Central Asian Music Festival at the Kazakhstan Embassy
VIEW EVENT DETAILSSince the days of antiquity, Eurasian monks and merchants have traversed the oases and steppes of Central Asia along the Silk Road. Amid this dynamic exchange of goods and ideas, Central Asian musical styles and instruments developed from centuries of cultural syncretism.
His Excellency Ambassador Erlan A. Idrissov from Kazakhstan will open the Central Asian Music Festival, followed by a performance featuring Adam Grode and Yerbolat Myrzaliev. They will conduct a concert-lecture comprising a family of long-necked lutes such as the Kazakh dombra and Kashgar kobyz. These instruments will be used as a conduit toward understanding Central Asia's rich culture and musical prowess.
Besides introducing musical traditions, Grode will also talk about contemporary Central Asian music scene, including the innovative musicians who blend age-old styles with modern arrangement like the Kazakh Folk-Rock Ensemble, and ULYTAU.
Adam Grode is an ethnomusicologist and a former researcher at the Smithsonian Asian Cultural History Program in Washington, DC. In 2005, Grode received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship and a J. William Fulbright Scholarship in 2007 to pursue independent research on traditional Central Asian music. His most recent work includes Asia Society's April 2010 special report Making a Difference Through the Arts: Strengthening America's Links with Asian Muslim Communities.
Yerbolat Myrzaliev is one of the famous musical talents of Central Asia, as an honors graduate of the Kulyash Baisseitova Higher Musical College, a top musical institution in Central Asia. His repertoire includes over 60 compositions, kuys, traditional melodies, romances, poems, and other songs. In 2007, he earned an honors diploma in law from Kazakh Humanities University of Law. However, his passion is bringing his music to wider audiences and building bridges between history and modernity, bringing the Eurasian culture closer to the rest of the world.
This event is co-sponsored with the Embassy of Kazakhstan.
His Excellency Ambassador Erlan A. Idrissov from Kazakhstan will open the Central Asian Music Festival, followed by a performance featuring Adam Grode and Yerbolat Myrzaliev. They will conduct a concert-lecture comprising a family of long-necked lutes such as the Kazakh dombra and Kashgar kobyz. These instruments will be used as a conduit toward understanding Central Asia's rich culture and musical prowess.
Besides introducing musical traditions, Grode will also talk about contemporary Central Asian music scene, including the innovative musicians who blend age-old styles with modern arrangement like the Kazakh Folk-Rock Ensemble, and ULYTAU.
Adam Grode is an ethnomusicologist and a former researcher at the Smithsonian Asian Cultural History Program in Washington, DC. In 2005, Grode received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship and a J. William Fulbright Scholarship in 2007 to pursue independent research on traditional Central Asian music. His most recent work includes Asia Society's April 2010 special report Making a Difference Through the Arts: Strengthening America's Links with Asian Muslim Communities.
Yerbolat Myrzaliev is one of the famous musical talents of Central Asia, as an honors graduate of the Kulyash Baisseitova Higher Musical College, a top musical institution in Central Asia. His repertoire includes over 60 compositions, kuys, traditional melodies, romances, poems, and other songs. In 2007, he earned an honors diploma in law from Kazakh Humanities University of Law. However, his passion is bringing his music to wider audiences and building bridges between history and modernity, bringing the Eurasian culture closer to the rest of the world.
This event is co-sponsored with the Embassy of Kazakhstan.
Event Details
Fri 18 Mar 2011
Kazakhstan Embassy, 1401 16th Street NW Washington, DC
Asia Society members: $15; non-members: $25. RSVPs are required by 12:00 pm on March 17.