A Veteran Festival
Krasnaya Gvozdika, “Red Carnation”, is a festival-competition dedicated to the Victory of soviet people in Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. It is designed for veterans of the Second World War – The Great Patriotic War, (that is the combatants who served in the forces or partisan groups) and Labour veterans from Bishkek and Chui oblast, (that is people who worked on what in Britain we call “The Home Front” – supporting the war effort by their labour in factories, mines, farms, and so forth).
It was started in 2000 under the auspices of the Culture Administration of the Bishkek municipality and the “Red Carnation” Public Association of WWII and labour veterans, headed by its artistic director Kamil Serazitdinov. The Public Association holds all rights for the festival.
The objectives which the Festival aims to fulfill include:
- to stimulate creative activities amongst both veterans groups and individual performers
- to popularize the songs of WWII period and also preserve and develop songs folklore of the CIS nations
- to draw attention of society to problems of veterans
The main participants in the festival are veterans, who are 58 years old and more.
The program includes competitions among war and labour veterans, (in the following categories: vocal-choral music and solo performances, declamation and instrumental performances), exhibitions, and concerts.
The competition is judged by a panel which includes prominent figures drawn from the cultural and artistic life of Kyrgyzstan.
The winners are rewarded with prizes and certificates at a gala concert.
The Festival is an annual event and by 2010, 10 festivals had been held and a booklet was issued to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the festival and the 65th anniversary of the Great Victory in 1945.
The first festival in 2000, hosted folklore groups from the capital city, Bishkek, as well of and individual performers and there were 110 participants in total.
The scope of subsequent festivals widened and it now includes participants from all over the Chui oblast.
The first festival was sponsored by Phillip Morris Management Service BV, the Soros Foundation – Kyrgyzstan, National Lawyers Company and Mr. Kevin McLeen. Over the years a number of other organizations, (including the Celestial Mountains Tour Company), have also sponsored the event, but the mainstay of the festival since its inception has been the Bishkek municipality, which also assists with logistics.
Bishkek