For years Kazakhstan has shown a huge interest in joining the Eurovision Song Contest.
Even though the world's largest landlocked country is yet to have received an invitation to the adult Contest, Kazakhstan has participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest since 2018. In their short time at the Junior Contest they have proven to be a strong force. They have finished in the top 10 three times and in the last two years finished in the runner-up spot.
Kazakh broadcaster, Khabar Agency (KA), is an associate member (since 2016) of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). They require special invitation from Eurovision to compete in the Contest, pretty much like Australia. The Australia broadcaster SBS is an associate member of the EBU (since 1979), and as of 2015 has received special invitations to compete at Eurovision.
Every year momentum builds within the Eurovision community to hopefully see Kazakhstan join the rest of Europe and Australia to compete on the biggest stage in the world, Eurovision.
Music trends have hit Kazakhstan in recent years. Since 2015 the pop music music scene in Kazakhstan blossomed! Q-pop, also called Qazaq pop, has become a popular music genre incorporating pop music sung in Kazakh, with a mixture of Western pop elements and heavily influences from K-pop.
With a thriving music scene there are an array of artists from Kazakhstan that would be more than ready and willing to represent their nation.
In celebration of the Independence Day of Kazakhstan today, we take a look at current Kazakh artists we would love to see make it to the Eurovision stage.
Independence Day of Kazakhstan (Қазақстан Республикасының Тәуелсіздік күні) is the main holiday which marks the independence of Kazakhstan on December 16 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The is celebrated with fireworks, concerts and parades and ends on December 17.
Today we showcase three Kazakh artists we would love to potentially see perform on the Eurovision stage:
Dimash Qudaibergen
Dimash would be one big name to send to Eurovision! The classically trained singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is well known for his wide vocal range.
He gained popularity in 2015 after he became a Grand Prix winner of Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk, Belarus. Dimash became very popular in China after finishing runner up in Hunan TV’s Singer 2017. Throughout his career he has performed in twelve different languages.
The 6-octave vocalist has concentrated on various styles of music from contemporary, classical and traditional Kazakh music, blending them to make pop music.
His music releases that would have been great for the Eurovision Song Contest include the pop track ‘Screaming' where Dimash demonstrates his amazing vocals, the operatic ‘Olimpico' that would blow the socks off any jury member or the more mellow ‘Samaltau’ which wraps up in a dramatic fashion. Dimash is definitely an artist to see on the Eurovision stage.
Zhanar Dugalova
Another artist that would be great for Eurovision and has had competition experience is Zhanar Dugalova. She won the Turkvision 2014 representing Kazakhstan with ‘Izin kórem’.
She was previously part of the Kazakh pop group KeshYou. The group had competed at the Turkvision Song Contest in 2013 with the song ‘Rizamyn’ where they came fourth place, Zhanar left the group the following year.
After the Turkvision 2014 win, Zhanar's popularity bloomed. She had great success releasing many more singles. In 2017 Zhanar expressed her desire to compete at the Eurovision Song Contest for Kazakhstan, hopefully her dream comes true!
91 (NINETY ONE)
If it’s a Kazakh boyband you are after then 91 are the right group to one day represent Kazakhstan at Eurovision. The band are the founders of the new genre of music Q-pop which stems from K-pop. The group consists of A.Z , ZaQ, Alem, Ace and Bala, who are admired for singing pop music in their native language.
The band has seen success having won the South Korean talent show ‘I Can See Your Voice’ (ICSYV) in 2019. Their name 91 is taken from the year 1991, the year Kazakhstan gained their independence.
91 would be a great representative of the Q-pop scene and bring it to Europe through the Contest.
Other notable Kazakh artists
Other Kazakh artists that would be great to see at Eurovision include:
The recent winner of ‘Grand Prix of 2021 Slavianski Bazaar’, Rukhiya Baidukenova.
The five member indie-rock/synthpop band, MOLDANAZAR, from Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Ziruza, the very popular Q-pop singer, songwriter and actress.
There are many more great artists from the Kazakhstan who could easily make a huge impact at Eurovision.
Are there any other Kazakh artists that you would like to see make it to Eurovision? Let us know on our socials.
Special thanks to our previous 'Eurovision fan of the week' Yerdana from Kazakhstan, who we interviewed last year.