"Bestiarium saved us and gave us purpose." Nadzeya and Uladzimir from Irdorath are expecting a baby and planning a big European tour

The band Irdorath at a concert in Vilnius, 2024

— "Budzma" congratulates you on this wonderful news! And also on the release of your new album, which, as I understand it, took quite a long time to create.

Uladzimir Kalach: The Bestiarium album is a well-aged product, one might say.

Nadzeya Kalach: And I would say that this is a very complex and global product, the creation of which took many years. It was conceived back in 2019, when we realized that we are Belarusians, that we want to demonstrate our culture in Europe, where we constantly toured. Especially often in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands — we were, one might say, the flagships of Belarusian culture there.

Uladzimir: I would say, ambassadors.

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Nadzeya Kalach

Nadzeya: Well, yes, maybe that's a better name. Back then, among Belarusians, only we performed at festivals of our genre in Europe — thousands of people accidentally encountered our culture. When people asked: "What is this? What is it about? Where can I read more about it?", we couldn't recommend them any English-language resource on such a topic.

And then we came up with the idea that we needed to make an album in the Belarusian language and accompany it with a bilingual book with explanations. An album and a book where Belarusian culture is presented from our point of view — in a fierce mixture of paganism and Christianity.

Where there is an explanation of who this character is in our song, where there is an explanation of some aspects of Belarusian culture. For example, if it's a song about a mermaid, we explain in the book what Rusalka week is, among other things.

Where there are also our own philosophical reflections, questions, and so on. In other words, it's such a comprehensive work so that Europeans who accidentally got acquainted with us and fell in love with our music could go and fully immerse themselves in a culture unfamiliar to them.

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The book-album "Bestiarium"

"Budzma": But then came the revolution and persecution.

Nadzeya: Yes, this work was interrupted in 2021 when we were detained and then put on trial. Since we found ourselves in Germany, everything we did was leading to the completion of what was conceived back then.

We reassembled the band, found a studio, made the songs that I wrote in prison a reality. We started playing and polishing them.

We applied for various funding because we wanted to do the work well.

How much we obsessed over it can be imagined by the story with the drums — we don't have samples there, these are the drums that have been played in Irdorath's music for many years. They were, so to speak, smuggled from Belarus, transported to a very cool studio where many drum kits stand, dozens of times more expensive than ours. And we came — the only ones in the entire history of this cool drum studio — and said: "Please record the uniqueness of the sound of our own drum kit!"

Therefore, the work on the album took many years. But also for that reason, it will be a bomb and an artifact of Belarusian culture, which, it seems to us, is important not only to Europeans but also to Belarusians themselves!

Our focus group, let's say, including team members, often didn't know many things. For example: "Oh, who is Loima? And who are Stavry and Havry?"

In general, we are sure — it's a cool artifact of Belarusian culture, immersive and multi-layered.

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"Budzma": Were you recording in Berlin?

Uladzimir: We recorded in several studios. We decided not to take our drums to Warsaw and found a recording studio here that specializes specifically in percussion. This is TimTon Studio by Björn Zimmermann — quite a well-known figure in the folk and medieval scene and the music industry in general.

He, in turn, also took part in recording the album. He just listened to the material, watched how we work, and said that he couldn't resist — he offered us to record his percussion vision.

He creates incredible drum kits. In general, Björn just couldn't resist and said: "Can I play with you?" He will be listed as one of the guests on the album. It turned out to be a spontaneous collaboration.

And the rest of the instruments and vocals we recorded at our dear and beloved Everest Media Studio, which worked in Minsk and where we recorded our Dreamcatcher in 2015. Then, like many Belarusians, they had to leave the country. Now Pavel Sinila, the head of the studio, continues his work in Warsaw. And we had no doubt who to record the album with.

Nadzeya: We recorded "Zorami" there when we returned from prison. This is a significant place for us.

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At a concert in Vilnius, 2024

"Budzma": How can one continue working on a music album in prison?

Nadzeya: We ended up in prison, one might say, in the midst of working on this album. At that time, we were studying mythological texts, delving into the material, developing a line of characters — whom we would choose for the album, and so on. And then, when we found ourselves in prison, life, to put it mildly, became not very good.

To keep from going crazy, to simply not concentrate on the situation we found ourselves in, to somehow retreat into internal emigration, or whatever, I don't know, to simply save ourselves, we, each being in different parts of the Universe, focused not on suffering and not on self-pity. We concentrated on creation, on the continuation of creativity.

But we were only allowed correspondence in the second year. After a year and a month, to be exact. And we immediately began discussing the continuation of the work.

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Nadzeya and Uladzimir Kalach. Photo: Anastasia Kodis 2025

"Budzma": Discuss?

Nadzeya: Yes, discuss. That means I write a letter to my husband, it goes through two censors for two weeks one way. Uladzimir answers something — and the answer takes two weeks to come back. That's how the work was.

