The Alphabet of Lyavon Volski: Living Among Various Boundaries

Lyavon Volski, known for his music with popular Belarusian bands like NRM, Volski, ZET, and Kramambulya, reflects on Belarus, music, rock, time, and youth. He reminisces about the past and dreams of a brighter future. When you think of Lyavon, no introduction is needed. Everyone has their own associations with Lyavon, and his life’s components are captured in the selected letters of the alphabet.

A – Accord

Accords come in various forms—joyful, sad, simple, avant-garde, and final. These different accords create diverse harmonies. Melodies and lyrics are then written, and from all this, the song of our life is composed.

Sometimes joyful, sometimes not so much. For some, it is long; for others, not quite. For some, it fits the format of Belarusian FM radio; for others, it does not.

B – Belarus

There are many stereotypes about this country—the land of potatoes, stability, the last dictatorship, order, cleanliness, good roads. For some reason, Belarus is often considered small. Stereotypes usually do not fully correspond to reality. In the context of Europe, it is not a small country. Perhaps it is simply not worth comparing with the giant eastern neighbor?

Various potato dishes are eaten throughout Europe, not to mention both Americas. Draniki might be called placek ziemniaczany in one place and kartoffelpuffer in another. We have experienced Belarusian stability many times.

The last dictatorship suddenly became not the last and somewhat insignificant. Undoubtedly, it is not right to say this when people’s lives are being broken due to arrests, prisons, dismissals, and blacklists. But there is a war nearby, and, like it or not, there is something to compare it with. Inappropriate orders, impunity of law enforcement, chaotic constructions in Minsk…

But there is something magical and attractive about this territory. It cannot be defined by any stability, dictatorships, or harvest festivals. It is something magical and inexplicable. Something that makes you want to be here, create, rejoice, adopt, and grieve.

Y – Christmas Tree

In Belarusian, it is very interesting: in the forest grows a yolka, and when Christmas approaches, a yorka appears in the house. It is the same tree from the forest, but decorated. For me, since childhood, there has been something magical and sacrament in these winter holidays.

Grandfather Frost, Zyuzya, Saint Nicholas, little lanterns, bells, gifts, and the expectation of a miracle. And miracles happen, believe me. Especially during the Christmas and New Year period.

I – Irony and Self-Irony

It has always helped me.

M – Boundary

We live among various boundaries. There are boundaries that regulate our behavior, dress code, gastronomic and enogastronomic preferences, choice of car, housing, life partners. For some, these boundaries are wider; for others, they are narrower.

Someone lives in a huge country filled with thousands of people and things, and someone lives in a small town-state. One person is happy within the boundaries of their small town, and another is unhappy in a boundless empire.

R – Rock

It can be music. It can be a lifestyle. It is also fate. Something that cannot be avoided, bypassed, or deviated from. In my life, all the meanings of this short, sharp, and loud word have strangely intertwined.

T – Tomahawk

I do not know why this word came to mind. Maybe I just love westerns?

U – Harvest, Fertility

One might think these are cognate words. And it is so desirable that both of these words are not associated with the “battle for the harvest.” And that the harvest is collected calmly, quietly, and professionally, and that the entire government pays attention to this, as it should, especially the Minister of Agriculture.

Ch – Time

Sometimes it flies like an arrow. Years pass one after another—you cannot keep up with counting them. And suddenly it starts to drag on tediously, like a queue in a bank. You look at the clock—the hand seems to not move at all. It can also be past, present, and future.

I want to believe that yesterday was not bad, today is good, and tomorrow will be great. But time is a paradoxical thing, as I said above, and no one is immune to anything.

E – Era

This new era is completely different. And it is already difficult to imagine yourself in the previous one—without the internet, without the iPhone, without a multitude of various devices. They say that in the previous era, there was something real that is not present in the current one. I do not know.

Earlier, aunts talked for hours on home phones. Gossip, rumors, truth, lies… Now they do this on social networks. I am not saying that nothing has changed. I want to say that I am quite comfortable in this new era, and I do not strive to return to the previous one, unlike some people.

Yu – Youth

In my youth, although I was as foolish as a dog before its first year, I already defined some priorities for myself: freedom, love, creativity. You can add faith and hope to this. The language of creativity and life was also defined.

For many, youth is a distant happy time when everyone was hippie-punks, musicians, fighters against the system, loved, and organized crazy parties. So, for me, this time continues to this day.

Recorded by Yulia Vauchok

Photo: Andrey Davydchik