THE DEVELOPMENT OF MA PROGRAMS AT NAZARBAYEV UNIVERSITY: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY by Merey Otan A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Eurasian Studies at NAZARBAYEV UNIVERSITY - SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCE 2019 1 © Copyright 2019 Merey Otan All rights reserved 2 Abstract In the two decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the musical landscape in Kazakhstan has come to include diverse localized versions of global music. The alternative soundscape of modern Kazakhstan encompasses rhythmic electronic dance sounds, hard rock, romantic and mellow indie, harsh rap, experimental rock, and other genres. Modern musicians now use an electric version of a traditional instrument, the elektro-dombyra, to perform ethnic rock. The language of performance among musicians varies from Kazakh to Russian and English. One recent phenomenon in Kazakhstan is the emergence of ‘Q-pop’, which is largely modeled on K-pop and which is rapidly gaining popularity among the local audience. Many of these performers faced some criticism for their unconventional choices of instruments, genres, and visual images. This thesis addresses the questions of what strategies these musicians themselves use to claim authenticity, and how these strategies intertwine with local discourses of national identity, language, and gender. In answering the research questions, the project uses qualitative ethnographic research methods, including in-depth interviews with musicians, producers, and cultural activists from Almaty, Astana, and Taraz, participant observation of the concerts, together with a textual and visual analysis of songs. The project will look closely at performances of the traditional qobyz player Almat Saizhan, the ethnic rock group Aldaspan, the indie group Moldanazar, and the Q-pop group Ninety One. It will also briefly discuss choices of indie bands like Molto Loud and city&shivers, rock group Far in Gate, electronic project KinRai, and a rapper Kanamar, focusing on their choices of instruments, language, and genre. The thesis will illustrate how Almat Saizhan and Aldaspan assert legitimacy by performing on ancient and modernized versions of 3 traditional instruments, by engaging with discourses of national identity, and by recreating local ideas of hegemonic masculinity. It will show how all of my participants legitimize themselves through explaining their language choices and will unravel the language ideologies implicit in these explanations. Finally, the project will outline how Moldanazar and Ninety One declare authenticity by adapting global ideologies of indie and K-pop genres to local ideas of authenticity and autonomy, and by embracing to varying extent ideas of alternative masculinity. 4 Table of content Abstract 2 Introduction 5 Chapter 1. Traditional instruments and authenticity: the elektro-dombyra and the prima-qobyz 22 ​ Chapter 2. Language choice and authenticity: Russian, English, and Kazakh 54 Chapter 3. Localized global genres and authenticity: indie and K-pop 83 Conclusion 118 Bibliography 120 5 Introduction In March 2018, a member of the Q-pop band Ninety One participated in the IV Congress of "Zhas Otan," the youth wing of the ruling party "Nur Otan." Ninety One lead singer Dulat Mukhametkaliyev was one of 16 people to win the election of candidates for members of the Zhas Otan central council back in January 2018. The meeting opened with Ninety One’s performance, after which Mukhametkaliyev gave a speech in front of the public, where he addressed the negativity towards their music in the following way: (People in) several cities, several venues were against our performance. Meaning that singing, presenting a show, being a real modern artist is not suitable for a Kazakh of the 21st century. At that time we faced a stereotype that 21st century and Kazakh mentality, culture are incompatible. I completely disagree with that. 1 Being uncultured is not suitable for a Kazakh, but being modern is. Mukhametkaliyev thus associated being modern with performing Q-pop and in turn with connecting Kazakh culture to global trends. During the speech he also claimed that Q-pop allows us to fill local show business with quality content in Kazakh language, which is important, in his opinion, as show business is a major part of the local art sphere and the main source of “Rukhani ​ Zhangiru” (spiritual modernization). Mukhametkaliyev’s speech correlated with the ​ governmental agenda proposed in the program, which also calls for local and global promotion of Kazakh language and culture, as well as for switching to the Latin alphabet. This surreal moment, in which official party representatives in suits gathered together with the unconventional members of a Q-pop band in one event, demonstrates that the government sees local music and local musicians as tools of implementing and promoting their agenda. At the 1 The speech published on Youtube by user AUROR ● NINETY ONE FSG “(рус.