ASTANA – The Degdar Humanitarian Fund supported by the Japanese embassy in Kazakhstan made a musical gift to Astana within the bounds of the Japan Spring International Arts Festival in the form of presentations of Japanese musical traditions. Unique Japanese music as well as the creations of Kazakh composers, masterpieces of European classics and Eastern melodies were enjoyed by the recent festival’s audience.
“These concerts, held in Almaty and Astana, present people with positive emotions. People go out of a concert hall and their faces are spiritual and happy. As for me, every concert is a holiday for them. All the more so Japanese and Kazakh music are partially similar,” said concert participant Yermek Kurmanayev, as quoted by tengrinews.kz.
Timur Urmancheyev, Kazakh honoured art worker, pianist and festival art director was quoted by tengrinews.kz as saying: “We try to invite different musicians from all over the world. First of all, we want them to come to Astana and, of course, we want to show our young talented young musicians who aren’t popular. I hope that this event is a step for them to become famous in the future and gladden the people of our state.”
This year, festival organisers were able to include Yamato, a famous Japanese drumming troupe. Yamato was founded in 1993 and has given more than 2,500 performances in 51 countries, creating and presenting original Yamato compositions. Audiences around the world await their arrival every year in growing numbers. Yamato members say their greatest goal is to send their audiences home after each performance with a new vitality and passion for life and to present the spirit of Japan.
In addition to the concerts, the arts festival also included master classes and workshops for students of Astana and Almaty creative universities.
The festival is open to the public and has been held twice a year in Astana and Almaty since 2011 and is called Japan Spring and Japan Autumn correspondingly.