Nevertheless, I was there doing forced labor, including sewing police uniforms, sitting amidst the sounds of the factory and concentrating on the texts. I thoroughly studied the colony's library, taking everything I could in Belarusian. I searched, because I lacked vocabulary, I delved into the topic as much as I could.

There were so many wonderful moments there, despite the place and circumstances. For example, I would go out for a smoke break at the factory — there were moments when people from different units could see each other. And I would ask a question, for example: how to correctly say this or that word in Belarusian, not very common or archaic. And I would leave. The next day I would listen to the girls' guesses and versions of the translation. Without Google Translate, it turns out, it's sometimes hard to live.

I wrote down texts on plotter paper from under patterns — such factory paper for cutting out. I wrote them, cut them out to look like craft paper, secretly smuggled them out of the factory, and inserted them into letters for Uladzimir.

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"Budzma": And what about melodies — did you send notes?

Nadzeya: You couldn't write notes there; letters with notes were destroyed because they were supposedly a cipher. Uladzimir received letters with descriptions of the music and melody in words — descriptive references, some metaphors.

Uladzimir: It was difficult and long. Because in the process of correspondence, we discussed which characters would participate in the album, how, by whom, and from what perspective they would be described. Because you can do it from the perspective of the character itself, from the perspective of the character's victim, or from the perspective of an outside observer.

And Nadzeya and I, as it turned out, sometimes heard all of this completely differently. We realized this when we met at liberty. To be honest, it was very difficult for me to recognize these songs and accept how Nadzeya heard them. Because for about half a year, certain images had been forming in my mind: you already roughly know what kind of video could be shot to this, what instruments will sound, in what rhythm, with what character.

And then Nadzeya sings me a completely different melody and rhythm. Everything I had built before simply breaks. It was a bit difficult to come to terms with this, but nevertheless, we managed. Nadzeya is responsible for the sound, I am for the visual part.

Nadzeya: Nadzeya is the ear, Uladzimir is the eye.

Uladzimir: Yes. My task was to find a graphic language, to feel the visual style of these texts, to feel the mood of these songs, of these stories. In turn, I drew them for Nadzeya on envelopes, on some postcards. I also had such a creative search.

And yes, this work, in essence, saved us. You know that you are here temporarily, that your body is temporarily in this container, but our thoughts were free. Even if it was long, even if it was through several layers of checks and various obstacles, we had a mental connection.

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Nadzeya and Uladzimir Kalach. Merlin J. Noack 2025

We even argued in those letters, remember? On topics of creative vision. In some ways, we immediately agreed, advised each other. It was a very intense connection that supported both of us so as not to fall into what was around us. And around there — terrible things, simply terrible.

Nadzeya: And in the center of this apocalypse, we saved each other. "Bestiarium" saved both of us, saved our mentality and gave us purpose. We knew that when we get out — and someday we will get out, most likely — we will bring to life what appeared despite everything, what is filled with love for life.

In the album, you will not hear political calls or social manifestos. There will, of course, be references to reality, naturally, but that will be far from the main focus. The main focus will be a gigantic desire to live, to love, to create.

There will be love for Belarusian culture, love for Belarusian mythology, for the worldview of our ancestors.

"Budzma": So, despite the prison period, the desire to love and create remained with you?

Nadzeya: We ended up in a place where few people go by chance. Let's just say, to get to a penal colony, women have to try very hard. I'm not talking about "political prisoners" now — it's very easy for them to get there. But generally, the contingent there is very specific.

And, it would seem, they should be villains, and, it would seem, they are deliberately incited to make life difficult for the "yellows" — "political prisoners" in prison have yellow tags. But, frankly, apart from individual people who would do evil anyway — simply because that's their nature — we found much more humanity than one could expect.

Moreover, we found manifestations of incredible nobility and inner spiritual beauty, when people who are forbidden to help the "yellows" helped, saved, and supported secretly and under threat of punishment.

And we saw people who were truly punished, harshly punished. For helping the "yellows," prisoners receive the status of "malicious offender." To get a malicious violation of the regime means not just losing parcels, visits, or something else. The most important thing is that you lose the right to amnesty, if your article falls under it. That's the scariest thing.

And helping under such pressure — it was so beautiful that this leitmotif runs through the album. Who are pagan creatures? These are creatures without a soul. Such a version was officially introduced by Christians to displace the previous culture and religion.

It turns out that with our album, we are looking for soul and humanity in creatures officially considered soulless and inhumane. This, in essence, is what the Bestiarium album is about.

And our negative experience, in fact, gave us a whole layer of reflections. The experience of observing what we would never have seen in life. We would never have reached such depths outside of these circumstances. And all of this will be incorporated.

"Budzma": Will be?

Nadzeya: It already is, to be honest. The album is ready. That's it, it has already gone into production.

