The International Festival of Arts "Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk", also known as Slavic Bazaar, is an annual festival held in Vitebsk, Belarus, under the auspices of the Belarusian Government since 1992. Its main program is devoted to Slavic music. The majority of participants are artists from Slavic nations but there are also many non-Slavic guests, mostly from the countries of the former Eastern Bloc, Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.
A vocal competition is taking place within the framework of the festival. There is also a children's music competition. A special award "Through Art – to Peace and Understanding" is awarded at the festival; the names of the award winners are immortalized on the "Square of Stars" in Vitebsk.
Famous musicians and performers from around the world performed at the festival as headliners, including Michael Bolton, Alla Pugacheva, Thomas Anders, Sumi Jo, Alessandro Safína, Patricia Kaas, Lou Bega, Maryla Rodowicz, Valery Leontiev, Svetlana Loboda, Bosson and others.
History
The predecessor of the festival was the "Polish Song Festival in Vitebsk" (). Vitebsk was chosen to host the festival according to the agreements with Polish city Zielona Góra where the "Soviet Song Festival" () was held since 1965. The main venue of the present-day festival, the Amphitheatre, was constructed especially for such occasion in 1988.
Only two editions of the "Polish Song Festival in Vitebsk" were held: in 1988 and 1990. After the Dissolution of the Soviet Union the artificial ties between the former eastern bloc countries have broken. So there emerged an idea to organize a cultural arrangement in order to show the cultural diversity of Slavic nations. The first Slavianski Bazaar was opened on 18 July 1992. It was organized by the Belarusian Government with the financial support from Russia and Ukraine. The main goal of the very first festival was an attempt to acquaint the Belarusian audience with pop and folk trends from Slavic countries.
In 1993 the festival became a member of the International Federation of Festival Organizations (FIDOF).
The festival was awarded the diploma 'FIDOF Festival of the Year 2000' "for impeccable quality of organization, professionalism, hospitality, and promotion of noble humanistic aims on the international level".
Due to Belarus's involvement in the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, many countries have limited their participation in the festival. The last time a Polish representative participated was in 2021.
The contest
During the festival, two international competitions are held: for the adult singers and for the young singers (since 2003). It has two stages, each held on a separate day. On the first day, the contestants should perform the song in a national language of the country the contestant represents. All vocals are sung live using backing track. On the second day, the contestants perform the song written by a composer from any Slavic country in any of the Slavic languages.
The awards include Grand Prix, as well, as the first, second, and third prizes. +Adult Grand Prix winners Year Country Performer 1992 Oleksa Berest 1993 Taisia Povaliy 1994 Milan Šćepović - Šćepa 1995 Filip Žmaher 1996 Ruslana 1997 Svetlana Slavković 1998 Rafael Dahan 1999 Željko Joksimović 2000 Toše Proeski 2001 Theona Dolnikova 2002 Milovan Zimonjić 2003 Maxim Sapatskov 2004 Pyotr Elfimov 2005 Polina Smolova 2006 Oksana Bogoslovskaya 2007 Natalya Krasnyanskaya 2008 Donny Montell 2009 Dmitry Danilenko 2010 Damir Kedžo 2011 Alyona Lanskaya 2012 Bobi Mojsovski 2013 Michał Kaczmarek 2014 Rodrigo de la Cadena 2015 Dimash Kudaibergen 2016 Alexey Gross 2017 Vlad Sytnik 2018 Marcel Roșca 2019 Ädilxan Makïn 2020 Roman Voloznev 2021 Rukhiya Baydukenova 2022 Anna Trubetskaya 2023 Masha Mnjoyan 2024 Carolina Bălan2025Almagul Battalieva2026Soraya
Children's contest winners The children's contest during the festival in Vitebsk was first held in 2003, an expansion of the cultural and artistic diversity of the event. It has become one of the mainstay events in the Eurasian Region (North Asia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia) for child performers making their way to Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
Year Country Performer 2003 Noni Răzvan Ene 2004 Roman Grechushnikov 2005 Ksenia Sitnik 2006 Katarzyna Miednik 2007 Andrey Kunets 2008 Luara Hayrapetyan 2009 Maria Cristina Crăciun 2010 Mario Galatanu 2011 Raluca-Elena Ursu 2012 Mariam Bichoshvili 2013 Presijana Dimitrova 2014 Anastasiya Baginska 2015 Luisa Nurkuatova 2016 Anastasiya Gladilina 2017 Marija Mаhilnaja 2018 Oleksandr Balabanov 2019 Ksenia Haletskaja 2020 Angelina Lаmaka 2021 Komnen Vuković 2022 Elisey Kasich 2023 Şerxan Arıstan 2024 Yasmina Xusniddinova 2025 Amaliya Sukhan 2026 Lizaveta Tsuprik
Notes
References
External links
Slavianski Bazaar website News of Slavianski Bazaar