ASTANA — A video of an American student Ria Edberg performing on her dombra “Kara Zhorga,” a famous Kazakh kui for one of the oldest folk dances, has went viral on social media, a few days before Kazakhstan celebrates Nauryz, a Kazakh new year. Kui is Kazakh national music played on a dombra or kobyz, traditional Kazakh musical instruments.
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Ria Edberg is a student of the FLEX Abroad program. Originally from Minnesota, she currently studies in Almaty. Playing the dombra is one of her favorite activities.
“‘Kara Zhorga’ is one of my favorite kuis,” said Ria.
Kazakhs praised her performance online, leaving flattering comments under the post initially published on the United States Embassy’s page on Instagram.
“Excellent performance”, “so cool, great skills” read some of the comments to the video, which has garnered nearly 2,000 likes and almost 40,000 views in three days.
“Incredibly executed, so happy foreigners are interested in learning our customs and traditions as well as our language and musical instruments!” another user commented.
