The Astana-Arkau Turkic Music Festival was organised within the framework of the celebration of the 10th anniversary of Astana, the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The event had a riot among lovers of music art in Astana. This year the folkloric Festival has become a wonderful present for Astana’s residents and guests.
The Music Festival excited visitors with bright musical discoveries and the whole group of talented artists and famous music stars. During the three-day Festival the stage of the Chamber Concert Hall of the Astana Opera Theatre saw heirs to musical tradition of Kalmykia, Chuvashia, Altai, Bashkiria, Yakutia, Tyva, Dagestan, Tatarstan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Turkey and Kazakhstan.
For the first time, representatives of several Turkic nations performed on the stage of the Festival. And the Dolgans, the northernmost and smallest Turkic nation, are among them. To date, the population of the Taimyr Dolgans is less than 5000 people that make them unique in the whole Turkic world.
In addition, for the first time the event heard rear musical instruments brought from Turkmenistan especially for the Festival. Over the last six years, 450 musicians and scholars have become the participants of the Festival. They are heirs of musical traditions of almost all Turkic nations.
Stirring performances of the participants left no one indifferent to this event. Each performance differed with its dynamics and uniqueness and was accompanied by a round of applause. Initially, the Festival was focused on the revelation of diversity and search of similar tunes in the ethnic music of modern Turks. This principle has become a basis for the programme of the Festival this year as well.
This year, guests of the Festival have had a great opportunity to see and listen to the brightest musical compositions of instrumentalists and vocalists from different countries. The organisers are also planning to produce the Turkic Music in Astana CD-album on the basis of the musical materials of previous years. This year visitors saw the Turkic World installation that included informational light boxes and artists who participated in a costume show.
The History of Turks Costume Theatrical Performance was a key feature of the Festival. The long history of the formation of Turkic ethnos was showed to visitors for half an hour.
Photo album (The Astana-Arkau Turkic Music Festival)
By Miras NURLANULY
