An interlude from something sweet - but cleansing

Yesterday a friend of mine and fellow Twitterer hinted that she would be interviewing Oleh Skrypka today... According to her report on Deutsche Welle it seems the initiator of the Kraina Mriy festival, now in its sixth year, will not himself be at the festival. In fact he will be at a festival taking place in Tartistan.

One thing I noticed at the festival last year, was that the people who were there were not only orderly but they picked up after themselves. But this was not only my observation but that of many friends, and it turns out that Oleh Skrypka himself along with many of the performers made not of this as well.

A few days ago I met with an old friend over coffee, as we went our separate ways Mykaylo said to me... "Everyone likes to complain, but no one seems to want to change anything. However, those who understand who they are, take care of things including themselves, their homes and the neighborhoods they live in," he said. Well Oleh Skrypka seems to echo this sentiment and told Deutsche Welle:

...головна проблема на Землі загалом - екологічна, починаючи з внутрішньої екології і закінчуючи екологією довкілля: "Ми ініцювали рух "Країна Мрій — чиста країна". Так, каже Скрипка, в рамках громадської ініціативи і не за гроші та не через вказівку – збирались люди й прибирали Труханів острів та Замкову гору в Києві.

So it seems that there are people out their that do care about what is on right in their own backyards.

While this year's festival has been cut from three days to one, it is certain that those who make a day of it and head out for the 12:00 start time, will be individuals who will leave the place as spotless as it was when they arrived.

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.