1996

Славянский базар - 96

The jubilee fifth festival was blessed with the icon-lamp with the fire from different holy Slavic places. In Polotsk, the cradle of Belarusian land, it was Monastery of St. Efrosinia. Elena Spiridovich, a Belarusian TV presenter, brought it to the festival from Polotsk. The same thing was done in Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, Temple on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow, Alexander Nevskiy Lavra in St. Petersburg, in Slovenia, Macedonia and other places. At the Festival Grand Opening the light from the candles in participants' hands was added to this holy light. The concept of the Festival Grand Opening was defined as "Revive the Temple in Yourselves". Temple for all the people in the world who have good will, who want peace and happiness for all.

The programme of the festival was very rich and original. 15 concerts were held at the main festival venue - the amphitheatre, 6 concerts held in Cultural and Business Center "KIM", and one in the Yakub Kolas Theatre.

The largest audience gathered at the stage installed at the Victory Square - all concerts there were absolutely free.

The flags of Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Germany, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, the USA, Turkey, France, Czechia, Estonia, and Yugoslavia were raised on the flagpole.

The greeting telegrams from President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and President of Russia Boris Eltsin came to the festival. At the Festival Grand Opening those telegrams were read by the head of Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee Vladimir Andreichenko and Russian Deputy Minister of Culture Konstantin Shcherbakov. The telegram from Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma was read on the Ukrainian Culture Day by the Ukrainian Ambassador Vladimir Solovey.

Among the honored guests at the Ceremony of Festival Closing was President of Belarus Alexander Lukshenko, who had arrived in Vitebsk a day before with an official work visit. His visit was a sign that the festival is supported at the state level.

Рандеву со звездой

According to the FIDOF statistics "Slavianski Bazaar" ranked among 5 (out of 160) greatest music festivals of the world.

The representatives of other well-known European festivals came to "Slavianski Bazaar" - "Makfest" (Macedonia), "Belgrade Spring" (Yugoslavia), "Velvet Seasons" (Ukraine), "Pamukkale" (Turkey), "Gold Orfey" (Bulgaria), "Vilnius Songs" (Lithuania), and "Gold Ostap" (Russia). At the press conference the guests of the festival spoke highly of the festival. There were 8 press conferences held at the festival and 7 meetings "Rendez-vous with a Star". In the cinema programme 11 films were brought to Vitebsk from Belarus, Bulgaria, Russia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Czechia, Yugoslavia. The "Spartak" was the cinema center of the festival.

In the days of "Slavianski Bazaar" one more meeting of the International Council of Cultural Workers took place. The work of the Council has always been very productive as new methods and ways have always been sought and used there in order to make Slavic peoples closer.

6 exhibitions were held of different forms of art - painting, graphics, and crafts.

There were 6 presentations of CDs and 6 meetings of the "Jazz Club".

"Slavianski Bazaar" currency "Vasilki" obtained all the qualities of real currency and the banknotes received a high level of fraud protection.

The engravings of the Vitebsk artist Vladimir Klikushin were used on the banknotes, on which he depicted old Vitebsk.

The newspaper "Slavianski Bazaar" became illustrated. The first edition had 16 pages and it began with the material called "Slavic Universe". It was the first time that in the newspaper a new section appeared "Runway" about new names in music, cinema and art which first appeared at "Slavianski Bazaar". The section "Thoughts" is about what stars think about "Slavianski Bazaar" and what it should be like in the future. The editor in chief of the newspaper is Mikhail Shulman.

At the closing ceremony the decision of the International Astronomic Register was voiced - one of the constellations was called "Slavianski Bazaar". 11 stars in the sky now bear the names of 11 Slavic countries participating in the festival.

"Slavianski Bazaar" became a member of the International Eurasian Association of Festival Organizers. Such famous festivals as "Voice of Asia", "White Nights of St. Petersburg", "KVN" are also members of this organizations.

Концерт "День Беларуси"

For the first time the competition of TV programmes for children was held at "Slavianski Bazaar". Child festival finished with a great gala-concert on the main festival venue - the amphitheatre.

"Humor Night" was for the first time held in 1996 with famous humorists taking part in it.

The famous actors, father and son Eremenko became the guests of the festival. Nikolay Eremenko studied at the theatre studio of the Yakub Kolas Theater and later played on its stage. Here he met his wife, an actress Galina Orlova, now National Artist of Belarus; here their son Nikolay was born.

On the stage of the amphitheatre tractors appeared. It happened during the performance of the Belarusian delegation and the idea of the director Nikolay Pinigin was that it should symbolize the riches of the country.

