Tournament of the best ditty singers of the Central Black Earth region was held at the Exposition

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On June 26, the RUSSIA EXPO hosted a creative tournament "Ring and Sing, My Ditty". The guests were immersed in the world of Russian national traditions and folk art by the best ditty singers of the Central Black Earth macroregion — artists and creative teams from the Lipetsk, Tambov and Belgorod regions.

The Tambov region was represented at the tournament by two talented and original ensembles - folklore amateur group "Volnitsy" under the leadership of Merited Culture Worker of the Russian Federation Nina Kosacheva and the ensemble "Russian Soul" headed by Vladimir Lisitsyn.

The most unusual participant of the ditties "battles" was the male ensemble "Balagury" from the Belgorod region. Since 2017, this unique group has been led by Sergei Ovsyannikov. The special secret of the ensemble's numerous victories at various competitions and festivals, according to its members, is that they are all in love — with their work, which they do with a soul, and, of course, with folk art, which gives inspiration. 

In turn, the most "crowded" in the tournament was the performance of ditties singers from the Lipetsk region. The honor of the region was defended by four participants at once — the honored folk art collective "Folk Dance Ensemble "Razdolye" named after Valery Shelyakin (director — Merited Cultural Worker of the Lipetsk region Inna Leiba), folklore ensemble "Drevo" (director Alexander Kharin), creative association "Arepey" under the direction of Vladimir Krysanov, and a young pupil of the children's folk art studio of the State Dance Theater "Cossacks of Russia" Alina Shatalova.

Each region presented to the audience a half-hour program introducing traditional folk art of the Central Black Earth region, and the prizes were distributed according to the strength of enthusiastic cheers and applause, measured with the help of a special device — a noise meter directed into the hall.

All participants of the tournament were awarded with letters of thanks from the RUSSIA EXPO, and the winners were the artists of the creative association "Arepey" from the Lipetsk region, who literally made the audience fall in love with them. The event ended with a merry dance with the participation of all the groups. The Regional Centre of Culture, Folk Art and Cinema prepared and organized the tournament of ditty singers from the three regions.