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“We are thankful to the Kazakh people for their support and assistance. We are also pleased to congratulate our fraternal Kazakh nation on its national holiday — Republic Day — an event we are holding near the ‘Yurt of Indestructibility,’ which has become a significant project, particularly in fostering cultural dialogue between our peoples. Today, many young people, residents of Kyiv, and guests of the city have gathered here. They love Kazakhstan, your people, and your culture,” said Sergey Nagornyak.
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The Kyiv Academic Municipal Wind Orchestra performed the national anthems of Ukraine and Kazakhstan, as well as Ukrainian folk songs.
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The vocal ensemble of folk songs “Veselat” presented the “Song of Friendship,” dedicated to the friendship between the Ukrainian and Kazakh peoples, featuring lines in the Kazakh language. The lyrics were penned by Dmitry Lutsenko, with music by Igor Shamo; they are also the authors of the text and music for the anthem of Kyiv.
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Victoria Myakota, a senior lecturer and head of the folk singing department at the Kyiv Children's School of Arts No. 2 named after M.I. Verikivsky, and the leader of the vocal ensemble “Veselad,” shared that the ensemble participated in the celebration of Nauryz in spring (this event was also held near the “Yurt of Indestructibility”), which inspired the idea to learn a Kazakh song.
“I recalled the ‘Song of Brotherhood,’ composed by I. Shamo to the words of D. Lutsenko. I first heard and sang it in the National Honored Academic Ukrainian Folk Choir named after Hryhoriy Veriovka in the late 90s. The Veriovka Choir performed it at our opera theater alongside a choir from Kazakhstan that was visiting Kyiv at the time. I remember the surprise of the Kazakh choir artists at our interpretation of this piece. It is written like a true folk song. When I suggested to the girls in the ensemble to learn the song, they eagerly got to work. We hope to translate one verse into Kazakh and sing it in Kazakh...,” Victoria Myakota shared.
Students from the Kyiv School of Ukrainian Dance “Barvinok” performed the Kazakh dance “Kamajay.” The school’s director, Tatiana Levchuk, mentioned that the movements in Kazakh dances differ from Ukrainian ones, so the girls had to study the new hand movements very carefully.
“We learned to move smoothly and approached the task very responsibly,” Tatiana Levchuk shared.
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Collectives from the Cherkasy region, the birthplace of the renowned Ukrainian poet and artist Taras Shevchenko, also came to congratulate the Kazakh people.
Taras Shevchenko spent 10 years in exile in Kazakhstan. He often depicted the Kazakh people, their lifestyle, and culture in both his paintings and literary works. From the city of Zvenyhorodka, where the “Taras Yurt” was established this year as part of the “Yurt of Indestructibility” project, the folk song ensemble “Zaspiv” arrived. The artists performed several songs, including those with lyrics by Taras Shevchenko. Additionally, the amateur folk choir “Rodyna” from Cherkasy also performed Ukrainian folk songs.
Guests at the event enjoyed Kazakh tea, baursaks, and sweets.