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Central Asian Music

Put the Needle on the Record: Anvar Kalandarov on Rescuing Soviet Central Asia’s Lost Sounds

For decades, some of Soviet Central Asia’s most inventive recordings survived in an awkward limbo. The music existed, but often on ageing vinyl, scattered tapes, private collections, and copies traded amongst collectors at increasingly extortionate prices. The musicians themselves could be difficult to trace, while the legal ownership of recordings made under the Soviet system was rarely straightforward. Tashkent-based archivist, collector, and producer Anvar Kalandarov has made that ambiguity part of his work. He runs Maqom Soul Records, an Uzbek label devoted to bringing overlooked Central Asian recordings back into circulation. His work ranges from Soviet-era jazz and Uyghur folk rock to music that resists easy classification altogether. [caption id="attachment_57434" align="aligncenter" width="1740"] Anvar Kalandarov holding Synthesizing the Silk Roads; image courtesy of the subject.[/caption] Kalandarov was one of the curators behind Synthesizing the Silk Roads: Uzbek Disco, Tajik Folktronica, Uyghur Rock & Tatar Jazz from 1980s Soviet Central Asia, released by Ostinato Records in 2024. The Times of Central Asia previously traced how wartime evacuation, Soviet recording infrastructure, and Tashkent’s role as a Silk Road crossroads helped create the unusual musical environment captured on that compilation. His more recent projects include Digging Central Asia: Musical Archaeology Along the Silk Road, a collection spanning recordings from the 1970s to the early 1990s, and Maqom Soul’s reissue of Oleg Gotskozik Quintet’s Oriental Suite. Originally issued by Melodiya, the Soviet state record label, in 1979, Oriental Suite fused jazz with Central Asian modal ideas and was recorded at Tashkent’s Gramrecord studio. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTQgbjMNO74 The work is a fusion of archaeology and restoration, with the twists of a mystery story. Kalandarov spoke to The Times of Central Asia about how these recordings are found and given a new lease on life decades after they were first made. TCA: When you decide to reissue a Soviet-era Central Asian recording, where does the process usually begin, and how do you locate the best surviving source material when original masters may be scattered or missing? Kalandarov: It’s different every time. Sometimes I come across the music first; it catches my attention, and only then does the real work begin - finding out who recorded it, where the musicians or their families are today, who holds the rights, and whether the original recordings still exist. In a way, every project becomes a small detective story, because you’re often looking for something that most people have already forgotten about. It’s the same with master tapes. Some recordings have survived in our state archives, while others are still with the musicians or their families, and sometimes you have to look for completely different sources. Of course, the ideal situation is to find the original master, but that isn’t always possible. Tracking down the best surviving source can become a major part of the reissue process itself. [caption id="attachment_57431" align="aligncenter" width="1460"] Anvar Kalandarov; image courtesy of the subject.[/caption] TCA: How difficult is it to establish who holds the rights to these recordings today, particularly when musicians, composers, Soviet state labels, archives, and...

Stand-Up Comedy

Interview: Kazakhstan’s Dinara Kerey on Borat, the Boundaries of Humor, and International Stand-Up

