It’s known that crowdsourcing is not necessarily a feature of low budget projects, but one of the greatest marketing tools and truly a ‘creative communication’ — creative on both sides, a project’s and the audience’s. For a music and art festival like the Kazantip Republic it’s, in a way, a must have. For it allows to involve a lot of creative youth and fulfill the mission of being a starting platform for young talents, at the same time supporting and fueling the brand’s traditions and untwisting the informational whirlwind around the project. In short, it’s a multifunctional tool we used regularly. And Kazantip’s tradition to choose a new anthem every year, the hype around it and the grandiosity of aftermaths for a winner made the annual Anthem Contest not just a promo tool of the summer festival, but an event in itself.
The Kazantip Republic’s Anthem Context had given the world (and the project) a few brilliant music pieces that millions people around the world fell in love with and keep loving even a decade later. Among them are Koala — Imagine (Cuba Recordings, 2004), R-Tem — Voiceless (2005), R-Tem — Touch (Baroque Records, 2008). Being strongly associated with The Kazantip Republic, they still keep spreading the project’s fame long after its demise — yeah, that notorious extinct stars’ light — such are amazing long lasting effects of that particular marketing communication. But well, things were not always going smooth, sometimes we just couldn’t find a worthy candidate, like in 2011. But then the communication got even more creative — we produced the Anthem by ourselves.) Here is how the story was developing and what it resulted in.
The Kazantip Republic. National Anthem Contest 2011
‘It just so happens that the theme of summer past
became this melody for every buddy of us,
we were crooning it along from dawn till dusk,
we were drinking wine, we were smoking butts,
in the sea of lights, in the sea of sounds
and just in the sea of bright blue colours,
nothing more than five notes, no chorus, no verse,
but you gotta listen how the melody goes…’
It just so happens that way back in the faraway nineties it was exactly the Kazantip Republic what inspired a rock band called Tequilajuzz to write these heartfelt lines. And definitely, some particularly special melody that became the theme of the very same Kazantipian summer. That in turn had been written by the author with inspiration from something. Indeed, inspiration is a chain reaction somehow… In search of yet another inspiring melody for the forthcoming summer the Kazantip Republic announces the New National Anthem Contest. And as you know from the Constitution, any piece of music able to give a listener goose bumps can became the one.
Anthem Contest. The second round
For 30 day and 30 nights together, musicians (and wannabees) weren’t drinking, weren’t eating, sculpting masterpieces (and wannabees) and incessantly uploading them to promodj.ru. For 30 day and 30 nights the office of admissions was listening up to this stream of endless hm…hm…sound and, in astonishment (whenever will it end?), making book on how many tracks was finally going to enter. Even the boldest president’s prediction for 3000 was topped – a mere 3662 masterpieces claimed the title of ‘melody of the next summer’. To do it justice, this situation illustrates the idea of ‘quality not quantity’ in the best way possible. To find 19 diamonds in the rough in a heap of hm..hm.. sand was still anything but simple. And…
There is no such thing as a world record in Some Town Day Run for amateur sportsmen; but there are always winners anyhow. In the same manner, a group of so called leaders has been set up in our Anthem-Writer Marathon. They are 15 in all, but, believe us, they are the best of 3362. Let us warn you straightaway, there are no masterpieces or anthems in the unconditional sense of the word. But when you give it a try, you may distinguish some nuts and bolts of music ideas that we will possibly undertake to tune up, together with authors. *To avoid prejudice, the voting will be anonymous — without mentioning authors’ names and titles of works.
Government Garage Band Presents Something Of An Anthem
As you know, the Kazantip republic has always been extremely open to everything new, so it regularly grants visas to thousands of new tourists, refreshes the corporate identity and announces the new national anthem. According to the Constitution, a never previously released piece of music from any genre can become an anthem, provided however that it is able to give the President and Cabinet goose bumps. As practice shows, to find such a composition is by no means easy.
This year we have even declared a global contest in the hope that among several thousands of bidders, we could find the one, ingenious, goose bumps giving melody we might live the coming year to. However, all we’ve found after monitoring of 3500 tracks were unfounded ambitions, stereotypes and only a few truly beautiful and talented compositions. But alas, unanimous goose bumps were never found.
While the Cabinet was arguing decent compromise candidate from the shortlist, we were accused of corruption, of a previously known and paid for result, we were threatened, offered bribes, continuously sent out of competition tracks and so on. And when 2 months later we still could choose nothing we decided not to choose at all—since we didn’t really like anything. And yet, since we can’t stand people who just criticize without offering anything in return, we made up our mind to write a new anthem on our own. And did so.
Something Of An Anthem
You know,
any fool can fence a piece of beach about
but not everyone can manage their own republic out of it —
perhaps, rather a summer house or snack bar with a pretty dance square.
to make others believe in what doesn’t exist
you need to find very right words, not just something
‘blah blah blah blah’.
Or another thing,
everybody can get instruments in the garage,
make their garage band and turn to a one-hit wonder,
bur dare try to make up a normal national anthem
to give people goose bumps, to sing it in chorus,
well, and with some smart, kind, sufficiently pathetic words,
not just babbling ‘blah blah blah blah’.
In the matter of fact, it’s rather hard
to tell something new, wise and relatively foolproof,
much less to sing…
but if the stars take the right positions,
if you’ve got a strong national idea,
people that treat their selves as a great nation,
well, and kinda a lot of music and a lot of light,
at large it is not that difficult
to make everybody go dancing
and screaming out,
even if in a cheesy way, but all-together
‘blah blah blah blah!’
Starring: the organising committee
Programmer and system administrator, a true rock star
Manager of The Live Department, bass guitar
The Head Of Music Department, contrabass
The Venue Producer, sequencer
The Presindent, vocal
Kazantip 2011 Grand Opening. The Government Garage Band’s Live Show
Credits:
Natasha Kto Nado — concept, copywriting, co-director, voice-over producer; pr & marketing communications, the opening ceremony producer.
Oleksandr Demianenko — director, DP, camera, tape director, sound, postproduction.
Mara Fauque — design, props, assistance, backstage photo.
Artem Harchenko — music, sound producing.
Nikita Marshunok — general producer.
Dmitry Oparin, Elgar Yusupov — camera, crane.
Starring: Maxim Bobrov, Andrew Kozelkov, Peter Shvets-Shevchenko, Yury Marychev,
Artem Harchenko, Andrew Goshva, Elgar Yusupov, Nikita Marshunok, Viktor Strogonov.
