VALERY GRUSHIN FESTIVAL ROUNDS OFF WITH MOSCOW CONCERTS








MOSCOW, March 9, 2001 /From RIA Novosti correspondent Olga Zubkova/ -- On Friday and Saturday, Moscow's Youth Palace is hosting final concerts of the Valery Grushin festival, a bard song competition.


	Among the performers at the concerts will be famed "bards" and regional laureates of previous Grushin festivals, reported the Moscow government's committee for public and inter-regional relations.


	Valery Grushin was a young student who died in 1968 when rescuing children from a river in Taiga. It is for more than 30 years now that "Author's" ("Hiking") song lovers have been gathering in various regions of Russia to commemorate the memory of Valery Grushin. Last year the festival, which is also known outside Russia, gathered over 250 thousand people. They come to sing and listen to favourite songs, feel part of the bards' art. Professionalism is not a must at the festival--this kind of art is democratic.


	The Grushin festivals' final concerts are generally held in Moscow. Every time they witness superb performances by new authors.