Kazakh Instruments

Last Wednesday, I went to the Radisson for a weekly coffee outing that the club i belong to hosts. Every other week we have a guest speaker. Our Russian tutor had the brilliant idea of setting up a performance with traditional Kazakh instruments. The female performers were wearing beautifully detailed, and very traditional Kazakh dresses complete with the pointy hats. If you visit Kazakhstan, and you attend a wedding, upscale dinner, party, festival, etc, you will definitely get a performance complete with dancers donning these traditional clothes.

Here is a picture of me with two of the performers.







The hats you see in the picture above are part of the costume. The style of hat you wear will change when you get married, then again when you have your first child. The skull cap is called a Takiya, the warmer hat is called a Borik, and the wedding hat is called a Saukele. Most of the hats are decorated at the top with a burst of feathers. These feathers not only serve as decoration, but also as a symbol of good luck and fortune.

We have a cluster of these feathers in our apartment. Maybe that's how we survived the winter!

Moving onto the instruments...









Dombra

The lady pictured on the left traveled all the way from the southern Kazakh city, Almaty. She has been a music teacher for over 15 years. The instrument she is holding is called a Dombra. This instrument is typically seen with two strings, although they can also have three. The dombra was considered the most necessary thing in the life of the Kazakh people.
















Zhetygen

The girl on the left is playing an instrument called a Zhetygen. This is a seven-string plucking instrument, similar to a lying harp.

Check out the videos below to hear the sounds of the Dombra and the Zhetygen. Thanks for stopping by! I had a very eventful week, so look forward to more posts on my daily life in Kazakhstan.