In just four years, Dinara Kerey has gone from performing at open mics to staging her own stand-up shows across Europe, North America, and Central Asia, including a tour of her solo show Crazy Eurasian. Born in Kazakhstan, she left the country at 17, studied in South Korea and the United States, and now lives in Berlin, where she works in IT and performs comedy in English, Russian, and German. At a show in Vancouver, she found an immediate connection with Kazakhs living abroad. In other rooms, she says, her first jokes must explain that she is from Kazakhstan. The Times of Central Asia spoke with Kerey about cultural boundaries in comedy, Borat’s portrayal of Kazakhstan, the fear of being seen, and the cost of building a career largely on her own. TCA: Dinara, you sometimes perform eight or nine shows a month and have appeared in Kazakhstan, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Turkey, though you’ve only been doing stand-up for four years. Do you feel popular? Dinara Kerey: For me, this is just the beginning. My schedule is busy because I want it to be busy. I organize all my shows myself, so it’s entirely up to me. Right now, for example, I’m heading home to Berlin after touring Kazakhstan, where I did an English-language show for 150 people. TCA: Were most of the people in the audience foreigners or locals? Kerey: There were a lot of foreigners, but most of the audience was Kazakh. They were well-educated, English-speaking young people. And there was this funny thing; after the show, a lot of them came up to me and we kept speaking English, even though both sides knew perfectly well that we could speak another language. Maybe some of them just wanted the practice. TCA: What kind of reception do you get back home? And where have you found particularly warm audiences? Kerey: The reception at home is good, especially in Almaty, which is nice. But I’d also single out Vancouver. More than 90 people came to my show there, and around 40 of them were Kazakhs who had been living there for a long time. I’ve lived abroad for 14 years myself, so there was an immediate connection with them, this shared relatability. Pretty much all my jokes landed really well. I guess we have similar backgrounds and look at life from the same angles: as immigrants, as Kazakhs, as Asians, and ultimately as post-Soviet people, or Eastern Europeans, as people tend to say now. All those different parts of me matched up with them. TCA: Did the material resonate with the other Canadians as well? Kerey: Yes. The people who came to my show had similar experiences. They were very well-traveled and had also moved from country to country before finding a place they could call home. I think the difference was especially noticeable because in Canada, more than anywhere else I’ve been, people celebrate their differences. They may be Canadian by passport, but nobody demands...

Asian Games

Kazakhstan’s Yasmina Toxanbayeva Stripped of Asian Games Gold Over Shoes

Kazakhstan’s Yasmina Toxanbayeva crossed the line first in the women’s marathon race walk at the Asian Games in Japan but was later disqualified over her footwear. The Kazakhstan Athletics Federation is challenging the decision, which followed a finding that her shoe model was not on World Athletics’ approved list. She completed the 42.195-kilometer race at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya on September 27 in 3 hours, 22 minutes, and 20 seconds. China’s Danzengquzong finished nearly four minutes behind in 3:26:09, while her compatriot Ma Li recorded 3:32:26. According to Kazakhstan’s National Olympic Committee, officials checked the leading finishers’ shoes for compliance with World Athletics regulations. The model worn by Toxanbayeva was not on the approved list. Photographs and information about the footwear were sent to World Athletics, and the medal ceremony was postponed pending a ruling. World Athletics determined that the shoes did not meet its requirements. The Olympic Council of Asia confirmed her disqualification on September 28. The revised standings awarded Danzengquzong gold, Ma Li silver, and Japan’s Yukiko Umeno, who had initially finished fourth, bronze. The Kazakhstan Athletics Federation challenged the decision. It said Toxanbayeva had competed in ASICS shoes, but acknowledged that the specific model she wore was not on the World Athletics approved list. The federation also said her shoes had been inspected before the race and she had been cleared to start. The federation said it had filed a protest and a complaint against the decision and would continue to defend Toxanbayeva’s interests. It also acknowledged its own responsibility for ensuring compliance with competition regulations and technical requirements. World Athletics, the international governing body for track and field, maintains a database of shoes approved for competition. Athletes must use an approved model for the relevant discipline. Approval of other shoes made by the same manufacturer does not make an unlisted model eligible. The current Athletic Shoe Regulations were approved on March 19, 2026, and took effect on April 20. A similar footwear controversy had already affected the medal standings at the current Asian Games. Iranian heptathlete Fatemeh Mohitizadeh was disqualified after officials ruled that the shoes she used during the long jump did not comply with World Athletics regulations. Her disqualification moved Kazakhstan’s Alina Chistyakova from fourth to third, giving her the bronze medal. The Kazakhstan Athletics Federation said that regardless of the outcome of its challenge, it would pay Toxanbayeva the prize money she would have received for winning the event from its own funds. “For us, Yasmina is the champion. The Federation will continue to support her,” it said. As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, Kazakh cyclist Alexey Lutsenko won the sixth Asian Games gold medal of his career at Aichi-Nagoya, setting a national record for the most Asian Games titles won by a Kazakh athlete.