It will be a cannon, a bomb, a rocket — made with soul, made over years, polished to impossibility. We are happy.

I have no idea what will happen next, but we are very happy that we will leave such an artifact of Belarusian culture. I am very satisfied with what we achieved.

"Budzma": On what media will it be released? Maybe on vinyl too?

Uladzimir: Possibly on vinyl, but not now. At the moment, we are focusing on the book. We really had a budget choice — either to make vinyl or to make a book. We chose the book because it aligns more with the goal, this product has greater cultural weight.

Nevertheless, we are not abandoning the idea of vinyl. As soon as the opportunity arises, we will release at least "Bestiarium" on vinyl, and at most — the entire discography.

Nadzeya: But now the goal is the album and a bilingual book that comes in conjunction with the album.

We also plan ten lyric videos for each character — these are animated illustrations, Belarusian text, and an English translation, which is also incredibly important for spreading Belarusian culture in Europe.

"Budzma": The tour will present both the album and the book?

Nadzeya: Yes, live presentations will begin in April, and we are preparing for them very seriously. We want to make them exciting and memorable, because for us personally, they will be the last for a long period of our lives.

Believe me, an incredible amount of work has been done, and is still being done.

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"Bestiarium" Tour Schedule

24.04 — Warsaw (PL)

25.04 — Poznań (PL)

26.04 — Berlin (DE)

28.04 — Prague (CZ)

30.04 — Brno (CZ)

01.05 — Krakow (PL)

Get tickets for the concerts via this link.

"Budzma": How is your local audience?

Nadzeya: Well, we mainly have a European audience. Even before the pandemic, when we lived and worked in Belarus for ten years, we performed in our home country about three times a year: "Dudutki," some folk festival, and a solo concert.

Now, speaking of our audience here, at concerts, 90% are local residents (whether it's the Netherlands, Italy, or Germany) and 10% are Belarusians.

We can say that the Slavic pagan culture sector generates incredible interest among Europeans. And we decided that this is great — if it turned out this way, to focus on giving them even more of all this and making them fall even more in love with our art. And at the same time, we thought: "Well, maybe Belarusians will finally become interested in delving into the topic of Belarusian mythology."

"Budzma": Do you keep in touch with colleagues on stage? You had joint performances with In Extremo.

Uladzimir: Last year we also performed with them. And, as soon as we return to the stage, we will gladly play with them again. Naturally, we maintain contact with the masters of the scene. And when we were imprisoned, well-known European bands openly and unequivocally supported us.

And after our release and relocation, they continue to maintain relations with us and support us. Many of them don't need much explanation — on this scene there are people who at one time experienced the GDR, experienced the "Stasi" and repression — either they themselves, or someone from their family.

In autumn, In Extremo held the legendary Lorelei festival on their birthday, with 30,000 people attending. It's impossible to get there by simply applying. In Extremo themselves compile a list of bands they want to see there. We were invited, and we performed there. It's incredible.

Frankly, both before and now, we feel more a part of the European folk family than we felt Belarusian in Belarus. Although, of course, all those times we performed in Belarus were very important to us. And for the soul, it was simply the best.

But here we just feel that we are in our place, surrounded by our colleagues. We have something to strive for, we have plans for collaborations. We have recorded much more than will be released now. Surprises are yet to come.

But we structured this tour with a fully Belarusian-language album to visit cities with a high concentration of Belarusians. To tour Eastern Europe, through Slavic locations — within the limits of where I can move, because soon I won't be able to fly, to be honest.

"Budzma": Do you always travel with your own equipment?

Uladzimir: Yes, we are adherents of the old-school approach. And here, in Germany, especially for a festival band, it's impossible to tour without your own backline, without your own sound engineer, and so on.

It's possible, but you're limited in the level of events you can reach. So when we reassembled the band, we had no doubt that we should immediately aim for headliner positions, so to speak.

So yes — we carry everything with us that allows us to be autonomous and meet short changeovers. Usually eight people on the team, two more people work remotely while we're on tour — SMM and booking manager.

And we are always ready for any performance — whether it's a small club or a twenty-thousand-person festival.

Nadzeya: We are about quality. We are not interested in producing fast content at all. And in sound, too.

We have one goal: when we perform, we want it to stay in people's souls, in their minds, in their ears, in their memory. Because you never know when your path will be cut short and how it will be cut short.

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Irdorath with fans of their work. Photo: Anastasia Kodis 2025

We always, no matter what we do, compete with only one team — with Irdorath. We always try to do better than we did last time. We have already experienced a moment in our lives when suddenly — boom — and all your plans, all your life collapsed. That's why we do everything as if for the last time.

And now, the accumulated energy of so many years, embodied in the book and the album, will pour onto the stage. It will be cool — we know that for sure, because now we are tormenting our team with refining the quality, and ourselves too.

Welcome to Bestiarium!

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