Anything but Borat

This week, I looked at music from Kazakhstan! Previously I'd only heard of this country due to the film Borat (which I doubt is the greatest of interpretations) and as mentions in the TV quiz show Pointless. So looking at a couple of musical acts from this country is as educational as it is enjoyable!


ULYTAU
This instrumental band make use of violin and dombra alongside the more common setup of keyboard, guitar, bass and drums, so their music has an unusual edge to it!
They seem to be categorised as folk metal, though of course with the inclusion of the dombra they have a real traditional twist to their sound.
ULYTAU's music videos are a mixture of typical metal band videos, and others that tell a story, often with historical/traditional dress, battles, wolves, and a real tribal feel.
As I'm used to music with vocals, I missed hearing them in the first couple of tracks that I listened to,
but soon got used to this instrumental music and enjoyed listening!
ULYTAU Official Website



КешYou (Kesh You)
Active since 2006, this all-girl pop group have gone through several lineup changes.
Their music is upbeat and catchy. I'm not a huge fan of pop music but I really enjoyed listening to this group! They have really strong voices that are really shown off to their best in their music.
Visually they have a real combination of typical pop, traditional dress and a costumey element to their style, which I really liked!
Their music videos are pretty varied in the same way as their style, though similar in that they mostly feature the group singing and dancing rather than the images telling a story.
Though they sing in Kazakh (which I don't understand, obviously), I found their music enjoyable and would recommend it to anyone who likes listening to pop!
(Can't find official site for this group, booo!)

That's it for this week! Do give these acts a listen!