Chess

Kazakhstan’s Timur Turlov Elected FIDE President

Timur Turlov, founder and CEO of Freedom Holding Corp. and president of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation, has been elected president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE). At 38, he became the second-youngest person to lead FIDE and the first representative of Kazakhstan to hold the position. The election took place on September 26 in Samarkand during the FIDE General Assembly. Turlov defeated German businessman Wadim Rosenstein in the second round by 110 votes to 85. In the first round, Turlov received 96 votes and Rosenstein 76; a third German candidate, Jan Henric Buettner, received 20. Former world champion Viswanathan Anand was his running mate for deputy president. Turlov became FIDE’s eighth president, succeeding Arkady Dvorkovich, a former Russian deputy prime minister who led the organization for two terms from 2018 to 2026. “We are all one family and we will continue working as one. This is a great responsibility and a vote for a better future of our sport,” Turlov said after the results were announced. Born in 1987, Turlov has headed the Kazakhstan Chess Federation since January 2023. He chairs the Turkic Chess Association, which brings together the chess federations of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. He is also the founding president of the International School Chess Federation, established in September 2024. Turlov was already a prominent figure in international chess as a major sponsor. According to FIDE, Freedom Holding Corp. allocated around $30 million to chess development in Kazakhstan over three years and supported more than 20 major international FIDE tournaments. Earlier in September, the company became General Partner of the 2026 FIDE World Championship Match. Freedom Holding Corp. is a Nasdaq-listed financial services group whose businesses include brokerage, banking, insurance, telecommunications, and digital services. Turlov founded the business in 2008, and its shares began trading on Nasdaq in 2019. According to FIDE, its market capitalization was approaching $11 billion at the time of the election. Turlov’s election coincided with major results for Central Asian teams at the Olympiad. Uzbekistan won the Open section in Samarkand after defeating Ukraine 2.5-1.5 in the final round. It was the Uzbek team’s second Olympiad gold after its victory in Chennai in 2022. India took silver and Germany bronze. Turlov’s election coincided with further success for Central Asian chess, as Uzbekistan won the open competition in Samarkand after defeating Ukraine 2.5-1.5 in the final round. It was the Uzbek team’s second Olympiad gold after its victory in Chennai in 2022. India took silver and Germany bronze. In the women’s competition, China took gold, while Kazakhstan won silver for the second consecutive Olympiad after a 2-2 draw with Poland in the final round. Kazakhstani player Elnaz Kaliakhmet won individual gold on board four, and India took bronze.

AI Education

Opinion: Kazakhstan Is Betting on AI to Close Its Rural Education Gap. Is the Infrastructure Ready?

