The ZHARA music festival in Baku takes place against the backdrop of the thermometer approaching 40 degrees. During the day, Russian guests escaped the prevailing heat along the Caspian coast and the pools of the Sea breeze resort, and then watched a new film by Marius Weisberg. Today is the second day of the festival, in the late afternoon the guests of ZHARA again paraded along the red carpet, and then performed Sofia Rotaru’s most popular songs on the main stage of Sea breeze.
The morning of the second festival day began with rehearsals for Russian performers, who immediately after performing on stage hurried to plunge into the cool waters of the Caspian Sea. And in the afternoon, celebrity guests and media representatives attended a closed film screening of “Grandmothers of Easy Virtue,” directed by Marius Weisberg. The leading actors - Alexander Revva, Natalya Ionova, Natalya Bardo and other stars who are taking part in the Baku festival these days - also came to watch the film.
By the evening, rested and looking great, the stars again paraded along the “red carpet” of HEAT. This time they decided to abandon evening dresses, choosing a casual style. So, Ani Lorak came out in beige trousers and a black leather top, Glukoza chose a silver jumpsuit for the evening, and designer Yulia Potemkina opted for a short white dress with black stripes.
On the red carpet, the stars also shared their impressions of their stay in Baku. “If I forbade myself something at home, then in Baku I allowed everything. I haven’t eaten meat for a long time, but I couldn’t resist coming to Baku, because the lamb here is so delicious!” shared Glucose. Presenter Yulia Baranovskaya literally glowed with happiness and told how wonderful she was having in Baku. “I’m in a great mood: the sea, the sun, delicious food, and today I attended the premiere of the film with my friends,” said Baranovskaya.
The evening concert on the second day of the festival was dedicated to the anniversary of People's Artist of the USSR Sofia Rotaru, who will turn 70 on August 7. She flew to Baku with her family - son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter. At HEAT, she performed her best compositions, which the audience knew by heart and sang along with her from the audience. In the new arrangement, Sofia Mikhailovna’s songs were also performed by Russian stars. Valeria performed the song “Don’t Call Love,” Glukoza performed the hit “Luna, Moon,” Ani Lorak performed “The Cherry Orchard,” and Aysel performed “You Are My Heart.”
Each singer sang the song in her own style, and, apparently, this was appreciated by Sofia Mikhailovna, who was watching the action taking place from the audience.
The gala concert was also attended by Potap and Nastya, Timur Rodriguez, Artik&Asti, Svetlana Loboda, MBAND group, Slava, Grigory Leps, Lev Leshchenko, Polada Bulbuloglu and many others.
BAKU /Trend Life/ - From July 27 to 30, on the coast of the Caspian Sea - at the most beautiful resort of the capital of Azerbaijan, Sea Breeze, the second International Music Festival "ZHARA-2017" is being held, Trend Life reports.
The second day of the festival was marked by a stunning concert by the famous Ukrainian and Russian pop singer and actress of Moldovan origin, People's Artist of the USSR Sofia Rotaru, dedicated to her anniversary and creative activity.
Sofia Rotaru is one of the most popular singers in the post-Soviet space, a talented actress and a wonderful mother and grandmother. All this is far from a complete list of qualities that characterize this wonderful singer and artist, on whose songs entire generations of her fans have grown up!
The singer who appeared on stage greeted the audience in Azerbaijani and sang the famous song “Chervona Ruta”. Sofia Rotaru noted that she was very happy to hold the anniversary evening in hospitable Baku, and the main thing for her over 45 years of stage activity has always been the applause of the audience, the energy of the audience, which helps her always remain young.
The special guest of the evening was the famous singer and composer, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Russia, People’s Artist Polad Bulbuloglu, who performed the audience’s compositions “My City Baku” and “Gəl, ey səhər”, and congratulated Sofia Rotaru on the significant event.
