Live Earth vs Kraina Mriiy

If we look back over the weekend there were two different events that were going on in the music industry as a whole and here in Ukraine with a focus on totally different matters. However, were they so different?

While former front man Oleh Skrypka of Vopli Vidoplasova held his Fourth World Music Festival Krayina Mriy in Kyiv, an event that was modeled on an event organized by Bob Geldof of The Boom Town Rats more than twenty years ago, Live-Aid, Live Earth was taking place on each of the planet's five continents.

The inclement weather kept me from attending Krayina Mriy, and while attending Live Earth was not in my budget I did manage to catch some of its programing which took place on the Tonis TV Channel here in Kyiv. It came as little surprise that the program was being sponsored by the Green Party of Ukraine [elections coming up], but what was also clear to me was that management at Tonis took advantage of the event to rake in some advertising dollars. While I may be wrong, I have a hunch that I'm not. While other TV stations in more developed parts of the world were showing the PSAs aimed at increasing public awareness regarding the problem, Tonis, cut many of these and replaced them with advertising.

Actually, the planet earth is a land of wonders, hence these are the only two similarities between the two events that took place over the weekend. While the money behind both these events was not shabby by far, Live Earth was something that I personally had more feeling for. Skrypka would have done much better for himself and those musicians who performed, had they somehow tried to join the global effort in raising awareness. Just how much effort would have been needed to do so? The ecology in around Kyiv is appalling, and I don't believe that a great deal is being done to do anything about it. A national program has to be started, and ecological awareness of Ukrainians has to start from a very young age, if the territory of Ukraine isn't going to become a major garbage dump.

I can say for certain that there are some other friends who are trying to make a difference. For example, Stepan Pasicznyk, aka Ludwig formally with the UK based band The Ukrainians. To have a better understanding of what I mean take a look at his video.