Among the 130 participants of the summit’s cultural programme, one can single out the famous violinist and conductor Vladimir Spivakov as well as the prominent jazzman Igor Butman. They will arrive in Vladivostok with their groups, Vladimir Spivakov with his chamber orchestra, while Igor Butman with his jazz band. However, one has to admit that the amateur ensemble “Buranovskie Babushki” is no less popular than these world famous musicians. This ensemble will take part in the cultural programme.
The “Buranovskie Babushki” ensemble is a real discovery of the year. At the Eurovision competition held in Baku, the retired women from the village of Buranov in Udmurtia were a great success and won second place. General interest in these “babushkas” has not yet faded. Our correspondent met with these star singers and asked how they managed to win the attention of all when they are over 70. A soloist of the ensemble Ekaterina Shklyaeva has this to say.
“This surprises us too. We are ordinary grandmothers. We take off concert our costumes, change into dressing-gowns and go to the vegetable garden. We continue to live as before,” Ekaterina Shklyaeva said.
A competitor of the “Buranovskie Babushki” could well be Russian accordionist Pyotr Dranga who is another participant of the APEC summit’s culture programme. He could be the grandson of the participants of the ensemble but there is a high demand for his performances. All this inspires Pyotr Dranga, and he has no plans to restrict his performances to classical or popular music.
“This is not so difficult but very interesting. All difficulties are secondary when you want to do something new and break stereotypes”, Pyotr Dranga said.
Naturally, the cultural programme of the summit could not go ahead without the most famous performers of the Russian folk music. A key participant in this area is the Pyatnisky Chorus which is well-known in many countries, including those of the Asia-Pacific region.
However, neither the diversity nor the power of music of the cultural programme will overshadow the grand fireworks on the 9th of September. The firework show will light the Vladivostok sky over Russky Island.
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