Throughout the evening, which took place to a standing ovation from the audience, hits of the Queen of Pop were performed by Lev Leshchenko, Glukoza, Adil Karadzha, Nastya Zadorozhnaya, Valeria, Alekseev, Ani Lorak, Artik and Asti, Slava, Irina Dubtsova, Jasmine, Timur Rodriguez, Svetlana Loboda, groups “Time and Glass” and Mband. The joint performances of Sofia Rotaru with her sister Aurelia, with the duet Potap and Nastya and Grigory Leps were a pleasant surprise for the audience. The audience heard such hits in modern arrangements as “Swan Fidelity”, “White Dance”, “I Loved Him”, “Khutoryanka”, “Moon”, “You Will Fly Away”, “Father’s House”, “Melancolie”, “A Music sounds”, “You are the best” and others. During the concert, many warm words and congratulations were said, it was emphasized that her songs shaped the musical taste of several generations.
And the highlight of the evening was the duet between Sofia Rotaru and EMİN, who performed one of the famous hits of the last century - the song “Lavender”. EMİN expressed sincere gratitude to Sofia Rotaru for agreeing to celebrate the anniversary in Baku. Thanking for the invitation, Sofia Rotaru said that she would never forget this evening. The holiday ended with colorful fireworks.
At this time, the annual Heat festival takes place in Baku. This gala event was organized by Emin Agalarov, Sergey Kozhevnikov and Grigory Leps, and according to the organizers, it will last for four days. The second day of this festival was dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the famous singer Sofia Rotaru.
Numerous fans of the star came to Baku to watch the performance and hear their favorite songs performed by the People’s Artist. Some celebrities expressed their congratulations to the legendary star on the upcoming anniversary and decided to perform some of Rotaru’s hits.
The most popular representatives of Russian show business walked along the red carpet of the festival. But the granddaughter of Sofia Rotaru, named Sonya, very much surprised everyone, appearing before the audience in a long black dress with thin straps and a precious necklace around her neck. Those around her appreciated the graceful figure of the young beauty, who posed in front of the cameras with undisguised pleasure.
Many critics have long been predicting the fate of a model for Sonya. The girl has already participated in photo shoots for various fashion magazines. In addition, she is often photographed by her brother Anatoly, a talented photographer.
Sonya Evdokimenko arrived at the festival to support her “star” grandmother. Not only Sofia Mikhailovna’s granddaughter came to Baku, but also her son Ruslan along with his wife. According to the organizers, there is an almost family atmosphere at the festival. At the opening of the festival, Emin Agalarov walked along the red carpet with his children, and Sergei Kozhevnikov walked along the red carpet with his son and beloved wife. Grigory Leps told the guests and spectators present at the festival that a year ago he finally reconciled Philip Kirkorov with the rapper Timati, who until that moment had been in a small quarrel.
Potap and Nastya Kamenskikh also walked along the red carpet. The singer was wearing trousers and a voluminous jacket, and had a wig on her head. Potap put on a khaki suit. Popular presenter and singer Olga Buzova wore a snow-white translucent dress with bright green nail art. A member of the group “Time and Glass” appeared in public in a pink outfit.
The second music festival “Heat” has started in the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku. This year's program includes creative evenings by masters Alla Pugacheva, Sofia Rotaru and Grigory Leps. Before the start of the musical show, the Izvestia columnist met with its founders, Emin Agalarov and Sergei Kozhevnikov.
- Under what conditions did Alla Borisovna Pugacheva agree to give a whole concert at the Zhara festival?
E.A.: Terms are confidential. The most important thing is that I managed to convince Alla Borisovna to come to our festival. Her participation is a great gift for all of Azerbaijan, as well as for all TV viewers of Channel One, who have always been and will be interested in her performances. It will be an unforgettable evening, I am sincerely sure that she will not regret it.
S.K.: However, “concert” is a big name. Of course, Alla Borisovna herself will sing some of the songs from the concert program, but her hits will also be performed by A’Studio and Grigory Leps. Philip Kirkorov, for example, comes specifically to perform songs that we know as Alla Pugacheva’s songs.
- Will Alla Borisovna sing live?
S.K.: Undoubtedly. The only difficulty is that the festival takes place on the shores of the Caspian Sea, and if there is a strong wind, it will “clog” the orchestra. Technologically, we calculate both the conditions for singing live and for performing with a backing track. If the concert of Grigory Leps is entirely live, then on the very first day it is simply physically impossible to “split” the orchestration into 42 artists. Therefore, they will sing to “minus one”, but with a live voice.
