London welcomes Kazakh performer Maqpalsher’s concert

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LONDON. KAZINFORM AUA (Air) conceptual concert by Kazakh poet, composer, and performer Maqpal Zhumabay took place at London’s Brunel Museum with the support of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in the United Kingdom, Kazinform learnt from Kazakh Embassy in London.

Mrs. Zhumabay merges poetry and music, offering new perspective on contemporary literature and music. Her oeuvre is based on philosophical thoughts about human existence and delivers the depths of the human soul. She identifies her work as Maqpalsher, and has a specific musical and poetical concept.

«Sher means both «poetry» in ancient Kazakh language and «sadness, lament» in contemporary Kazakh. Maqpal is a word for ‘tender, velvet’, so Maqpalsher is both ‘tender poetry’ and ‘velvet sadness’. I think poetry and music are inseparable, every poem has its own inherent music, one just has to hear it. My compositions are not music that goes with its lyrics, it is poetry that found its music,’ Maqpal explains.

Mrs. Zhumabay published two albums of music and poetry – Maqpalsher and Zhalgyzym (My One and Only). She previously performed three conceptual concerts, Maqpalsher (2013-2017), Zhalgyzym (2017), and АUA (2018) in Kazakhstan.

The AUA concert’s programme prepared for London is unique in that it offers an insight into the author’s quests on the meaning of existence and the human spirit. Maqpal Zhumabay’s poems have been translated into English by a British poet David Cooke, and the English translations have been demonstrated to the public during the concert.

«I am familiar with Makpal’s music already, I’ve seen some of her videos on YouTube, and I really liked them. It’s wonderful to come and see her in the flesh in London. I’m so pleased that she’s come here for her first concert outside Kazakhstan. I think she has a bright future. Unfortunately, she doesn’t sing in English, but she has such a beautiful voice, and the music just transcends everything. So, I really hope that she can find her way to break through here,» said Robert Grenall from the BBC.

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