Faces of Friends opens June 26

Young artists from Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and Bulgaria will perform at the 10th International Music Festival “Faces of Friends”, to take place in Cahul town, in southern Moldova, during June 26-28, Info-Prim Neo reports. The festival will bring together 15 contestants who will fight for the grand prize of 1,000 euros. Prizes of 700, 500 and 300 euros will also be offered, the festival's director Sergey Orlov told a news conference on June 23. The competitors are required to perform one song in his/her language and one international song. The jury consists of 7 members: Tatiana Boyeva (Ukraine), Sergey Izbash (Moscow), Albert Asadullin (St. Petersburg), composer Dumitru Lupu (Romania), Rumiana Nacheva (Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria), and composer Victor Zelenski (Tiraspol, Moldova). The special guests of the festival will be Crazy Loop, Zdob şi Zdub, Natalia Barbu, Olya Tira, Alex Calancea Band, Todo, Unbeakable, NDS and Single Point. A Jazz Night event will follow the competition part of the festival, where amid a grill and beer party everyone will be welcome to show their talent in jazz music. The Festival was first held in 1996 as a convention of singers from Cahul, but it soon grew into a genuine fete for the entire country and a launchpad for young talents, the organizers say. The organizers of the event are the Creation Association “Festival”, the Creation Agency “Echinox” and Orange Moldova.