Kazakhstan selects its representative for Slavianski Bazaar 2014 singing contest

Marhaba Sabiyeva, a participant of a Kazakhstan national singing competition Kazakhstan Dauysy (Kazakhstan version of The Voice), will represent Kazakhstan at the Slavianski Bazaar 2014, an international pop song performers contest to be held on July 10-14 in Vitebsk, Belarus, Tengrinews reports.

The young singer was a discovery of The Voice contest and later was invited to take part in the auditions for the Slavianski Bazaar.

The audition commission led by Karlygash Abdukarimova, an official representative of the Slavianski Bazaar Festival in Kazakhstan, was impressed by her voice and singing techniques and selected her to represent Kazakhstan at the contest.

On the first day of the contest, the 23-year-old singer will perform Nege (Why) by Saken Musagaliyev in the Kazakh language. On the second day, she will sing the song of a popular Russian singer Larisa Dolina called Love and loneliness. And on the final day of the contest she will sing Beyonce’s Halo.

Marhaba Sabiyeva was born in 1991. She grew up in Almaty. Her both parents were musicians. She is a graduate of the academic singing class of the Tchaikovsky Almaty Music College. Currently, Marhaba Sabiyeva is a 2nd year student of the Zhurgenov Kazakh National Academy of Arts. Besides singing Marhaba composes music and writes lyrics.

The Slavianski Bazaar 2014 in Vitebsk will have two rounds: semi-final and final.

21 contestants will perform popular songs written by their native countries' composers in their native languages in the semi-finals.

Only 15 of them will pass into the final round that will be held for two days. On 1st day, the participants will perform songs of popular singers from a Slavonic country and in a Slavonic language, and on the 2nd day, they are to perform a world hit.

The jury of the 23d International Pop Song Performers Contest Slavianski Bazaar 2014 are Kim Breitburg (Russia), Yadviga Poplavskaya (Belarus), Lili Ivanova (Bulgaria), Leonid Ptashka (Israel), Tolkyn Zabirova (Kazakhstan), Samanta Tina (Latvia), Donny Montell (Lithuania), Constantin Moscovici (Moldova), Alexander Rybak (Norway), Marlow Rosado (USA), Irina Bilyk (Ukraine),

The International Festival of Arts Slavianski Bazaar in Vitebsk is an annual festival held in Vitebsk, Belarus under the auspices of the Belarusian Government since 1992. Its main program is devoted to Slavic music. The main participants are artists from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, countries of the former Yugoslavia, Poland and Bulgaria with guests from many other countries, both Slavic and non-Slavic. It is a member of the International Federation of Festival Organizations (FIDOF) since 1998.

In 2013, Kazakhstan's young singer Berdibek Kulgarayev represented Kazakhstan at the contest and received a special prize at the 22nd International Festival of Arts Slavianski Bazaar 2013 in Vitebsk, Belarus.

Reporting by Aizhan Tugelbayeva, writing by Assel Satubaldina, editing by Tatyana Kuzmina