Pop music will smooth everything out

“New Wave” is not a wave yet, but it’s already a good reason to have fun

Yesterday the International Competition for Young Popular Music Performers “New Wave” closed in Jurmala. Actually, the final stage of the event is taking place in Jurmala, which is a gigantic (more than 8,000 demo recordings were listened to in Russia alone, regional tours took place in Minsk, Kyiv, Alma-Ata, St. Petersburg, Riga) machine for selecting young and not so young talents and turning them into a standard and labeled product. If we remember that the first winners of the competition were the now disbanded Russian duo Smash!!, and today’s Eurovision triumphant Dima Bilan took only fourth place, then it will become clear that the prizes are conditional, but nevertheless Jurmala is still forging some shots . Which? Those that are in demand today, that is, cheap, with quick turnover and stereotypical, that is, formatted.

In addition to the competition, in the evenings and nights in Jurmala, modern pop stars, also members of the jury and their friends, show class, that is, demonstrate the level necessary for success. On July 27, for example, an evening was held in bossanova style, where Alla Pugacheva, Nikolai Baskov, Laima Vaikule, Fyodor Bondarchuk, Valery Meladze, just Valeria, Igor Nikolaev, Igor Krutoy, Raymond Pauls, Ilze Liepa, Leonid Agutin performed. the next day at the final gala concert the same plus more special guests - Montserrat Caballe, Al Zhdero and Robin Gibb. At beach discos, as they say, there is more live sound, and in addition to pop, rock stars also perform. “Mumiy Troll”, “Beasts”, “The King and the Jester” - on the one hand, “Via Gra”, Yura Shatunov, Glukoza, Sergey Lazarev, Varvara, Victoria Daineko and even the Greek Kostas Martakis with Julio Iglesias Jr. - with another. The audience is full, and if you believe the press, almost half of Latvia watches this show on TV. And apparently, the amount of money left on the Baltic coast by the star landing is such that the pop Russian occupation is rather welcome here. Even the risky exercises in Vadim Galygin’s wit regarding the deportation of Latvians to Siberia, which he allowed at the opening ceremony, caused only restrained displeasure: Latvian President Valdis Zatlers told reporters that such jokes were a “black spot” against the background of the overall positive impression of the competition.

Over the seven years of the competition’s life, Jurmala has become the place of a real, full-fledged Moscow pop party, where every media person from the capital considers it their duty to come from the capital and where it is clear that the Russian star community is a close community of mutually connected people, where there is no place for creative competition, but there is a lot of ego, swagger and difficult interpersonal relationships.

Nevertheless, 17 finalists from 14 countries competed three times each. On the third day of the competition program, the jury gives scores, and if you focus on them, then the duet again received the most points, this time Georgian, with the name Georgia - 119. Then Mher from Armenia - 117. And then Nyusha from Russia - - 116, and the next, fourth place is shared by three participants. But by the final vote, the jury will give new scores on a ten-point scale, and who will receive the main prizes, which are also accompanied by a monetary reward (and the prize fund has now been increased to 140 thousand dollars), is not known at the time of writing. But it's not that important.

Gleb MYSHKIN