“Art does not fit in with a concept, craft does”

The third international live music festival The Creation of Peace was on June 26 held in Kazan. The festival’s main idea is to teach the audience tolerance and respect for other nations.

The Creation of Peace is for the moment one of Russia’s most popular music events: the audience in 2008 was about 150 thousand, while in 2009 attendees were nearly 200 thousand live music fans.

One day before the major event, the festival’s organisers, headed by Kazan mayor Ilsur Metshin, festival’s president Andrey Makarevich, art director Alexander Cheparukhin, general producer Sergei Mirov, as well as the Chaif music band leader Vladimir Shakhrin and the Mexican band Molotov, gave a news conference, answering questions related to The Creation of Peace 2010.

Entering the press conference room, Andrei Makarevich remarked that journalists were many more than the year before.

A.M.: The number of journalists increasing means we are on the right track. One of the reasons we undertook the festival was to bring us all from the upside-down world back into the real world. Today, a scandal is needed for anything to be written about and it to be discussed, something needs to go wrong. I am an old-fashioned man, I do not like scandals. I think the main message that ought to be conveyed to mankind is that musicians from all over the world have gathered in Kazan, to create a feast.

Q: Why was Kazan chosen to stage the festival?
A.M.: Kazan is the most suitable city to host an event like this. Two cities in the world are at the top of the list for me, Kazan and New York. Kazan is an amazingly tolerant city. I do hope all those who come to watch it will have fun. Of course, tomorrow it is going to be a bit hot, but it is still better than snow or rain during the festival!

V.Sh.: I like this city, too, for its extraordinary tolerance. With such a mixture of cultures, Kazan has its own recognizable face, its own culture, its character. Besides, Kazan was the first city where we got our first payment for a performance back in 1986 (laughs). We then played at the Youth Palace three days in a row, two performances a day, and were very happy about the payment.

Q: How has The Creation of Peace influenced the world over these three years?
A.M.: One, two or three events cannot change the state of things in the world. When you throw a pebble in the water, you see circles appear in a while. That is to say, not a single good deed remains unnoticed. Through this festival, we make a contribution to the understanding between people of diverse faiths and diverse convictions.

The festival held in 2008 set the bar very high in terms of music content, technical components, spiritual message and an amazing rapport between the musicians and the viewers. Now, whatever the circumstances, we need to keep it up. I want to thank President of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov and Kazan mayor Ilsur Metshin for that amid the globally unstable economic situation we have not lowered the bar of the festival.

Q: Who is involved in compiling the list of festival’s participants?
A.M.: At the initial stage, we all discuss the general strategy of the festival’s programme. When the in-detail elaboration on the names begins, I trust the festival’s art director Alexander Cheparukhin. First, he is far better than me aware of what goes on in the modern music world, he is in touch with all these musicians. Secondly, everyone should do their own work. I am very happy such a strong and reliable team has been assembled. There has not been a single time over the three years I would say “Why have we invited them?”. Our feelings and opinions seem to coincide, which is very good for working together.

Q: The festival is ranked international, is it known about abroad?
A.Ch.: This year, the ice has been broken, the festival is being broadly covered abroad. A report in Spanish and Portuguese was broadcast in a TV programme in Latin America. The progarmme’s audience numbers about 10 million people.

To shoot the story, journalists from Latin America specifically came to Kazan. They met with Ilsur Metshin, filmed Kazan’s sights and made video clips from the previous The Creation of Peace events. This year, a Latin American TV crew and writers will work at the festival again, so that their country knows about the feast.

As for the Russian press, nearly all the domestic editions are represented here.

A.M.: No festivals as large have over the past 10 years been seen in Europe. Russian journalists as well begin to cover the festival. In the next few years, we will possibly be broadcast live by the central TV channel.

Q: Will Piotr Nalich be here for the next event?
A.Ch.: I think of Piotr Nalich as of a good musician. His performance at Eurovision was original, not glamorous, with no backdoor scheming. The city’s mayor invited Nalich to take part in the festival this year, but he said he would only perform next year. Nalich is very conscientious about his work and has decided he is not yet ready to play at such a grand event.

Q: Is this correct that only groups fitting in with a certain concept, “format”, are eligible to perform at the festival?
A.M.: Musicians most dislike the word “format”. It is because art does not fit in with a concept, it is craft that does. The festival was conceived as an “anti-format” event. The songs should most importantly be liked by the audience. I do not understand why people still sing and ask for songs written 30 years ago. It is probably our good luck. The songs were written in the right time in the right place.

Prepared by Maria Kirukhina