Qualifying rounds for the children's and adult competitions for "Slavianski Bazaar-2018" were held in Vitebsk
Representatives from different regions of Vitebsk Oblast participated in the creative competition held at the Vitebsk Culture Center.
Vitebsk showed the greatest activity, with three young talents and six adults coming to compete in vocal mastery. The youngest performers, aged seven and nine, came from Novolukoml.
Others in this age category were 10-11 years old.
The adult group was represented by participants aged 17 to 27. However, age did not matter for the evaluation of the selection committee, headed by Elena Podolyak, director of the regional philharmonic society.
The main thing was to showcase vocal and artistic abilities and convince all jury members that you are worthy of representing Belarus at the international competition. Specialists in the field of pop music, representatives of the Ministry of Culture of Belarus, and the festival's directorate decided who would advance to the final.
The jury included popular singer Larisa Gribaleva, our compatriot, who probably understood the participants' pre-stage anxiety better than anyone else. All contestants presented two songs, one of which was in the Belarusian language.
Unfortunately, none of our compatriots have yet performed on the competition stage of "Slavianski Bazaar," but as forum director Alexander Sidorenko noted, who knows, perhaps this will happen in the future.
In recent years, Belarusian performers from other regions of the country have shown good results. We should be happy for them and strive to nurture talents as well.
Alexander Petrovich noted that Belarus was ahead of Latin America in the qualifying rounds this year. This continent, after Rodrigo de la Cadena's triumph at the "Slavianski Bazaar," who took the Grand Prix to Mexico in 2014, constantly sends its performers to the festival. In 2018, there might be a representative from Colombia for the first time in the competition.
"Winners of international competitions are not lost; we invite them to the festival as jury members and guests. Many become not only promoters of the 'Slavianski Bazaar' but also organizers of selections in their countries. As a result, stronger performers come to the competition," emphasized Alexander Sidorenko, adding that about 15 countries have announced that they will hold qualifying rounds. Among them are Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Russia, Israel, and Serbia, Malta.
The forum director lifted the veil on the "Slavianski Bazaar – 2018." Alexander Sidorenko did not name specific individuals, as final agreements have not been signed, but noted that famous and young performers from various countries will come to Vitebsk.
The festival's multi-genre nature will be preserved, and projects such as the street art festival "On Seven Winds," the Puppet Quarter, and the fest-picnic, which was slightly hampered by rainy weather last year, will be developed. Concerts by artists from different countries will be presented separately; negotiations are currently underway with Moldova, Kazakhstan, and Israel on this matter.
After Vitebsk, qualifying rounds will be held in other regional centers, resulting in 10 representatives from each region reaching the final. Our performers were the first to be included in this list. Whether any of them will be among the contestants of the "Slavianski Bazaar" will become clear in March 2018.