ID: 20090932
Course: Introduction to Music
Instructor: Shirin Mussayeva
Date: July 4

How changes in Kazakhstani society are reflected in music?

Music is a mirror of the society. As society changes so does its music. 20 years have passed as Kazakhstan became an independent country. Changed not only the country but its people who became more patriotic, confident and modern. They started talking about those things that had not talked for years, they started singing about those problems they have and things they desire. This was reflected in our music, which is changing year by year. I want to talk about our contemporary music, positive and negative issues, how changes and development of our country and its society influenced music.
I do not think that Kazakhstani modern music is at the peak of popularity. However, more artists appeared on the scene, more songs appeared on the television and the radio, and we start listening to it. If earlier we tried to imitate western performers, now we have own opinion, dreams and desires. Our songs have become more special and individual. The reason of this is development of our country. We start living better; we have more opportunities and perceptions. People feel it and try to reflect their sense of patriotism and gratitude in their songs. One of the famous patriotic songs which I like is “Moi Kazakhstan” in which Kazakhstani pop stars like A-Studio, Ivan Breusov, Makpal Isabekova start singing with words: “Здравствуй столица-это горная птица это Астана” (S.Mussalimov, 2004). Another song performed by famous group JCS “Мой дом” also is about our country, raises nostalgia, memories of childhood and first love. Almost every person in Kazakhstan knows these warm songs or at least can recognize them. We know and love wonderful songs about Kazakhstan of Batyrkhan Shukenov who sings about beauty, nature, and people of our country in Kazakh language. Kazakhstan is changing, so does its capital. Every year we marvel at the beauty of our capital Astana. We are proud of it and want to share with other people with our happiness. Not every person in Kazakhstan has been in Astana, but at least he or she heard about it through music. I agree that our society should have these songs, songs about Kazakhstan and Astana, but sometimes I think it is too much. Here I want to raise the first social issue – State imposes on us many things that we do not like. We always hear that the officials want to rename the street in honor of the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, publish a book, make a movie about our President and build Nazarbayev University. Some people are doing these things with sense of respect and gratitude to our President, others are not. Music is also in this list. What I want to say is that when it is too much, it does not develop the sense of patriotism, but vice versa pushes away our music from us. People feel it and do not listen to this music, because it intrusive and obsessive. In my understanding, music must be created from inspiration, not because it is needed. I do not think that our president needs all these songs because such song must be valuable for us. If we want to reflect our sense of patriotism and love to our country and the President, we must do something for it, not just sing about the President and other officials.
Another issue which is raised in our society is unhappy love, which leads to loneliness and divorces. It is one of the main problems of our young people nowadays. How many divorces we have heard about, how many separations with loved ones we had? According to statistics (2010), nearly one in three marriages ends in divorce in Kazakhstan. This tells us that most people in our country are not happy because love, family and friendship are the main part of our life. When we do not have it enough we feel ourselves very lonely and needless. We want to express our feelings and share with other people. This was reflected in our music and became the most common theme. Almost every singer, every music group has a love song. My favorite songs of Rin’go and All Davai boys’ bands “Po beregu” and “Bez tebya” are the best examples. When I listen to them, I feel notes of sadness and loneliness. We like listening to these songs because most of us have the same problems.
The third issue which I am concerned about is rich and poor, how money can be applied in music. I will not talk about those songs our parents and grandparents love, songs with meanings, love, beautiful melody, songs that are performed by national artists of Kazakhstan. I want to focus on our young artists, artists for “one day”, artists with no talent, who appear on the stage with one meaningless single and build themselves a “star”. This is the problem in our society when young talented people cannot show their talent and become famous artists because they have no enough financial opportunities. For instance, in the Soviet Union every person who had a talent and aspiration to achieve success could become famous (Vasiliev, 2008). This was because all people were equal in not only rights and obligations; they were equal in social status and position in society. But now we see division between people and their social status in our country. If you have no talent, but have financial opportunities, you can easily find a producer, make a musical video and become a star. I think that one of these singers is Jora – son of a rich businessman. He appeared in 2007 with single “Be with me.” This song was about glamorous life, girls, cars and money. With a hoarse voice he made two musical videos after that he disappeared. We accept these singers but we do not take them seriously. Our music industry is suffering, because it is filled with unnecessary and meaningless songs. Fortunately, we have these shows like “X-Factor”, “Superstar KZ” with the help of which ordinary talented people can become a star. But even now I doubt are these programs are fair or not. If people doubt, it means that we have a problem. It is not the problem of the Government; it is the problem of our society because we are not even going to fight with it because we think it is normal.
To sum up, it is clear that Kazakhstan has come a long way to become an independent country. Over twenty years many things have changed. One of these things is music which is changing year by year. I have raised three social issues which I am concerned about – imposition of the Government, unhappy love and rich and poor. They have definitely influenced music in many ways. Some of them are influencing positively, some of them – negatively. If we want our music to improve and develop, we should firstly see the talent in people.

References
Kazakhstan Statistic Agency (2010). Statistical Yearbook of Kazakhtan, 433-434. Retrieved June 28, from http://demoscope.ru/weekly/2010/0385/analit05.php
Zvezdy Kazakhstana (2004). Moi - Kazakhstan [Recorded by S. Mussalimov]. Retrieved July 1, from http://destiny.kz/?set=download&mc=view&info=487

Vasiliev, R. (2008). Music of the Soviet Union. Soviet Union, 65(10), 763-767. Retrieved July 1, 2010, from ProQuest database.