Military-patriotic "Kazantip"

What happens to music festivals in Crimea after 2014

The Minister of Culture and Tourism of Crimea Sergey Strelbitsky said that he was ready to consider the return of the Kazantip festival to the peninsula, but wants it to become “military-patriotic” or “sports”. Until 2014, music festivals, which gathered tens of thousands of tourists, made a significant income for both the Crimean authorities and local residents - but after the referendum on joining Russia, almost all of them ceased. "Medusa" tells how the Crimean festivals were closed-and why their organizers hope to once return to the peninsula.

From Crimea to Fukuoku

The village of Popovka is 30 kilometers from Yevpatoria: a small resort village, where tourists usually rarely came. He gained fame and popularity outside Crimea in 2001, when Kazantip settled there. The festival was founded in 1991 on Cape Kazantip (hence the name; the old-timers of the “Kazantip” stress on the first syllable) near the city of Shchelkino; At first, these were Windsurfing competitions, later - the first rave in the post -Soviet space. In 2000, the festival was held in the village of Veseloy next to Sudak, and the next year he moved to Popovka, where he was until 2013. The village was clearly beneficial; They began to equip Popovka - up to 30 thousand people came to the festival.

In 2014, to the last, it was not clear where the Kazantip would eventually pass. In May, the President of the festival Nikita Marshunok said that they were moving to Georgia "because of blackmail and extortion of Crimean power." After a week and a half, the Crimean organizers said that the festival will be held on the peninsula: “It will be strange if the pro -Russian project with 80% of the audience from Russia, which did not develop, but contrary to Ukrainian realities, will not find support now.”

As a result, the Crimean part of the Kazantip team tried to hold an alternative festival in Popovka, but the idea failed due to unprofitability. “Now is such a political and economic situation that it is not profitable. Such a number of people as we collected before, of course, will not come. And gathering a small company in such a large territory is sad, ” said the director of the festival Nikolai Karpov.

In Georgia, the festival also faced difficulties. Marshunok complained about high prices and the local police, who "prevented young people from tiding for real." The festival participants said that they were not allowed to kiss, and local believers constantly arranged protests near the entrance to the territory. The Crimean "Kazantip" attracted young people with freedom, sex and impunity for the use of mild drugs.

In 2015, the festival was supposed to be held in Cambodia - but the local authorities were banned at the last moment. Marshunok announced the return to Popovka: and, indeed, in August of that year the Befooz festival - founded by Marshunk and, in fact, replacing the “Kazantip”. In March 2016, the then prosecutor of Crimea, Natalya Poklonskaya, banned the festival "Forever". “The state is not against various youth shares, but everything should be within the framework of the law. At the same time, Kazantip, Befooz and other festivals showed a unambiguous picture, ” said Poklonskaya. The police said that during the festival 11 people under drugs were detained; Several criminal cases were instituted for storage, sale and preparation of prohibited substances. The security forces assured that the seized drugs were intended to spread at the festival. In addition, questions arose on fire safety and sanitary standards.

In the winter of this year, the rave took place on the island of Fukuok in Vietnam, called Epizode Sea Festival. Journalist Alexei Arunyan, who was at the festival, said that in general the festival was well held, but there were very few people-30-40 people came to the dance floor. One of the reasons was the lack of advertising - mainly the old lovers of Kazantip arrived; Local residents did not understand the idea of ​​the festival.

In April, the Minister of Resorts and Tourism of Crimea Sergey Strelbitsky announced the possible return of the festival to the peninsula, but only "subject to all norms and laws." According to Strelbitsky, the festival will not necessarily be devoted to modern music, but can turn into "folklore, dance, sports or even military-patriotic."

Marshunok to the proposal of Strelbitsky reacted evasively. He wrote that he also “did everything possible to attract people, investments and the development of international event tourism,” and added that he would consider the option of returning: “If we abstract from political aspects, then Crimea, one way or another, is the birthplace of Kazantip. Do you propose to leave your homeland? We have already done this and have repeatedly proved that we can boldly move in space, but all our citizens are not able to do this. ”

To Crimea in 2018

The Crimean rock festival “neighboring world” called himself a project for friends and in his six-year history fell only once-in the summer of 2013. On the second day of the concerts, heavy rain went, a platform on the former football field in Sudak, where not only scenes, but also a tent town were installed completely flooded. As a result, the performances began with two -hour, or even more, delays; Visitors have gotten things and equipment.

