Oh, the summer of 1996! So many things happened to me in such a short period of time!
So, my sister was back home. On her birthday parents bought her a new stereo-system, which led to me officially inheriting the old one, that we brought from Germany in 1991 (that moved to my room at certain point, since she was abroad). It had two tape decks and a record player, so I was already regularly copying music from some friends at school.
After enjoying the HaShomer summer camp in 1995, I went to the Jewish Agency camp the following winter. And this summer I went to both - the JA camp in June and later - HaShomer camp in July. To the second I already took with me a small radio-tape and a few of my new favorites from the sister's collection. Oh what an amazing time it was! I met there my first love - Ola, and I met there my first really close friend and musical mentor - Ilya Aronov from Grodno. He was a real freak - an explosive combination of Jim Morrison and John Lydon, he was a real inspiration for me in many ways. We've lost contact, since I moved to Israel, but as I look back I realize how deep his influence was. The music that I first discovered from him may seem to obvious for now, but back then it wasn't so known in my area. You see, Minsk is the capital, but it lies right in the middle of Belarus, while Grodno is very close to the Polish border, and it often was the first stop on the way of western import to Belarus - in many terms, not only music. So, what was hard to find in Minsk, was all over the place in Grodno and at least half a year earlier. Names, like Threapy?, Dead Kennedys, Faith No More, Sonic Youth, Pixies, Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance were absolutely new to me. As often as Ilya was coming to Minsk for visit, most of the time we were spending copying tapes: me - from him, and him - from my sister.
One of the first things I copied was an album that (as I found out later) had a track order entirely different from the original one. It was very poetic, but at the same time very expressive and full of contrast changes. That's what I liked about this album, and that's what I was missing on this band's next album, which was their global breakthrough. At least I can say that I was among the first kids of my age, that heard this band before it was insanely popular.
Phhhhhew.... what a long story! Enough mind fuck - here's the song that was opening the b-side of my cassette:
So, my sister was back home. On her birthday parents bought her a new stereo-system, which led to me officially inheriting the old one, that we brought from Germany in 1991 (that moved to my room at certain point, since she was abroad). It had two tape decks and a record player, so I was already regularly copying music from some friends at school.
After enjoying the HaShomer summer camp in 1995, I went to the Jewish Agency camp the following winter. And this summer I went to both - the JA camp in June and later - HaShomer camp in July. To the second I already took with me a small radio-tape and a few of my new favorites from the sister's collection. Oh what an amazing time it was! I met there my first love - Ola, and I met there my first really close friend and musical mentor - Ilya Aronov from Grodno. He was a real freak - an explosive combination of Jim Morrison and John Lydon, he was a real inspiration for me in many ways. We've lost contact, since I moved to Israel, but as I look back I realize how deep his influence was. The music that I first discovered from him may seem to obvious for now, but back then it wasn't so known in my area. You see, Minsk is the capital, but it lies right in the middle of Belarus, while Grodno is very close to the Polish border, and it often was the first stop on the way of western import to Belarus - in many terms, not only music. So, what was hard to find in Minsk, was all over the place in Grodno and at least half a year earlier. Names, like Threapy?, Dead Kennedys, Faith No More, Sonic Youth, Pixies, Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance were absolutely new to me. As often as Ilya was coming to Minsk for visit, most of the time we were spending copying tapes: me - from him, and him - from my sister.
One of the first things I copied was an album that (as I found out later) had a track order entirely different from the original one. It was very poetic, but at the same time very expressive and full of contrast changes. That's what I liked about this album, and that's what I was missing on this band's next album, which was their global breakthrough. At least I can say that I was among the first kids of my age, that heard this band before it was insanely popular.
Phhhhhew.... what a long story! Enough mind fuck - here's the song that was opening the b-side of my cassette:
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