Kazakh ethnic band Aldaspan to present new album at The Spirit of Tengri

Famous Kazakhstan ethnic rock band Aldaspan will present their new album at The Spirit of Tengri festival in Almaty, Tengrinews.kz reports citing the front man of the band Nurzhan Toishy.

At the festival they will present several songs that have not seen the stage before. They will also play some of their best compositions well-loved by the local public.

Speaking about the music video to the song called Zhol (Road) that they released in April 2014 that will also be a part of the new album, Toyshy said that the band came up with the storyline for the video on their own. Shooting of the video took place near Almaty, at Kapshagai lake, near Bakanas village and in Medeu area.

Aldaspan's Zhol (Road) music video

The new album, according to Toyshy, will sound slightly differently from their previous works. It is milder and more harmonious, but still retains the band's rock style. The band uses a combination of three electric dombras (Kazakh two-stringed lute-like instrument) and one bass dombra. The musicians invented and designed the contemporary version of the instruments themselves.

Aldaspan is the only band in the world that plays electric dombras (rhythm, solo and bass) instead of guitars. Nurzhan Toishy authored the idea of creating the contemporary version of the Kazakh national instrument.. He initially came up with it at the age of 15, but it was impossible to make the instrument back then. So he came back to his idea in 2009, and in 2010, with some help from acoustic dombra makers of Almaty he made his first electric dombra, but it was not good enough to be placed in a concert. So he went to Moscow and order making of this instrument there. He got a solo dombra, a rhythm dombra and a bass dombra from Moscow in February 2011. He gathered the band in April 2011 and in May 2011 they released their first English-language album Attila.

Upbeat sound of traditional instruments at The Spirit of Tengri

At the festival, Aldaspan band is not only going to present their own music project, but will also will comp other festival participants.

The festival organized by Tengri FM takes place on June 7th on the Republic Palace square on the corner of Abay Avenue and Dostyk Ave.

Musicians and singers from Japan, Buryatia, Yakutia, Austria, Ecuador and other countries will perform at the festival alongside Kazakhstani ethnic artists. All in all, the festival brings 12 bands.

Tengri FM is the organizer of the festival. Kaspi Bank is the general partner of the event. The Almaty Akimat (municipal authorities) is supporting the event.