Musicians protest in front of the government building of the Republic of North Macedonia in Skopje on June 4, 2021. Photo by Vasil Buraliev /VBU Music Registry, used with permission.
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This article originally posted VBU Music Registry. This edited translation is reproduced on Global Voices with your kind permission.
On June 4, Macedonian musicians held a protest in front of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia building, to express their discontent at the “discriminatory” way in which the country’s anti-COVID-19 measures are being relaxed. The strict restrictions have prevented to many artists earn a living.
The protest, organized by the association Music Now! (Music Now!), Blocked traffic at noon on one of the busiest boulevards in the center of the Macedonian capital. Representatives of a disgruntled segment of the local music industry wore black armbands to declare that Macedonian music is “dead.” With two minutes of silence, the protesters made a symbolic burial of live music as an art form. The new government measures, announced June 2, allow live music to be played at weddings, but not in other commercial settings, such as bars and nightclubs.
Trajko Simonovski – Taci at the protest on June 4, 2021 in Skopje. Photo by Vasil Buraliev / UB Music Registry, used with permission
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Trajko Simonovski – Taci, bassist and president of Muzika Sega! considers that the latest relaxation of the restrictions is “discriminatory and insulting to the intelligence of the musicians affected.” He explained that these interpreters have lost patience and have taken to the streets in protest after being “thrown into the streets” for not being able to work.
According to Simonovski, the authorities have only partially and declaratively accepted the musicians’ requests. While some are allowed to perform at weddings, artists who often perform in bars, restaurants, tea houses and cafes are still prevented from exercising their right to work, as stigmatized today as lepers in the past, he says. .
During the negotiations with the governmentSimonovski said they jointly agreed on the need to create a registry of musicians to determine how many were affected by the restrictions on live music. It says that after Muzika Sega! compiled that list, the authorities did not respond.
The protesters complained that the authorities have not explained why they have allowed live music, first in outdoor shows in May 2020, Then in big concert halls that summer, and recently at weddings of up to 100 guests, but they continue to ban small-scale live acts in nightclubs and bars. The government’s new package of measures, which includes grants for unemployed musicians, uses the term “licensed musicians”Although there is no such legal category in North Macedonia, nor a chamber of commerce that issues such licenses.
John Ilija Apelgren at the protest on June 4, 2021 in Skopje. Photo by Vasil Buraliev / VBU Music Registry, Used with permission.
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Jazz singer John Ilija Apelgren is one of those directly affected:
As an individual, independent artist I can make a living only through live performances. I have been forbidden to do my work without any valid reason, alongside my colleagues who don’t sing, but play instruments or are DJing. They too can’t exercise their right to earn a living and feed their families.
Maybe we should have brought our families too, so they can tell the representatives of this white building behind me [the seat of the government] how they have been surviving, during these last 15 months without income. How can [people] pay tuition or rent when they don’t have family members who are pensioners or employed in state administration?
Those who forbid us to work seem to have forgotten the musicians who are not employed by state institutions such as the Public Broadcasting Service, the philharmonic, national opera and ballet, or Dance folk ensemble. Could the gentlemen from this white building try to live 15 months without their salaries? This policy will have long-term consequences. Some of our colleagues have already been selling their instruments.
As an independent and individual artist, I can only make a living from live performances. I have been forbidden to do my work without any valid reason, with my colleagues who do not sing, but play instruments or are DJ. Nor can they exercise their right to earn a living and feed their family.
Maybe we should have brought our families too, so they can count the representatives of this white building behind me [la sede del Gobierno] how they have been surviving, during these last 15 months without income. How can you pay the tuition or rent if you do not have pensioner relatives or who work in the State administration?
Those who prohibit us from working seem to have forgotten the musicians who are not employed in state institutions, such as the Public Broadcasting Service, the national philharmonic, the national opera and ballet or the folk ensemble. Dance. Could the lords of this white building try to live 15 months without their pay? This policy will have long-term consequences. Some of our colleagues have already sold their instruments.
Shortly after the start of the pandemic, the government of the Republic of North Macedonia decree confinements, forced to wear masks indoors such as (Until June 3) outdoors, and to respect a distance of two meters, and applied restrictions to meetings, as in other countries.
However, rules they made exceptions for restaurants and bars. In these places, indoors and on terraces, only waiters were required to wear masks, and physical distancing was almost impossible to apply, as up to four people could sit at a table. Updated measurements now allow up to six customers to sit at a restaurant table.
Apelgren demanded an explanation for these “illogical” decisions, including discrimination against some types of musicians:
… How they concluded that a musician playing in a bar is a carrier, or they assume that the virus travels along the music vibrations. The funny thing is that people who rush into the gym, each with their fork in a plate, are not in danger of getting infected sitting at a table, but if a DJ in the corner plays music there, it is extremely dangerous.
How have they decided that [solo] a musician who plays in a venue is a carrier of the infection? Do you suppose that the virus uses music waves to travel? It makes no sense to consider that a group of people who put all their forks in the same salad bowl is safe from infection when sitting at the same table, while the DJ playing music from a corner is considered a health hazard. public.
In practice, allowing live music only at weddings is causing a gender gap in the music industry. Those who play folk music, considered essential in these celebrations, are in a privileged position, while the rest of the prohibitions disproportionately affect the musicians who play. rock, hip hop, jazz, blues or techno music.
As of June 6, the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia had not issued a response or reacted to the protesters’ demands.
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