- As long as Russian pop music has existed, talk about the unspoken competition between Alla Pugacheva and Sofia Rotaru has not stopped. How did the singers react to the fact that each of them would give a concert within the framework of one festival?
S.K.: Absolutely calm. I remember how they sang together “They won’t catch us” by the Tatu group. Apparently, this was a key moment in their relationship. Firstly, it’s stupid to settle scores at this age, although I don’t think there were any. Alla is immersed in children. She is now so indifferent to any pop conflicts that it is even stupid to think about this topic. But Sofia Mikhailovna has a different story - wonderful grandchildren. She lives for them and her family. People come to wisdom and, importantly, to family values.
E.A.: These two great artists already have great love from the audience, they are at the top of the musical Olympus. And finding out who is better or worse is important for young people. I, in turn, am very glad that the legendary singers will hold their big concerts and creative evenings at our festival in Baku.
- Will Alla Borisovna come to Azerbaijan with her family?
S.K.: I don’t think there will be children - it’s very hot in Baku at the end of July. And Maxim Galkin, of course, will come with her.
- Does the format of the Zhara festival remain the same? Are you planning to introduce a competitive component into it?
S.K.: No competitions are planned, but the format has undergone changes. In 2016, we had two days of group concerts, where production centers presented leading artists, and young performers had the opportunity to perform with them on the same stage. Today the situation is different: we have three creative days. The first is the opening of the festival, at which young people will sing the current songs of this year. The second will feature a creative evening by Sofia Mikhailovna Rotaru, dedicated to her anniversary. On the third day we are organizing a creative evening for Alla Pugacheva and the festival will close with an anniversary concert by Grigory Leps.
E.A.: In connection with the program, the songs were often chosen by the celebrants themselves. We agreed with Sofia Mikhailovna that she would sing herself and which performers would work with her. Special arrangements were made for some songs by other performers. We took old songs and made a new sound, a fresh interpretation. The same thing applies to Alla Borisovna and Grigory Leps. I also have thoughts about creating a radio station and the “Heat” award.
- Do you have ambitions to look for new names?
E.A.: Our concept is based on the participation of leading young performers and legendary artists in the festival. We are not planning a competition program yet, but we invite young talents to participate.
S.K.: The search for new stars is of interest primarily to producers, and we please the audience; we have no commercial interest in discovering new stars. A young artist can prove himself - if he made a hit this year, we invite him to perform at the festival.
- Well, if the iTunes charts are now topped by the stars of the reality show “Dom-2”, will you take them to the festival too?
S.K.: Let's take it. As they say, there is no point in blaming the mirror if your face is crooked. If millions of people recognize the work of you know who as relevant, we must show it.
E.A.: The brilliant artist Laima Vaikule will perform at Alla Pugacheva’s concert this year. But she does not perform on the first day of the festival, when current hits are performed. And this does not diminish its significance. We simply set a certain festival format, certain rules and follow them.
- Does “Heat” compete with other music festivals, for example with “New Wave”?
S.K.: There is a competition program at “New Wave,” but we don’t have one. How can we be compared? This year Igor Krutoy will have an anniversary party for Philip Kirkorov. If his recital has already been announced at another festival, it is not relevant for us to duplicate it. Professional ethics exist. We are not competitors, but partners in show business.
- What difficulties did you encounter while preparing the festival?
S.K.: Unfortunately, negotiations with the songwriters were very difficult. Some, for example Viktor Matetsky, supported the festival with great pleasure. But some authors have passed away, and the heirs want to instantly get rich just by playing the song on “Heat”. Therefore, some compositions that we and the artists liked, alas, had to be abandoned for financial reasons - exorbitant sums were asked for them.
- Last year, due to the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict, some invited performers were blacklisted...
E.A.: As far as I know, at the moment all Russian artists can freely come to Azerbaijan.
Izvestia Help
The Heat music festival, founded by businessman Emin Agalarov, media manager Sergei Kozhevnikov and singer Grigory Leps, was first held in 2016 at one of the resorts on the Absheron coast in Azerbaijan. More than 60 artists and show business stars took part in the two-day festival, including Philip Kirkorov, Valeria, Nikolai Baskov, Polad Bulbul-ogly and others.
