The Victory Salute Creative Contest devoted to the Great Patriotic War is held all over the country. In Bashkortostan, the action started in January 2010. A great number of vocal, dancing and musical teams, participants of which are children, young and middle-aged people and veterans, joined the action. Selective tours were held in all cities and regions of the republic. The winners presented their programs at the final stage of the contest. The best contestants got the right to demonstrate their skill at the gala concert, which took place in the Congress Hall last weekend.
       1230 amateur artists (68 teams) out of 45 cities and regions of the republic took part in the festive event. The Republic's Popular Art Centre that was responsible for the organization of the contest combined performances of different genres into the integral composition. The participants managed to tell the whole story of the war from the day it was declared and to the Great Victory for a few hours that the theme concert lasted for. The program included war songs and poems, soldier's dances. Theatrical sketches and theme slides reproduced the atmosphere of those years.
       There were many people not only on the stage, but in the auditorium as well. People from all cities and regions of Bashkortostan came to the festive concert. The veterans were invited to the concert with their relatives and became guests of honour of the event.
       "We try not to miss any cultural event devoted to the celebration of the Great Victory," Zakuan and Vera Yusupov say.
       The veterans say that this year the events commemorating the remarkable date are especially numerous. They are organized by housing and utilities administrations, libraries, educational institutions of the city and several other organizations, and the Yusupovs visit all them with great pleasure.
       Talking to BASHvest's reporter, Zakuan Yusupov mentioned that he was fond of war songs. In the intervals between battles, he used to start singing, and brother-soldiers joined in a song. He especially liked "The Dark Night". As me interlocutor said a lot of songs memorable for those who went through the war were sung at the concert. The veteran confessed that he willingly sang together with the singers on the stage.
       The jacket of Zakuan Yusupov is decorated with awards that the veteran received for his participation in the Battles of Kursk and Orel. After the war, he got demobilized, came to Ufa and entered the University. There he got acquainted with his future wife and settled down in Ufa. This year Zakuan Yusupov will celebrate his 85th birthday, and next year they will celebrate another holiday - the 60th anniversary of their married life.
       "I have only pleasant impressions of the concert," Zakuan Yusupov said. "I liked the fact that amateur groups represented creative work of different nations living on the territory of our republic. The program of the concert included Bashkir, Tatar, Russian, Ukranian, Chuvash songs and dances that left nobody untouched."
       According to the participants of the Victory Salute Creative Contest, they started to prepare for this important event long before. The repertoire of all groups had both songs and choreographic performances devoted to the war, but they took the choice of the sole number that was to be presented at the gala concert with right earnest.
       The war songs sung by young artists sounded especially touching. They had a strong emotional impression on the audience, as children who are in no way connected with the war theme and who know about it only from history lessons and books, demonstrated how deeply they felt it. The model vocal group Katarina from Bakaly region amazed the public with original performance of the famous song "Oh, roads". The group under the guidance of Ekaterina Petunina consists of the girls from the 8-11th forms of the rural school. The group, the repertoire of which includes a few score of songs not only in Russian and Bashkir, but also in French, English and Italian languages is popular far outside their native region. The girls participate in different musical festivals and concerts, and go on tour all over the republic.
       "We have both war veterans and workers of the home front in our families and singing war songs we render homage to them. But we also devote our creative work to those who lived to see this remarkable date and wish all the veterans sound health and good spirits," the young vocalists congratulated the veterans of the war.
       The gala concert ended with the legendary composition "The Victory Day" performed by Ufa Choir of Veterans and brass bands from Uchaly and Meleuz. The participants and viewers continued their communication in the foyer of the Congress Hall, where a big exposition of the works of decorative and applied arts was organized.
       Photo by Oleg Yarovikov.