Ahead of his upcoming concert tour, Dimash Qudaibergen appeared in the premiere episode of \u201cGlobal Mixtape,\u201d a new project from the GRAMMY studio. In a conversation with journalist Valerie Lee, Dimash reflected on his journey as a musician, discussed distinctive aspects of Kazakh culture and shared his upcoming concert plans.<\/p>\n
Dimash, as I was getting to know a little bit about your background, something that struck me was that music really felt like it was part of your destiny. Can you tell me a little bit about what it was like as a child and how you remember music first early on in your life?<\/p>\n
My parents are famous artists in our country, and they have classical training. So our home was always filled with music, from traditional Kazakh folk songs to recordings of, for example, the Three Tenors: Pl\u00e1cido Domingo, Jos\u00e9 Carreras, and Luciano Pavarotti. We listened to a lot of songs in all kinds of genres. So because of this, I think I love working in so many genres.<\/p>\n
I heard that you were performing as early as the age of two on stage with your parents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was five years old. I\u2019m 32 now, so that\u2019s almost 27 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And you can tell that you have been performing for over 20 years now at this point because you have such a great presence on stage. It\u2019s a long time to be practicing and that\u2019s why you\u2019re so great at it. I really want to hear a little bit more from your words about Kazakhstan culture and the music because I find that it\u2019s so rich and so interesting especially for so many people who are unfamiliar with it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yes, Kazakh culture is the voice of the steppe. It\u2019s music in which the dombra and the kobyz, another traditional instrument, echo the sounds of the wind and, for example, the wolf. They capture the thunder of galloping horses and the language of love. Our stories are told through k\u00fci. K\u00fci are instrumental compositions that carry history and emotion without words.<\/p>\n
\u201cMusic is a very specific language. We don\u2019t need words. And then there\u2019s the tradition of aitys\u2014how do I explain aitys? It\u2019s like a battle, a little bit like rap, for example, but also very different.<\/p>\n
So you kind of play to each other, maybe one at a time? That must be very cool. And that\u2019s what I really appreciated about the dombra: it seems like a simple instrument when you look at it. There are only two strings.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a difficult instrument. It\u2019s very difficult.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What makes it so difficult?\u00a0<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know, but I\u2019ve been learning for nearly 20 years, and I still don\u2019t think I can play very well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Well, I think that\u2019s your opinion, but a lot of people would probably say you play very well. And that\u2019s a great segue to the next thing I wanted to ask you about. What\u2019s so unique about you as a musician is that you connect with so many different cultures and communities, and you sing and speak in so many languages\u2014Russian, Chinese, French, Italian, and many more that I\u2019m probably forgetting. I think it\u2019s up to 12 languages that you sing and speak in. Tell me a little bit about where that came from.<\/p>\n
Learning songs in other languages is my way of saying thank you. It\u2019s how I show my appreciation for the love and respect people have for me, my culture, and our country. In a couple of months, we\u2019re going to start our new tour, and in every country, I want to try to perform in the local language, on their own soil. So I think I can do it. Let\u2019s see.<\/p>\n
I think you can, too. There are so many languages you can still bring into your music, and I\u2019m excited to see which countries and languages come next. Another part of your world as a musician is that you\u2019re not only an incredible singer, but also a songwriter, bringing that element into your work. Sometimes it\u2019s about love; sometimes it\u2019s about finding peace. I\u2019m sure those themes resonate with your global audience. I\u2019d love to hear more about how you think about the topics you sing and write about.<\/p>\n
My biggest mission isn\u2019t about the commercial side. It\u2019s not about earning money. The most important thing is that, as people with an audience, we need to remind people about peace and other good things: love and understanding one another. Money is not the most important thing in our lives, so I\u2019m trying to use my opportunity to remind people of that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s such a beautiful message. I think it\u2019s easy to see why people are so passionate about you as an artist. The music is great, but the message is great, too, and it\u2019s really lovely when it all comes together.<\/p>\n
In Kazakhstan, we have a saying: \u201cA person without a goal is like a bird without wings.\u201d Of course, I dreamed of performing on the world\u2019s biggest stage, and I worked toward that dream. At the same time, our great poet and philosopher Abai reminded us that there are many goals for those who seek, but few for those who believe they have already found them. I think the journey itself is the true purpose, so I just keep moving forward.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve heard that you have a lot coming up, including reaching more fans and visiting new places. You\u2019re going to South America for a tour. Could you tell me a little more about what\u2019s next for you?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not sure. I need to keep it secret, or maybe I can\u2019t say yet. But it\u2019s going to be more than 20 countries\u2014maybe more than 30, maybe more than 40. I want to do many concerts and visit countries all around the world because I love meeting my fans.<\/p>\n
In a couple of weeks, we\u2019ll show a documentary about my concert at Madison Square Garden on my YouTube channel. I want to be humble, but it was the first time an artist from a CIS country performed at such a major venue. It means a lot to me and to our country.<\/p>\n
For Dimash Qudaibergen, the voice is more than an instrument. It\u2019s a bridge between tradition and experimentation, between Kazakhstan and the wider world, and between people who may not speak the same language but understand the same emotion. As he looks ahead to his next tour, the mission continues\u2014one audience, one city, and one song at a time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ahead of his upcoming concert tour, Dimash Qudaibergen appeared in the premiere episode of \u201cGlobal Mixtape,\u201d a new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[179614,146,85,46,409,40],"class_list":["post-646975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-dimash-world","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music","tag-top-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}