PISA 2022 exposed a persistent divide between Kazakhstan’s urban and rural schools. Students in rural schools trailed their urban counterparts by 18 points in mathematical literacy and 26 points in science. The gaps had narrowed since 2018, but they remained substantial. Kazakhstan is now betting that artificial intelligence can help narrow them further. On September 1, the government launched a pilot project in ten small rural schools in the Pavlodar and Kyzylorda regions. More than 50 fourth-grade students are taking part. The project is expected to expand in stages to about 2,600 small rural schools by July 2028. The potential is considerable. Students in remote communities can gain access to stronger teaching, more varied educational material, and learning tools that respond to their individual needs. But AI will not close Kazakhstan’s rural education gap by itself. Its success will depend on something less glamorous: reliable infrastructure and teachers who are properly prepared to use it. What AI Can Do, and What Distance Learning Does President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has argued that digital technology can help reduce differences in educational opportunity between cities and the regions. In his 2025 State of the Nation Address, he called for a small-school model based on distance learning and AI that would give rural students access to high-quality educational materials. The distinction between those two elements is important. In the current Qazaq Digital Mektebi model, experienced teachers in Astana deliver live online lessons from a specially equipped studio, while local teachers remain in the classroom to support students. That is distance learning. The AI layer has a different role: it analyzes students’ responses, identifies gaps in their knowledge, and helps teachers determine who needs additional support. This combination could be particularly valuable in small rural schools. Kazakhstan has about 2,600 such schools, and some classes have only five or six students. Recruiting an experienced specialist for every subject is difficult in many remote communities. Online teaching can widen access to expertise, while AI can help make that teaching more responsive to individual students. Used well, AI can assess a student’s pace, identify areas of weakness, and adjust exercises to an appropriate level. That could help move schools away from a uniform approach in which every student receives the same material regardless of progress. It can also give local teachers more information about where additional attention is needed. But this should not be confused with replacing teachers. The most promising feature of the pilot is precisely that it combines technology with human instruction. AI can process patterns in student performance, but teachers still have to interpret those signals, understand the child, and decide how to respond. Infrastructure Comes Before Ambition That model depends on infrastructure that cannot be taken for granted. Around 67% of Kazakhstan’s schools are in rural areas, and roughly half of those are classified as small-enrollment schools. Digital education therefore has to work across a large and geographically dispersed network. Internet access has improved significantly, but connection quality remains uneven. In August 2025, Prime...

Football

Astana to Host Central Asia’s First UEFA Super Cup

Astana will host the 2028 Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Super Cup, the first such match to be held in Kazakhstan or anywhere in Central Asia. To stage one of the major fixtures of the European club season, Astana Arena will have to replace its recently installed artificial turf with natural grass and undergo further upgrades. UEFA’s Executive Committee, the governing body of European soccer, selected Astana at a meeting in Thessaloniki on September 15. The match will bring together the winners of the 2027/28 Champions League and Europa League. The Super Cup is played as a single match between the holders of UEFA’s two leading men’s club trophies. In 2027, it will be staged at the Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam. A year later, the trophy will be contested in Central Asia for the first time. For Kazakhstan, the decision follows several years of work on hosting a major UEFA fixture. In the bidding process launched in 2025, the country sought to host the Conference League finals, the third tier of UEFA men’s club competition, in 2028 and 2029. Those finals ultimately went to Turin and Budapest, respectively, while UEFA separately awarded Astana the 2028 Super Cup. Kazakhstan Football Federation (KFF) General Secretary Scott Munn said the federation had been working on the project for several years. Astana Arena has a capacity of around 30,000 and holds UEFA Category 4 status, the organization’s highest stadium classification. Kazakhstan’s national team regularly plays there, and in the 2015/16 season FC Astana hosted its Champions League group-stage opponents at the stadium. Kieran Maguire, a soccer finance expert and lecturer at the University of Liverpool Management School, sees Kazakhstan’s experience in hosting international matches as one of the strengths of its bid. UEFA’s familiarity with the stadium and the federation’s experience organizing European fixtures would reduce operational risks, but Maguire said the bid’s quality was ultimately decisive. A major renovation of the stadium was completed only recently. The arena closed for repairs in 2024, with work covering the roof and its retractable mechanism, engineering and fire-safety systems, screens, media systems, and ticketing infrastructure. The old pitch was also replaced with new heated artificial turf, which received UEFA certification in December 2024. Kazakh media reported that around KZT 15 billion, or about $28 million, was allocated for the renovation. In January 2025, the Astana City Maslikhat, the capital’s elected representative body, reported that the renovation had been completed in line with UEFA recommendations. Ayan Alzhanov, head of the KFF’s International Relations Department, said UEFA specialists will conduct another inspection of the arena and determine what additional work is required. “Astana Arena has UEFA Category 4 status. Our national team has played many official matches here, and Champions League games have been held here. So UEFA knows our stadium," Alzhanov said. The cost of preparing for the Super Cup has not yet been announced. It is also unclear whether the natural-grass pitch will remain after the match. Another challenge is distance. Astana is considerably...