About the show
BIAZ NAZVY (also known as BN) are a Belarusian rock band rooted in the punk scene, formed in 1999 in Byaroza. The band is unofficially banned in Belarus. During the previous decade, they were one of the more popular rock bands in the country.
Their music combines rebellious energy, emotional melodies and uncompromising lyrics, becoming a voice for identity, freedom and resistance to the mainstream. Their lyrics are written primarily in the Belarusian language. At the beginning of their career, they used to say: “There is rock in Polish, there is rock in Ukrainian — so why shouldn't there be rock in Belarusian?” Today, using Belarusian has also become a form of resistance to the dominance of the Russian language in Belarus.
Despite their relatively moderate political activity, the band performed at various events organised under the **Solidarni z Białorusią** (“Solidarity with Belarus”) banner. In 2020, during the protests in Minsk, the band's vocalist performed a series of acoustic concerts in different parts of the city. He was later detained by the police for 24 hours.
A wave of arrests within the Belarusian music community began to spread, affecting an ever-growing number of people. The decision to leave the country became inevitable.
Since 2022, the band has consisted of:
Aliaksandr Liutych — guitar, vocals
Mikalai Paliakou — bass (multi-instrumentalist, formerly a member of Dzieciuki)
Vicky Fates — drums (one of Belarus's leading female drummers, formerly a member of Akute, among others)
The band's latest album, 20+ (2025), is a powerful and honest testimony to the experiences of a generation living in the shadow of crises, emigration and the struggle to have its own voice.
The album was released on 21 February 2025, on International Mother Language Day. Its cover features a half-eaten cake and an unfinished celebration — a message that the era of relative normality came to a definitive end after 2020.
Polish music magazine Teraz Rock awarded the album 4 out of 5 stars, describing it as “strong, catchy rock, without complexes or limitations, but also without folk shortcuts” — driven instead by a huge amount of energy and a handful of truly stadium-sized choruses.
