I.Metshin: "Kazan has acquired yet another feature of a modern tourist city"

(Kazan, KZN.RU, July 8, by Adel Galiyev). On July 18, a summer street festival "Cultural Shift" will kick off on Kazan's Marjani Street at the waterfront of Lake Nizhny Kaban.  The festival organizers told Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin about its concept and program.

The director of the new project, Mikhail Volkonadsky, said that the street festival at Lake Kaban will be held for four weeks on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. From 18:00 to 23:00, both residents and visitors can expect a varied program: performances of street artists, musicians, screenings of retro Soviet and foreign movies, performances by illusionists and dancers, vocal and instrumental jam sessions by popular Kazan groups and master classes for all.

"Our main objective is to revitalize our beautiful waterfront with the help of street performers, said the festival director. According to him, the festival will feature large-size figures, a "man without a head" and Tatar folk characters such as Shurale. In addition, on the waterfront and at the fountain square in front of the Kamal Theater, there will be cartoonists and street performers, who will sing, play the guitar and dance.

"We shouldn't forget about modern jazz and the acoustic guitar, but since we are in the Old Tatar Settlement, folk songs and accordion should be a must," Ilsur Metshin suggested to the organizers.

The mayor was also shown a performance by an experimental youth theater "The Shift", which will present theatrical mini-shows on the waterfront every night.

"It's very good that Kazan has acquired another feature of a modern tourist city by holding a waterfront festival with its living statues and live music, but the festival should also have our unique flavor. Visitors to Kazan should say to themselves, "Yes, I've been to Barcelona, Paris and London, but this is something I haven't seen anywhere else!" Ilsur Metshin reiterated in closing and asked the organizers to think about "Kazan spice."