Spiritual Unity of Russia — a Message to the World: Mintimer Shaimiyev officially launches festival in Sviyazhsk
Over 35,000 guests were expected to visit the island-town in three days
For millions of Russians and many people outside the republic, Tatarstan has long been a living example of centuries-old good neighborliness and brotherhood of representatives of different peoples and religions living on its territory. And, as the organisers of the new festival noted, this is one of the reasons why it was decided to hold The Spiritual Unity of Russia — a Message to the World in Tatarstan on two completely different lands united by a common history and spirituality: the Orthodox island-town of Sviyazhsk and ancient Bolgar. Read more about it in a report of Realnoe Vremya.
1,740,000 people
That's how many guests visited the relatively small island-town last year. Counting how many tourists per resident of Sviyazhsk is a thankless task. The main thing is different: every guest is welcomed on this land. As are those who flocked to the island this weekend: some to take part in the festival, others to see and hear what was happening at many venues.
Even a broken leg did not impede Director of the Petrushka Papyemashenniki theatre Vsevolod, from coming to Kazan from Petersburg.
“What? It's not my arm is broken! I can act. And I will,” the artist was not discouraged.
“He is too nimble. So they slowed down the leader to match the pace of the group,” his colleagues joked.
The group really has plenty of energy. Since the beginning of the year, they have already travelled around half of Russia. They started in Petersburg, went to Moscow, Vologda via Ust-Izhora, visited Perm and got to Vladivostok. According to accordion master Ivan, it is easier to list the places where they have not been yet than to remember all the cities where they have already performed. However, even here the information is about to become outdated: the end of the year is far away, and the theatre does not intend to slow down. From Kazan, it will visit its native Petersburg and then hit the road again — to Rybinsk, Chelyabinsk...
By the way, about energy: the creative team thought that the theatre alone was not enough. And another project was born a year ago: Pritop Tritona musical band specialising in traditional tunes and folk and hop.
Papyemashenniki theatre itself is from Petersburg, and Pritop Tritona band is a team from different cities: Petersburg, Moscow, Samara. We fly in, get together and play together. Part of the repertoire is traditional music that we play, and we get together and rehearse,” Ivan said.
The group has an extensive programme of performances at the festival for all the three days. They plan to please the audience themselves and watch and listen to other bands.
467 participants
And there was a lot to see and listen to: representatives from 10 regions of the country came to Tatarstan: 31 bands and 467 participants. Three days, 26-28 July 26, were scheduled down to the minute, and even so, viewers had to choose what to visit and where to go. There were many venues.
But it all started with the central square of the island-town — Rozhdestvenskaya. And the grand opening ceremony of the festival took place here. The official start of the programme was given by State Advisor to the Republic of Tatarstan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Revival of Historical and Cultural Monuments of the Republic of Tatarstan republican foundation, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue, Hero of Labour of Russia Mintimer Shaimiyev.
“Thank you all for gathering here despite the weather. The most important thing is to maintain peace. Our republic serves as an example to many here. Our people have seen a lot, have gone through much more. But we are a strong people. We are strong in our unity,” emphasised Mintimer Shaimiyev.
Many Years — a musical gift from the festival participants — sounded like a wish to Mintimer Shaimiyev himself who initiated the processes and put a lot of effort into the revival of Sviyazhsk, Bolgar and the Cathedral of the Kazan Virgin Mary Icon in Kazan and into the construction of the only Bolgar Islamic Academy in Russia and today continues to work to strengthen interethnic unity by creating a network of multilingual educational institutions throughout the republic.
Before leaving the stage, Mintimer Shaimiyev emphasised:
“You don't need to be encouraged to love your native land. Everyone needs to be friends. We have no reasons for conflicts. In the republic, we have achieved a good level of interethnic and interfaith understanding. Thank you for the fact that we are all able to hear each other, understand and live peacefully in a good-neighbourly manner.”
Replacing and complementing each other
Voronezh, Vladimir, Moscow, Kazan, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Petersburg, Yoshkar-Ola... Bands replaced each other on the stage at Rozhdestvenskaya Square and on sites throughout Sviyazhsk. The baton from horn and gusli players was taken over by choirs followed by folklore performances and then by an accordion.
At Lazy Market, there was folk merriment and competitions in agility and accuracy. There were craft workshops at the Children's Kingdom site. Mintimer Shaimiyev who dropped in to see what the younger guests of the festival were doing lingered for a long time with the young grandmasters playing Sweet Checkers. The children's joy knew no bounds because the game pieces could literally be eaten. Coloured candies were used for it.
Here, the state advisor of Tatarstan had a long conversation with a school student Zakhar and inquired about his academic performance at school and interests apart from school.
Later, the official guests moved to the Nikolskaya Church on the territory of the Virgin May Male Monastery where the concert From Monody to Polyphony was taking place.
“Let me greet you all on behalf of Metropolitan Kirill of Kazan and Tatarstan and congratulate you on this wonderful holiday — the opening of a very important and necessary event, a festival that is held under the slogan ‘Spiritual Unity of Russia,’” Archpriest Vladimir Samoylenko, a representative of the Kazan Metropolis, took the floor. “Mintimer Shaimiyev said very important words that are written in our souls and our hearts: if only there was peace. How important it is. And how important it sounds to us. How important it is to have peace in our lives, peace in the relationships between our friends, comrades, in the life of our multinational people of the Republic of Tatarstan and Great Russia. Because without peace in the soul, it is impossible to talk about creation, about work on Mother Earth, about a good harvest. The spiritual unity of our multinational and multi-religious people is the greatest value. How can we create and create without the unity of our hearts and our souls, without peace and harmony? Peace, harmony and spiritual unity — what could be higher and more valuable than this?”
“I listened to these words with pride and joy. There are enough difficulties in our lives, but the very unity that I saw on this earth helps us overcome them. No matter what difficulties arise in life, the most important thing is to be able to hear and understand each other. This is what we excel at here in Tatarstan. And this is how we make each other stronger,” the state advisor of Tatarstan supported the words of the archpriest.
Three days non-stop
On 26-28 July, Byzantine chants, Gregorian chant, early Russian monody and polyphony, early part signing, a cappella singing, performances of folklore bands and ancient musical instruments did not cease on the land of Orthodox shrine. Theatrical performances will be noisy, round dances were held, everyone could to join folk games and master classes in icon painting, calligraphy, etc.
An exhibition Russian Spiritual Singing Culture: Book Monuments and Research was open for three days on the territory of the exhibition hall of the Sviyazhsk History Museum located in the buildings of a former state institutions complex restored by the Tatarstan TAIF Group. Its exposition includes rare examples of books from the collections of Island-Town of Sviyazhsk Museum-Reserve, the Lobachevsky Scientific Library of Kazan Federal University and the Library of the Kazan Orthodox Theological Seminary.
The last chords of the Sviyazhsk part of the 2024 festival were played by 8 o'clock in the evening on Sunday, 28 July.
And the festival Spiritual Unity of Russia — a Message to the World will unfold on the land of ancient Bolgar on 16 August, and also for three days. But with a completely different and also unique programme. The grand opening of the Bulgarian part of the festival will take place at 20:10 on the territory of the Black Chamber, then there will be musical performances by the Almetyevsk band Kadim Almet. Later, everyone will be able to become spectators of Kara Pulat opera. And this is only the first of three days.
Admission to the festival in both Sviyazhsk and Bolgar is free. Shuttles are available.