The New Wave competition leaves Jurmala for Sochi

This year the international competition of young pop singers “New Wave” will definitely be held in Sochi, and not in the Latvian resort city of Jurmala. One of the founders of the festival, composer Igor Krutoy, said this in an interview with Latvian television.

“In my opinion, everything is already clear. “New Wave” will be in Sochi. When your minister bans the entry of Russian artists, how can it be otherwise?” - he emphasized.

“The very last thing is always to use some political moments in the plane of music, in the plane of theatrical art. Now, of course, the international situation is tense, and only a lazy person does not use the political situation in a situation convenient for him to get some things,” he said.

“In the most difficult times between Latvia and Russia, the New Wave existed, and there were times when it was the only bridge that connected the two countries. In the current conflict, this bridge could not hold,” concluded Krutoy.

Earlier it became known that the “New Wave” competition, which for many years was held in Jurmala, will now be held in Sochi.

In addition, the Russian humor festivals of the “Merry and Resourceful Club” (KVN) “Voting KiViN”, “Yurmalina” and “Comedy Club” will not take place in the resort city this year.

“New Wave 2014” took place without artists from the Russian Federation

At the end of July 2014, by the decision of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Edgars Rinkevich, three Russian cultural figures - Oleg Gazmanov, Iosif Kobzon and Alla Perfilova, performing under the stage name Valeria - were blacklisted and were prohibited from entering the territory of Latvia.

It was clarified that this decision was related to their attitude to the situation in Ukraine. Due to the ban, the artists were unable to take part in the international competition for young pop singers “New Wave”.

After the competition, held in 2014 without a number of Russian artists, several Russian politicians proposed moving the New Wave to the Russian Federation. In particular, the governor of the Krasnodar Territory said that the competition could be held in Sochi and Olympic facilities could be used for this. A similar initiative was made by the governor of the Yaroslavl region, Sergei Yastrebov.

In December, the authorities of Tatarstan initiated the collection of signatures for the transfer of the competition from Latvia to Kazan. The petition won 100 thousand votes and was sent to Russian President Vladimir Putin.