Efferent Verb team:
For our first post for our newsletter, we decided to interview the founder of Efferent Verb, so you can learn more about our projects and our goals.

Interviewer: Who are you?

Interviewer: What does being Belarusian mean to you?

Ihar: I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a patriot, but that is more due to political reasons than cultural ones. I genuinely respect my country, its potential, and its people. However, I believe that in the current situation, the development of my country is impossible.

Interviewer: What are the positive and negative factors influencing your opinion?

Ihar: I definitely appreciate the culture of mutual respect among the population and respect for the environment in general. This is not universally prevalent, but it is certainly a part of those who identify with the national culture. However, there is another pole where people are primarily part of another country’s ideology and therefore do not have their own country, being a part of something bigger that is not clear. In such a constitution, people lose the sense of unity, focusing more on short-term and very personal perspectives. Unfortunately, the second pole comprises the ruling elites.

Interviewer: What is Efferent Verb and Ensemble Introverse?

Ihar: Efferent Verb is an assembly of cultural projects that I find interesting for myself. Initially, we operated locally within the country, but after recent events, I decided that it was time to go global. So I am recreating here what I used to do before, but on a different scale: creating something new in the fields of academic music, art, writing, but I would like to try us in other fields as well. In summary, Efferent Verb is an action directed outwards. Ensemble Introverse is a community of academic musicians from all around the world who, online, create and perform music together. The idea of such an ensemble came to me during the COVID times when everyone was very introspective, sitting in their rooms, doing what they could. Together we can do a little more. In the future, I would like to gather Ensemble Extraverse – a community of musicians working with each other in person.

Interviewer: Who are you as a creative person?

Ihar: In general, I’m just an explorer of everything that interests me. And what interests me usually is something I haven’t built up a tolerance to due to an excess of experience. That’s what I look for when I’m working on new pieces.

Interviewer: Can you tell us about your recent works?

Ihar: Well, I just completed a triptych of musical compositions where I explored different approaches to irregular rhythms. One of them is a prayer in Aramaic, which I’ll be presenting at our upcoming concert. I transformed the Syrian melody into a massive overtone and undertone canon, so I could preserve the authenticity of the piece without imposing my own individual interpretations and inner hearing on it, but at the same time, I wanted it to be something contemporary that opens up new approaches to music.

Right now, I’m exploring randomness and stochasticity in music. I usually create pieces through inner hearing, on impulse, and I often mix musical material with noise and random notes.

Lately, I haven’t been working much on art and literature because there aren’t any relevant themes for me at the moment. I’d like to develop myself more in terms of dynamic and complex composition, but I usually prefer surrealist works or abstractions. Regarding literature, I usually create short sketches of absurdism, philosophy, and the philosophy of absurdism.

Interviewer: What do you do?

Ihar: I do everything I want, but in the ideology of the better way. And much of my activity is focused on being free to do anything I want.

Interviewer: What do you want?

Ihar: I change, and so do my desires. If we’re talking about something general that unites all of them as a goal, then I want the best of everything. Firstly, the best version of myself, so I have the resources to make everything around me better.

At the moment, I just want to successfully conclude my series of concerts and exhibitions, and I want my team to successfully work on my other projects without me being heavily involved. By the way, if anyone wants to participate, feel free to get in touch with me.

Interviewer: What do you consider the best?

Ihar: It’s all about gradation, especially long-term gradation. It’s extremely individual for everyone, so I first do what I believe is best for myself and those who support my ideas. Then I find a compromise between my desires and those I don’t understand when resources are abundant. But the most important thing is always gradation.

Interviewer: Thank you. What can you say in conclusion?

Ihar: I would like everyone to do something of their own. I will be happy if you find something of your own in something of mine. Even better, if you find something for yourself. That’s how it all works between people, although not always. Also, something came to my mind, but to be honest, I don’t like capybaras, though.

Contact: iharviarzhbouski@gmail.com