On July 13th Vitebsk was filled with the tune of the famous call-sign "The Dawn is Close" of the radio station "Mayak". It was the beginning of the "Radio Day" at "Slavianski Bazaar" and all Vitebsk transmitters broadcast "Mayak" programmes. All leading journalists of the radio station came out on the main festival venues together with the head of the radio Vladimir Povoliaev. The day began with the press conference. Then the journalists appeared on different stages together with famous artists - Nadezhda Babkina, Sergey Zakharov, Vladimir Mulyavin, the composer Lora Kvint. The "Slavianski Bazaar" audience became not only listeners but also viewers of the famous "Mayak" programme "Panorama Mayaka". Sergey Butkevch, a correspondent of the newspaper "Narodnaya Gazeta" received the prize for the most extraordinary question. He asked if "Mayak" needed their correspondent in Vitebsk. The International Festival of the Press and a concert for the Veterans of Labour and Veterans of War were held for the first time. Since that time the latter event has become a tradition. Singers from Germany and France became the participants of the Young Singers Competition for the first time.

The Russian Prima Donna Ludmila Zykina celebrated 50th anniversary of her creative activity. At the concert she found that a star was called her name. It was a present for her from "Slavianski Bazaar". Now she has got two stars - one on the sky and the other one - her medal Gold Star of Socialist Labour Hero. She received greeting telegrams from presidents of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. "Soyuz" studio presented her with a disc of her 16 songs. At the concert Ludmila Zykina performed without a phonogram which was warmly welcomed by the public.

The composer Andrey Petrov was the chairman of the International Jury of the Young Singers Competition. At "Slavianski Bazaar" there was a special night programme of this composer in which such famous artists as Mikhail Boyarskiy, Valentina Ponomaryova, Marina Tskhai took part. They all were accompanied by the Belarus State Orchestra conducted by Mikhail Finberg. Andrey Petrov said at the press conference that his wife had been born in Vitebsk, he had never been here before and amazed by the city's beauty and hospitality.

The festival concerts were broadcast in Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia, Macedonia, Slovenia, France, and the USA and through the system of satellite television "Slavianski Kanal", broadcasting in 46 countries of the world.

Overall broadcast time was 50 hours of which 18 took TV Russia.

Амфитеатр

Festival events were described in 200 accredited periodicals, TV and radio stations.

The prize "the Best Snapshot" was received by the Vitebsk photojournalist Vladimir Bazan.

Vadim Antsupov from Estonia was awarded in the nomination "the Best Photo Report".

Andrey Volkov from Samara and the TV group of "Diary of Slavianski Bazaar" received the prize for the best TV materials.

The prize for the funniest snapshot was received by a photojournalist of "Express Gazeta" Boris Kudriakov.

The laureates of the prize "Gold Pen" were Mikhail Schulman, Belarusian TV, for "the best and fullest coverage of the festival on TV", Viktor Tatarskiy and Alexander Milovidov, authors and presenters of the programme "Music Globe" for "promoting the ideas of the festival.

The grand prize of the Festival of the Press "Chrystal Phantasy" was given to the ITAR TASS correspondent Olga Svistunova "for the most efficient coverage of the festival"

Ruslana Lyzhechko from Ukraine got the record number of points at the Young Singers Competition - 298 from 300 possible.

The competition "Slavic Beauty" was held for the second time. 14 finalists from many countries of the world participated in it.

Journalists and cultural workers appealed to the presidents of Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine with the request to render their assistance in reconstructing the country estate of the great Russian artist I. Repin in Zdravnevo. In their appeal they pointed out that the fates of our peoples are closely connected, so the life of the great artist is connected with these countries as well.

The exhibition of the great artist Nikos Safronov was held in the Mark Chagall Museum with a success. There was also the presentation of the new album of Vitebsk artist Tatiana and Yuri Rudenko, who are the authors of the prizes at "Slavianski Bazaar". In the Art Museum there was the exhibition of painting and graphics under the title "On the Island of Soul". Its authors are Viktor and Olga Lukianenko from Novopolotsk and also their daughter, 12 year old Ulia. Two representatives of the modern Vitebsk art school the artist Alexander Maley and sculptor Ivan Kozak opened their exhibitions.

"Disco Bazaar" could be called the center of presentations. Sabina presented her album "Ruki Krylia", Shandor "City of Dreams", also the albums of "Ivanushki International" and Ilia Snegov.

The fireworks at the closing deremony were unforgettable. For 4 minutes the sky above Vitebsk was a magnificent mosaic of colours. 200 shots were made. The sky was very actively used at the festival. Parachutists, leaflets fell on the ground and new stars shone there.

On one of the nights the dwellers of the city woke up because of the huge explosion. It turned out that the Ukrainian delegation was leaving home and they made a shot from a big ancient cannon that they were taking with them home from the festival.