Grushin festival in Samara

Valery Groushm.
Since the middle of the 1960's, The Groushin Feslival of amateur song has been held in the area of the Zhiguhi Mountains. The festival was named after Valery Groushm, a student of the Samara Aerospace University who had died on the Siberian river Uda, rescuing drowning children. It is considered that Groushm and his trio, The Singing Beavers, gave amateur song a start in Samara
One of the founders and organizers of the festival is Boris Kelrnan, the official President of The Groushin Club

The Festival is held annually, beginning on the first Saturday of July and lasting for two days It is an out-of-town event that takes place in the scenic countryside The main concert of the Festival goes on all Saturday night The audience sits right on the hill's slope near a small lake and the guitar-shaped raft on its surface serves as a stage.

The lights fli the Festival. The night concert. To encourage their favorite performers, spectators switch on flashlights.

Participants and Spectators

Such famous amateur poets and singers as Yury Visbor, Alexander Dolsky, Talyana and Serghey Nikilms, Oleg Miliayev and Leonid Sergeyev participate in the festival

The hill's slope as auditorium

The festival has always been popular, attracting a lot of participants and guests from many towns and cities In 1995, over 100,000 people from 200 cities of Russia, neighboring countries, Poland, Germany, the USA, Canada and Israel gathered to take part or watch the festival

Tee-Room

A necessary attribute of the festival is Chaykhana (The Tea-Roorn), where only humorous songs are sung Numerous sporting events are usually held at the festival, too, including the football match "Samara — the world team"

After the festival, a huge flotilla of canoes, catarnarans and yawls traditionally take the rowing route around the Zhiguli

More info: http://festival.samara.net/