«Rok Chistoy Vody» ("Pure Water Rock") — a Nizhny Novgorod music and ecology rock festival, first held in 1990 and closed in 2025 due to lack of funding. Over its history the festival ran in two "eras": in the early 1990s and from 2016 to 2024.[2]

History

The festival was founded in 1990. Its initiators were rock musician Vladimir Shakhrin (frontman of the band Chaif), Chaif's manager Konstantin Khankhalayev, and Aleksandr Kaluzhsky, editor of the rock bulletin Perekati-Pole. After 1992 the festival was not held. In 2016 it was revived and ran annually until 2024, with a break in 2020–2021.[2]

In November 2025 the organizers announced the festival's closure: attempts to obtain support from the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives had yielded no result. "We love our festival very much and could not even imagine that it would ever come to an end. But reality dictates its own terms," the organizers stated.[2]

Format and venues

The festival combined rock concerts with an environmental agenda: participants and organizers collected litter, planted trees and shrubs, and released sterlet fingerlings into the Volga. The site featured separate waste-collection points, environmental workshops, and educational displays.[4]

The venues changed from year to year. In 2019 the concert was held on the Nizhne-Volzhskaya Embankment, with a view of the Strelka from the stage.[1] In 2024 the festival took place on Minin and Pozharsky Square by the walls of the Kremlin, with part of the programme staged in Balakhna.[3][4]

Participants

Over the years of its existence, the festival has brought together a wide range of domestic rock performers. In 2019, the performing acts included Bravo (headliners), Alyans, Tequilajazzz, Pilot, N.E.P., Khronop, and others; the announced Inna Zhelannaya did not appear due to illness.[1] The 2024 lineup featured Chizh & Co, Gran-Kurazh, PilOt, FPG, ChayF, as well as Nizhny Novgorod bands Nevra, Rok-sindrom, Geroi NV, Karma-Jets, Ridols, Vikont, and Skynet.[3][4] Vladimir Shakhrin and ChayF, who stood at the festival's origins, performed at it repeatedly during the revival period as well.[3]

The 2024 Festival

The most recent festival took place on 27 July 2024 at Minin and Pozharsky Square. Despite forecasts of fine weather, the square was struck by a heavy downpour with thunderstorms: water flooded the artists' tents, and television crews retracted their camera cranes for safety reasons. Nevertheless, the majority of spectators stayed until the end; fans dubbed the event "Rock of Heavy Water." Festival producer Igor Krupin noted that the bad weather added drive and made the event "truly one of a kind."[3][4]

Sources

  1. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — "All Feng Shui." How the "Rock of Pure Water" festival went in Nizhny Novgorod
  2. Kommersant (Volga Region) — The "Rock of Pure Water" festival has been closed in Nizhny Novgorod due to lack of funding
  3. Nizhegorodskaya Pravda — The "Rock of Pure Water" festival drew thousands of spectators on 29 July 2024
  4. V Gorode N — Photo report: how the "Rock of Pure Water — 2024" festival went in Nizhny Novgorod