The term "bard" first appeared in medieval Europe. This was the name for wandering singers who performed both their own songs and folk ballads. In the middle of the 20th century in the USSR, performers of an author's song began to be called bards, i.e. the meaning of this word has hardly changed.
Art song clubs
During the "thaw", i.e. in the mid-50s, in the USSR there were clubs for author's, or amateur, songs (KSP). For lovers of this genre, premises were allocated in the Houses of Culture, the Officers' Houses and other centers of culture. They were supervised by the departments of culture and were islands of free thought among the sea of official ideology. From time to time, the clubs got into trouble if they went beyond the permitted limits. The KSP often balanced on the verge of closing, but, nevertheless, relatively well existed until the end of the restructuring, as a valve for dumping superheated steam. After the restructuring and the advent of a market economy, the PCB has fallen on hard times, as local authorities often simply do not have the willingness or funds to pay rent for the bards' premises. Nevertheless, in many settlements the KSP has survived. You can find out their addresses on the Internet at city sites or in the department of culture of the municipality.
Tourist clubs
The author's song is inextricably linked with classic tourism: mountain, water, hiking. All famous Soviet bards either went in for tourism themselves, or wrote about tourists: about the romance of long-distance roads, about dangerous river rapids, about climbers and mountaineering … These songs have been sung for several generations of tourists in the post-Soviet space. Songs with a guitar or a cappella around a campfire at a halt are an indispensable part of a successful hike. If the city does not have an art song club, bards can gather in tourist clubs.
Bard song festivals
Most bards gather at art song festivals. The most famous of them is Grushinsky, which has been held annually since 1968 at the end of June in Togliatti, Samara region. Currently, the festival is divided into 2. The second festival is taking place at the same time on the Mastryukovsky lakes of the Samara region.
In addition, regional bard festivals are held in each region of Russia in the warm season: "Sail of Hope" in the Voronezh region, "Oskol lyre" in Belgorod, "Autograph of August" in Lipetsk, "Robinsonada" in Leningradskaya, etc. Information about festivals in each region is posted on the Internet. The official pages of the festivals indicate the time and place of their holding and the most convenient route to get there.