Tiraspol Rocks!

Rock the vote ... Youth in Tiraspol spent the weekend at a live aid concert for charity, organized by a political youth group

TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) - Forget "Rock in Rio" and "Live Aid." Now, Tiraspol is rocking ... and it is all for charity.

With the first of a planned series of annual rock festivals, the youth wing of PMR's largest opposition party, Obnovleniye) ("Renewal"), is bringing a tradition of Rock-for-Charity to Tiraspol.

The first festival was held on Saturday at Tiraspol's Expo-Center, where a total of seven bands took center stage to belt out their tunes in the name of charity. Proceeds from ticket sales were destined 100% to the support of two local orphanages and a school for disabled children.

The bands, who played for free, came from Pridnestrovie's three largest cities: Tiraspol, Bender and Rybnitsa. They included "Advent Fog", "Mataxari" and well-known local heroes such as "Expirians" and "Before Christ", a Tiraspol-based rock band whose guitarist Jon BC compared the event favorably with an OSCE-sponsored rock concert held earlier in the year. "The Ghost" and "Efedra" were also among the performers this Saturday.

Victor Guzon, MP for the Renewal Party, was among the spectators to the event which featured fire-breathing gothic rockers and "old school" heavy metal.

Pro-independence opposition party

Renewal, which is considered a right-of-center and pro-European party, is in opposition to the presidential administration of President Igor Smirnov. It was founded in the year 2000. In the legislative elections of 10 December 2000, the first in which the Renewal participated, the party won 7 out of 43 seats.

In parliament, the party's faction introduced constitutional reforms and election reforms aimed at curtailing the discretionary power of the presidential administration and of making the election authorities more independent, transparent and accountable. To the surprise of many, during the 27 March 2005 local council elections the opposition party for the first time in its history won a majority of the seats throughout the length of Pridnestrovie.

Later that same year, in the 11 December 2005 parliamentary elections, Renewal won 23 of the 43 seats, with another 6 seats going to allies.

The party's leader is 39 year old MP Yevgeny Shevchuk, who was elected Speaker (chairman) of Pridnestrovie's parliament following the party's sweeping December 2005 win. Like a majority of Pridnestrovie's other political parties, Renewal is firmly in favor of independence and sovereign statehood. (Photos: New Region)

See also:
» Bender gets a taste of bluegrass
» Tiraspol Class of '07 dancing in the street
» Rockers Alisa to return for 16th year of PMR independence celebrations?

Flying the flag, Pridnestrovie's red and green national flag was seen at the concert

Crowds went wild and gave the V-sign at the pro-independence rock festival in Tiraspol

Taking a cue from 'Kiss', local rockers dolled up in full face make-up for the act

No "old school" heavy metal rock festival is complete without a bit of fire and explosions on stage...