In that year, the organizers first decided to transfer the festival with the beaches - earlier the festival took place in Shchelkino at Cape Kazantip, then, in 2012, moved to Kerch to the Sundali beach; A football field as a site has never been used. The experience was unsuccessful, although the festival was visited by about 17 thousand people. The organizers said that next time they would try to return to the sea.

The next time did not happen. In 2014, the organizers first stated that they were moving to the Tver region, then they said that they were still in Crimea, on Cape Fiolet; A month later, they generally refused to hold the festival. “The circumstances that you all know about and it makes no sense to talk about have made a festival on the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea impossible. Initially, we were tuned to work, then everything became a big question, and then it became impossible at all, ”the organizers said on their website.

Everything became impossible because of a number of reasons, recalls in a conversation with Medusa one of the founders of the “neighboring world” Eugene Gavrilin. The main problems were the site, the lack of sponsors and visitors. “We were not able to find the site ready to accept us, traditional Ukrainian sponsors could no longer support us, Russian companies could not work on the peninsula yet. The tourist flow in the Crimea sharply fallen in 2014 said that it would not be possible to collect visitors to the festival at the level of past years, ”Gavrilina said. In the Tver region, where the “neighboring world” planned to move, they were not waiting for them - for many years the “invasion” has been held there, and the second festival of a similar format was simply not needed. The organizers were offered to leave for the territory of Ukraine-in Odessa or Kamenetz-Podolsky. “But Crimea is closer to us,” says Gavrilin, although the Ukrainian audience has always been the main at the festival: about 80%.

The organizers still want to return the festival and hope that it will still be held in the Crimea. Perhaps already in 2018.

Kiselev Jazz

One of the oldest festivals of Crimea - Koktebel Jazz Festival - in 2014 was supposed to celebrate his eleven years on the peninsula. At the end of January 2014, the festival was confirmed by the Crimean authorities. Already in the spring, when a referendum on entering Russia was held on the peninsula, all the agreements were canceled. The director of the festival, Lilia Mlinarich, said that during the departure they were not even allowed to pick up stage equipment. Subscriptions for the festival in 2014 were already sold out, Line-up-declared, therefore, in April, Koktebel Jazz Festival began to look for a new site in the territory of mainland Ukraine.

Several regions were considered for the move: Nikolaev, Kherson, Zaporizhzhya and Odessa, as a result, stopped in the village of Zatoka - a small resort in the Odessa region. Only families with children and Moldavians came to Zatoka (the village is located next to the border with Moldova), so they were not ready for festivals - by the end of August, entrepreneurs were already closing shops, not believing that several thousand people would come in a couple of weeks. In 2015, the organizers decided to leave Zatoka, changed the site several times - there was no understanding with the local authorities. Since 2016, the festival has been taking place in the city of Chernomorsk (formerly Ilyichevsk) in the Odessa region.

In 2014, in Koktebel almost on the same days when Koktebel Jazz Festival took place in Zatoka, a festival with almost the same name was held - Koktebel Jazz Party. It exists now, its organizer is Dmitry Kiselev, Director General of the Russia Today MIA Today. In 2003, the journalist was one of those who participated in the creation of a jazz festival in Koktebel (he calls himself the founder); Until 2005, while Kiselev lived and worked in Ukraine, he helped in every way in his organization. Then, according to Mlinarich, all the contacts with him stopped.

Now there are two jazz festival on the Black Sea - one in Ukraine, with the same directorate and in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the other on the territory of Crimea, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Russia. This year, both organizations talk about the anniversary, fifteenth festival. In Chernomorsk, in honor of the round date, one day will be dedicated to Ukrainian culture and music; Dates coincide with Independence Day in Ukraine. Kiselev, in turn, emphasizes that in Koktebel the festival takes place in the year of the century of the February Revolution, this “gives [it] a new meaning”. “Jazz, born at the junction of musical traditions, in itself will penetrate the idea of ​​revolutionary changes and impudence,” Kiselev says on the Koktebel Jazz Party website.

