ASTANA – Maulen Ashimbayev, the chairman of the Senate, an upper house of the Kazakh Parliament, highlighted the importance of preserving national identity through content creation in the creative industry development during the QazaqSham forum on Dec. 18 in Astana, reported Khabar TV.
Photo credit: Disney.
“According to research, Kazakh youth now prefer to view and distribute domestic content rather than foreign content. We believe that this indicator is a good opportunity for content producers in the digital environment,” he said.
The premiere of the Kazakh-dubbed version of the animated film “Mufasa. The Lion King” has recently occurred in Almaty. The film tells the story of the rise of Mufasa, Simba’s father, through the narration of Timon and Pumbaa. It also explores Mufasa’s childhood and his adopted brother Taka.
A schoolboy from Almaty, Alibek Yerassyl, performed the vocal parts of young Taka. This was his first experience participating in such projects, but he noted that he coped with the task easily. He learned about the project from his teacher, who encouraged him to audition. He performed songs at the casting, and two weeks later, he received a callback.
Alexander Shevchenko, music director for the Russian-language dubbing, highlighted the challenges of adapting the film’s African-inspired soundtrack.
“There is a lot of folklore sound, and for our singers it was an interesting challenge. We tried to catch this African, sunny, very free style. It was not easy, but everyone coped with it,” he shared.
This year, major international studios, supported by the Kazakh Tili Society, have begun premiering films in the Kazakh language. Disney Studios alone ordered the translation and financed the dubbing of “Inside Out 2,” “Moana 2,” and “Mufasa: The Lion King.”
