Under this title, on the eve of the Independence Day, a musical evening was held at the Department of the History of Kazakhstan and Social and Political Sciences. The event was organized by Assistant Professor at the Department, O.A. Kovtun.
The first performance was dedicated to Kazakh music, well-known Kazakh kuy such as Ерке сылқым (Yerke sylkym), Сарыарқа (Saryarka), and others. We listened the history of these compositions, presented by Yeldar Vasilyev, a first-year student at the Bolashak Academy. Then the entire audience stayed still, as the gentle, flowing sounds of the dombra filled the hall…

Yeldar performed the kuy artistically on his dombra, vividly conveying the whole range of expression of the vast steppe landscapes. Faculty members and students who had gathered that day in the lecture hall No. 301 at the Building 5 of KMU could see vast Saryarka with all its parts, and experienced aesthetic enjoyment from Kazakh folk music. Our guest was rewarded with generous applause.
After that, a first-year student Ruzanna Gevorgyan went onstage, performing Armenian folk songs. Armenian ethnic group, who has a thousand-year history also has rich musical traditions. Ruzanna explained us that her people have many sad songs about difficult times—wars and invasion of enemies to their homeland, however there are also cheerful, playful melodies, one of which is called “Vai-vai”! Unusual tunes, sometimes sad and minor, sometimes joyful and major mesmerized us, and we applauded the young performer for a long time.

Finally, students from the International Medical Faculty went onstage: third-year students Sanadhiya Madhav and Ishant, also a second-year student Sanchora Vanshika, and fourth-year student Vyas Hardik. We listened to Hindi songs accompanied by guitar, performed by Madhav and Hardik. A soft and melodic song flowed from the stage of the lecture hall, immersing us in the colorful atmosphere of thousand-year history of India and its people.
The songs were accompanied by dances performed by true dancers – our student Ishant and exceptionally expressive and graceful Vanshika. We experienced the atmosphere of Indian movies of the 1970s–1980s, so beloved by many generations across the CIS countries. On stage, Ishant skillfully conveyed the meaning of the songs through facial expressions and gestures like a true artist making their stories clear to the audience even without words or translation.
At the end of the performance, the audience most of whom were students from the International Medical Faculty applauded for a long time, unwilling to let the talented performers leave the stage.

After all the performances, Olga Alekseyevna expressed gratitude to all the participants of the ethnic music event and presented small gifts to everyone who performed on stage. She also invited all present, students, young doctors (former students of our university), and faculty members present at the event to actively participate in future meetings of the local history club, as well as in other extracurricular activities organized by the Department.
Until next time!

A.B. Dolgopolov, Assistant Professor, Head of the Local History Club of the Department