Islam Satyrov shared his successes and plans for the future
In late February, the famous Nogai composer and performer visited the office of the music publishing house “Sound”. Islam Satyrov. He said that he has recently been working on recording a new album. Arslanbek Sultanbekov in Turkey. Our music editor Arthur Egazarov talked with Islam on this topic.
— Islam, now you are working in Istanbul, with your mentor and teacher. Tell us how you got involved in this project?
— One of the largest production companies in Turkey offered its assistance in recording Arslanbek Sultanbekov’s new album. It will include 10 compositions in Turkic languages, and Asau offered me cooperation not only in creating melodies, but also in performance. After the release of the album, we are planning a tour of Turkish cities. Also, the same company will shoot several videos for the compositions included in the project.
— How many people participate in the recording of the album?
— Now Asau and I are writing the main parts and arranging them using various orchestral samples. Later, we will use them to record the orchestra live. Although some Turkish instruments sound great in samples, so perhaps we will mix them. The team that will be involved in the recording will most likely go on tour with us. This is also a new experience for me because the entire rehearsal process is my responsibility. I act as a sound producer.
— The project promises to be very interesting! But won't the language barrier be an obstacle?
- Well, firstly, I know a little Turkish, at a conversational level, and secondly, now there is a conversation that Arslanbek and I will study with a teacher. That is, while we are writing the album, we will simultaneously study the language.
— Despite the fact that the new project takes a lot of time and effort, does this not stop you from giving concerts?
— Yes, we had a performance on February 14, before that we gave a concert in the south of Turkey. Now we are planning a trip to Kazakhstan, then we have an event in Stockholm. Everywhere we play Arslanbek Sultanbekov’s program, but with 3 people.
— How does the public react to eclecticism?
- The audience likes it. They mainly go to one song - “Dombra”. And they always ask her to perform an encore, shouting out the title. There has never been a single concert where this composition was performed only once.
— Is the foreign public very different from ours?
- Yes, it’s different. They are used to something different. For example, in Turkey no one performs even at minus, this surprised me wildly! If you go on stage, you either play by yourself, or a live group of musicians comes with you. Anything else is unacceptable to the audience. They prefer just dombra and a live voice to a backing track with many samples.
The second difference is in the culture of perception of the concert. People there are more open, interactive is going on, and this is not always familiar to us. In our country, more and more officially passes.
They have a separate topic with photos after the concert - as soon as the performance ends, they all run onto the stage and spend forty minutes, you spend an hour on it.
— You said that you now plan to work for the Turkish public with your personal projects?
- Yes, there are such thoughts. To begin with, I want to record the song “Kaytar meni” in Turkish, and then a remake of one of the compositions, the lyrics to which were written in past centuries.
— We sincerely wish you success in this project and in other endeavors! Thank you for the conversation, and we remind our listeners that all of Islam Satyrov’s compositions are available for download on all digital storefronts.
