etymology. And the concept of "traitors of the Motherland" also now means different. These are those who change the meaning of this very “homeland”.

Ruslan Komade

* Entered the Russian authorities in the register of "foreign regents".