Summer is here and with it comes that time of outdoor festivals filled with warm beer, mud, tents and music from across the globe. Russia's summer festival programme ranges from posh local folk and jazz, to hippified world music, raucous teenage beach fests, all-night raves and the all essential medieval re-enactment. Seek and ye shall find.

For young sun lovers

13 – 15 August

The original young fun-loving festival all the way down in the sunny south of Russia. Kubana Party is situated on the balmy shores of the black sea and as well as lovely young ladies in bikinis and a lot of frolicking in the warm water, there’s Crimean wine and err, oh yeah, music right? The line-up includes the favourites of Russia’s youth like Sergei Shnurov and his group Rubl, controversial rapper Noize MC, hard rockers Kirpichi and Tarakany, Belarusian indie singer Lyapis Trubetskoi, perennial alt-rock lords Tequilajazzz and pop rock group Animal Jazz. Bringing some much needed foreign influence to the festival and easily one of the best bands on the line-up are arty French bossa nova collective Nouvelle Vague.

GETTING THERE:
Tickets can be bought for the party bus leaving from Moscow which will drive down to the sea on August 12. Buses will also run from Novorossisk and Anapa which are a full 24hour train ride from Moscow. Alternatively you can fly to Krasnodar and take local transport from there.

A three day ticket costs 1,500Rbl, plus 800Rbl for rental of a camping space. A one day entrance ticket costs 600Rbl. A three day ticket and direct bus transfer to and from Moscow costs 6,000Rbl.
kubanabay.ru

For more ‘discerning’ festival goers

19 – 22 August

Mesto vstrechi - Shirota 54 (Meeting place - latitude 54) is a newcomer to the scene. This festival is promoted as one for the ‘grown-ups’, meaning showers, no long queues for toilets (half the guests will stay in bungalows), sushi bars, an Uzbek restaurant, playgroups to dump the kids in and a meditation and yoga area. This is about as posh as festivals come. As for the music, the emphasis is largely on folky Russian bands like Pelageya, Billy’s Band and Turetsky’s choir, jazz and lounge music and the slightly cheesy sounds of ‘Russia’s Jack Johnson’ Uma 2urman. There will also be a dance tent or ‘club area’ pumping out the house tunes, an open air cinema, football and volleyball pitch and a fish-filled lake to escape to.

Tickets start at 800Rbl for one day's entrance to the festival. Rental of camping space starts at 800Rbl and bungalows start from 16,000Rbl for a six person  bungalow.

The festival takes place outside the city of Ryazan, about 160kms from Moscow.

topfest.ru

For World Music aficionados

26 – 29 August

Mamakabo places itself as the antithesis of the pop saturated festival scene. You may not have heard of many of the people who are on the line-up, but you can be certain that they are all accomplished well-respected musicians in their own rights. Top of the list is Australian guitar god Tommy Emmanuel c.g.p who plays faster than the speed of light and is often cited as the best acoustic player in the world, didatonic harmonica player Howard Levy who is loved for his versatility, especially in the blues, Cameroonian bass player Etienne Mbappe and jazz-funk infused local legend Sergei Manukyan. Numerous other vocal groups, jazz, blues and folk musicians and a Beatles tribute band will round out the playbill and the weekend promises to be very child-friendly, and ecologically efficient. For those wanting to stay overnight there is accommodation available in Ethnomir’s hotel, in tents or in real Mongolian yurts.

The Ethnomir park (an ecological educational centre, preserving the lifetyles and architecture of various Russian and Central Asian regions) is about 60km from Moscow.

www.mamakabo.ru.