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Music of Kazakhstan

Shashmaqam of Bukhara, Kazakh dombra kui, Kyrgyz komuz and Manas epic, Turkmen dutar, Tajik falak and Afghan rubab music.

Sung and searched in Kazakh, Russian. The YouTube button above can run your search in that language.

Roots and traditions

Traditional music

Traditional music in Kazakhstan often refers to music of the following genres:

Instrumental music, with the pieces ("Küy") being performed by soloists. Text is often seen in the background (or "program") for the music, as a lot of Küy titles refer to stories. Vocal music, either as part of a ceremony such as a wedding (mainly performed by women), or as part of a feast. Here we might divide into subgenres: epic singing, containing not only historical facts, but as well the tribe's genealogy, love songs, didactic verses; and as a special form the composition of two or more singers in public (Aitys), of dialogue character and usually unexpectedly frankly in content.

Contemporary genres

The Kazakh hip hop and rap scene started to emerge in the country after the Dissolution of the Soviet Union. Hip-hop easily flourished in Kazakhstan due to the use of Russian in its songs, which makes it easier for Kazakh rappers to achieve popularity in other Russian-speaking countries. Kazakh groups such as Tristar began to be featured on MTV Russia. Hip-hop is arguably the most popular contemporary music genre in Kazakhstan, especially among the youth. In 2013, American rapper Kanye West was privately invited by President Nursultan Nazarbayev to perform at his grandson's wedding.

In 1995-1999, the Rap Zone group appeared on the music scene, which was the first among many to instill the love of young people for domestic rap music. The band members recorded their albums on cassettes. Especially breakthrough was their track "Noise-boom-boom-Coup", which became the anthem of young people, and RAP ZONE inscriptions were emblazoned on yard fences, houses and in school diaries. The popularization of rap in Kazakhstan reached its peak in the 2010s and 2020s.

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Radio from Kazakhstan

Music only, no news or talk. Stations that play the local tradition come first, then the most listened. They play in the corner of the page.

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