Return back

Until 2014, Crimea was almost the main festival venue of Ukraine. Local musical measures (there, mainly, local rockers performed) were traditionally held and held in Western Ukraine; Festivals of the international level - on the peninsula.

After the summer of 2014, when there was practically not a single large festival in Crimea, the Crimean authorities decided that they had to take business in their own hands. On July 20-26, 2015, a Crimeanfest was held near Sevastopol-according to the organizers, it was supposed to become an alternative to Kuban, which had to be left first from the Krasnodar Territory, and then from the Kaliningrad region (in 2016 the festival was held in Riga). The festival, which took place under patriotic slogans, failed - at first the performance of the Israeli group Infected Mushroom was abolished, and by July 20 it turned out that the site was not ready for the festival. Somehow the “Crimeanfest” was held, but it turned out to be so unpopular that it was no longer carried out. The public "Crimephate" in VKontakte is called "Crimea Fest 2017", but there is no information about conducting this year.

Last summer, the Zbfest Musical Festival “Golden Balka”, which was more correct to call a large concert, was debuted in Balaklava - it lasted one day, “Leningrad”, Polina Gagarina and several local performers performed. According to Medusa, the organizer of the festival Irakli Caesarov, Zbfest visited twice as many people than he expected: about 15 thousand people. According to Caesarov, these were not only Crimeans, but tourists from different regions, including from mainland Ukraine. This year, the Golden Balka will last two days, August 4 and 5; In total, eight groups are declared, including Leningrad and the German Scooter. “Zones for tents are planned, we expect from 15 to 20 thousand people,” says Caesarov.

Another two-day festival-BadaboomFest-will be held in Orlovka from July 21 to 22, but, unlike the Golden Balka, almost only Russian performers (with the exception of the Swedish Sonic Syndicate) are presented in Line-Ape. Not everyone is resolved to speak in Crimea - according to the laws of Ukraine, entering the peninsula from Russia is prohibited, entering this ban is closed to Ukraine. This happened with the Eurovision participant from Russia Julia Samoilova, whom Kyiv did not allow the competition.

The festival Dmitry Kiselev prefers not to invite famous foreign musicians. In 2015, the US State Department directly forbade musicians to go to Crimea - for example, Jazzmen Igor Butman (he has Russian and American citizenship), he said that he received a notification with a request to refuse a trip to the festival. Others abandoned the performance in Crimea-for example, the American-Cuban jazz pianist and trumpeter Arturo Sandoval and the German group De Phazz, which eventually performed at the Ukrainian festival. In 2016, at the Dmitry Kiselev festival, mostly Russian ensembles were mainly-and the names of the participants were not called until the very last moment. After the performance at the British festival, Julian Berdok, the Embassy of Ukraine in the UK asked local authorities to report on visits to the peninsula to their subjects.

Sergei Shnurov and Leningrad after a speech in the Crimea fell into the “Peacemaker” base - this is a Ukrainian site that collects the data of “separatists” and artists who performed in the Crimea. It is still unknown whether the Ukrainian security service (SBU) will prohibit Shnurov, but he himself already stated that this does not bother him: "He was not used to breaking into the closed door."

The SCOOOTER group stated at the Golden Balka festival was also criticized from Europe. The deputy of the Green faction in the European parliament Rebecca Harms said that the musicians “got to the side of Putin”, and their speech “will also serve to serve as covering all those terrible human rights violations that occur today in Crimea.” The SCOOOTER frontman Eich Pi Baxter replied that the group is going to perform in Crimea for its fans, and not for political reasons.

“We are aware that there is a ban on the part of Ukraine. You have already heard about Scooter, here, Shnurov has some problems. At the moment, we have all the performances in force, none of the artists refused to participate in the festival, ”says Caesarov. They represent their festival from the perspective: “Real music is outside politics,” and assure that “the least in the world they are interested in our festival are involved in political scandals.”

Amendment. The original version of the article stated that only Russian groups will come to the Badaboomfest festival. This is not so: at the festival, in particular, the Swedish Sonic Syndicate will perform. "Medusa" apologizes to the readers.

Juliana Skibitskaya