саб) Выступление Дулата. IV Съезд Молодежного крыла ‘Жас Отан’” Apr 9, 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-SpxvAC1hI 6 same time, musicians use this official platform to legitimize themselves as modern Kazakh musicians and to validate their image and sound in the eyes of local audiences. Much earlier, in 2012 the ethnic rock band Aldaspan presented their modernized elektro-dombyra on a national talk show, Aituga onai (Easy to say), where an audience member ​ ​ ​ and a professional musician criticized the transformation of the instrument: Who gave you the right to change at one moment the form and sound of the sacred and ancient dombyra, that remained the way it was for so many years? What are you trying to achieve with that? You said that the instrument can reach 2 fifty thousand people, but there are special devices for that, Meirambekter put a microphone to the instrument and played, for example. Secondly, if you want to make a rock sound, there is a band Ulytau that beautifully incorporates our 3 natural dombyra to the rock sound... The front man of Aldaspan, Nurzhan Toishy replied: I am not trying to spoil the dombyra to make a name for myself with elektro-dombyra, that would be stupid of me. I want to introduce our instrument for the younger generation and for the international community. The critique of elektro-dombyra suggests that the instrument is perceived as inauthentic in ​ ​ contrast to “our” “natural” acoustic dombyra. The comment demonstrates that the use of the ​ ​ acoustic dombyra helps to legitimize music as authentically Kazakh, as references to bands like ​ ​ Muzart and Ulytau illustrate. In contrast, Aldaspan seems to illustrate disruptive behaviour, even if the intentions of the band reproduce governmental ideas that pushes for promotion of Kazakh culture locally and internationally. However, since 2012 more and more musicians and audiences have accepted the elektro-dombyra, the band has become a regular participant of the annual ​ ​ international contemporary ethnic music festival The Spirit of Tengri, and recently they have 2 Reference to Meirambek Besbayev a member of the Kazakh band Muzart that performs traditional songs with acoustic dombyra. ​ 3 Aldaspantv “Айтуға оңай”, December 2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atDWYDEoRlw 7 been invited to various talk shows and programs about contemporary music in Kazakhstan and 4 the promotion of traditional music. The role of music in the modernization of Kazakh national identity is similarly evident in the official policies like the program “Rukhani Zhangiru”, which aims to modernize Kazakhstan’s ​ ​ identity in the eyes of the citizens and international community in order to facilitate the development of the country. The program consists of tasks outlined in the articles “Course towards the future: modernization of Kazakhstan’s identity” and “Seven Facets of the Great Steppe”, written by the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. The article “Course towards the future: modernization of Kazakhstan’s identity” outlines the importance of “preserving national identity” for modernization, which requires preservation of “national traditions and customs, language, music and literature, in one word, our national spirit”. The article calls for modernization of culture through the implementation of the project “Modern Kazakh Culture in the Global World,” which requires “major translation work and the promotion of our cultural achievements including books, performances, sculptures, pictures, 5 musical compositions and scientific discoveries” among other things. The second article, “Seven Facets of the Great Steppe,” contains initiatives like the creation of a gallery of great Kazakh thinkers, including musicians, as well as the project “A thousand years of steppe folklore and music”. This project requires the release of the collection of “significant works created for traditional Kazakh musical instruments: kobyz, dombra, sybyzgy, sazsyrnay and ​ 4 For a program on Kazakh TV see https://kazakh-tv.kz/ru/programms/viewArchive?id=22292, for a talk ​ ​ show on Eurasia One see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fM-LZWP15I, for a a talk show on ​ ​ Qazaqstan see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruo2lTAMkuQ 5 Nursultan Nazarbayev, Course towards the future: modernization of Kazakhstan’s identity, 12 April 2017 ​ ​ http://www.akorda.kz/en/events/akorda_news/press_conferences/course-towards-the-future-modernizatio n-of-kazakhstans-identity 8 others”, called "Ancient motifs of the Great Steppe". The article further says