Batyr met musicians Baygali Serkebayev, Bulat Syzdykov and Vladimir Miklosic. In the same year he was invited as a saxophonist to the famous Kazakh ensemble - Aray.

“When Aray was already staffed, we heard that a saxophonist, a talented novice musician – Batyr – had arrived from Leningrad. We invited him to a rehearsal. He came not to get in to the famous ensemble, and not because we had the best sound – at the time we had just acquired the best equipment in the Soviet Union. Batyr came for music. The level of the works we performed, our musical taste – that’s what was important to him”.

“I remember the first time he showed up in our rehearsal room at the Palace of the Republic. It was a gorgeous sunny day, Batyr was wearing a snow-white T-shirt, and we called him ‘Sunny Boy’. When he started playing, we knew this man was deeply aware of what he was doing. It was the play of a mature musician, even though he was still a young student at the time.”

Since 1979, Aray ensemble accompanied the Honored Artist of the Kazakh SSR Roza Rymbayeva. The director and artistic manager was her husband Taskyn Okapov. Aray ensemble performed music in the jazz-rock style. By 1982 the original line-up had disintegrated and at the initiative of the singer Baygali Serkebayev, a graduate of the conservatory, assembled a new line-up: Baygaly Serkebayev (keyboards), Vladimir Miklosic, Najib Vildanov (vocals), Bulat Syzdykov (guitar), Batyrkhan Shukenov (saxophone), Sagnay Abdullin (drums). In 1983 Aray won the title of the winner of the seventh All-Union Contest of Variety Artists. The band recorded two vinyl discs – “Poyot Roza Rymbayeva” (1985), “S toboy, muzika” (1986) – and a collection of independent pieces, which was released by the “Melody” company only on audio cassettes.

“We try to combine the features of Kazakh national melody with the harmonic variety of jazz and the high dynamics of rock rhythms. We emphasize the instrumental part of the pieces, leaving each musician room for improvisation. But at the same time, we are very concerned that the music should be comprehensible and understandable to young listeners. Our collaboration with Roza Rymbayeva is still going on, but more and more compositions by the band members themselves are included in the repertoire of the concert program”.

“It was 1982. We met in Moscow on the stairs of a fancy studio where Aray was recording. The guys were having a lively conversation about touring and travelling. Meeting such musicians was very significant for me. Batyr wasn’t among them at the time, he was recording a track. Soon he came out on the stairs. And of course I recognized him, not because I had seen him somewhere, but because he was so precisely him that it was impossible not to notice. He was very simply dressed and very modest. Immediately I wanted to talk to him, to make friends with him. And so it happened, little by little the conversation led us to Stevie Wonder, whom, as it turned out, we were both very fond of. I took my harmonica out of my pocket and played a few notes. Batyr was immediately inspired and started singing…and that was our first consonance. After this, the conversation became even more colorful and lively. A very light and calm energy came from him, and one wanted to be with him endlessly. Incredible simplicity and availability, great erudition and great love for the traditions of the native land – all this was very close to both of us. But soon he was called away and we parted with a warm goodbye. We were left with the clear feeling that we would definitely meet again and there would be a long and beautiful life in which we could both sing and play together. It’s such an incredible person to be parted from. You go on your roads in life, but he’s always with you.”

Batyr and his sworn friend Evygeniy Kalistratov noticed a young musician Baglan Sadvakassov who was playing in Dos Mukasan. They came in to listen to the band rehearse, and saw a modest boy playing somewhere behind. He noticed the musicians in the hall and when it was time to play a solo, he got shy and turned his back to them. He played that way, standing in the back of the stage. Baygali Serkebayev recalls now, when he began working with Baglan together in Almaty band, he was struck by the young guitarist’s talent – he was self-taught and an avid Beetles-man. The song “Belaya Reka” has only three chords, and Baglan could only play two of them when he recorded it. But after learning the third one, he played it in a way that no one else could, because he had an exceptional drive, sense of rhythm, and energy.

After the Conservatory, Batyr served two years in the Soviet Army in the 12th Orchestra of the Central Asian Military District Headquarters.

“At the time I, according to all traditions, was considered an old-timer, and the newcomer Batyr was a musician in the Aray band, which had been awarded the title of Laureate of the All-Union Pop Art Contest. It seemed that our meeting was impossible. I remember one weekend in June, a “scoop” (a rookie. – Ed.) runs into the barracks and shouts: “Guys! There’s that one! He’s on TV all the time!” Batyrkhan gave us an impromptu concert. He sang and played. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the songs he sang then, but I remember very well the extraordinary aura that gradually formed in the hall. My fellow soldiers slowly stopped smoking, then stopped whispering and talking… Their eyes became different. Half an hour into the concert, I turned back – there were more people and their eyes had changed! “It’s amazing what good music does to a person”, I thought then.”