Question 1

About:

Answer

In December 2021, together with the Bulat Utemuratov’s Foundation, we released a vinyl edition of Batyr’s first solo album, Otan Ana.

The vinyl edition was limited to 100 copies and consisted of 11 compositions, including the song with the same name “Otan Ana”, the lullaby “Uyiqta, bopem”, and the popular “Sagym duniye” and “Kayran konil-ay”.

The work on the title song of the album of the same name was conducted for the whole year, and it was the song that set the tone for the whole album. Batyr was meticulous in his work, taking into account everything, from the arrangements to the pronunciation and sequence of the songs.

Talking about his first Kazakh solo album, Batyr said,
“Discs are very difficult to sell now, because everything is in the Internet. We didn’t set a commercial goal after all. First - music, then - everything else. The Otan Ana album created jointly with Kuat Shildebayev is a dedication to the motherland. We wrote it for a year and a half, and we lived through each song. This is not slogan patriotism; one should speak about it very reverently, without shouting. Children are put to bed with the Otan Ana title song, it sounds like a lullaby. So we managed to convey something very important. When I sang this song, my son was several months old at that moment. I went to the microphone and, of course, I thought only about him, and apparently these feelings filled the song.“

Batyr saw great inspiration and power in the dombra national music, considering folk music the main inner base of a man, his platform.

Question 2

Creation:

Answer

We held a closed contest to prepare the cover, in which Kazakh artists and designers were invited to participate. Then a jury of experts, including Maksut, Batyr’s son, selected and invited the talented designer Guldana Tauassar.

“I listened to this album for a very long time and out of competition as well. I believed and still believe that Batyr's songs and his voice are strongly associated with something nostalgic for many people. Nostalgia for the old days, for the old Almaty: you listen and memories appear before your eyes. Everyone has his/her own ones. So the focus was on making the cover warm, vintage and nostalgic.“

Photographs of Nikolay Postnikov from the video clip of Batyr from Ustyurt were used for the record design. On the cover, Guldana put a picture of Batyr holding a stone with petroglyphs, because she believes that this photo shows the care and love with which Batyr treats his homeland.

Nikolay Postnikov himself, who filmed the backstage of Batyr's work, spoke about his work as follows, "The national music that Batyr is taking up is an order of magnitude higher than what is happening in the music industry today.”

Question 3

Release:

Answer

As part of the release of the record Arsen Rysdauletov took part in a special edition of the Foundation and Oyu Live, where the vinyl edition of the Otan Ana album was presented, and rare releases from the Aray, Almaty, Dos-Mukasan, Sunkar, A’Studio and many other musical groups were used.

Question 4

Answer

Together with Sentyabr.me marketplace, the Batyrkhan Shukenov Foundation released a special project by the vinyl record sales date about the history of the Otan Ana album and Batyr’s creative work. The text was written by Aysulu Toyshibekova.