Countries: Kazakhstan. An ABU member country

Kazakhstan is a country located in Central Asia. It's the ninth largest country in the world, and has got a population of 16 millions.
The capital, and second largest city of the country is Astana, but the economic centre of the country is still located in Almaty, the biggest city and former capital of the country.
Two languages are spoken in the country, the kazakh language which is the official one, and Russian, which is understood by everyone.

National Broadcaster.

Kazakstan has got two broadcasters as members of the ABU (Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union). The Khabar agency, which is the biggest and the most powerful one, and Qazmedia Ortaligi, that is also a big broadcaster.

Khabar agency started its broadcasts in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union. In the start, the channel was specialised in news reports, but the programming has changed, and now the entertainment shows are also seen in the channel.

Entertaiment industry.

The kazakh music scene started emerging in the country after the fall of the USSR. At first, the compositions in kazakh language were few, due to the large influence that the russian pop and rock music has had in the audience.

The revival of the ethninc elements in the music industry started also affecting the kazakh language pop music with instruments such as Dombyra and Qobyz, which is are ancient music instruments that were used during the nomadic past of the kazakh people.

Nowadays, the kazakh pop industry has grown, thanks to the appearance of national music labels, and prestigious producers such as the popular Bayan Esentayeva.

Reality shows have also had an impacti in the local music industry, which have given the Kz-Pop, some of the most popular singers of the countries.

From left to right, some kazakh artists who could represent Kazakhstan in the ABU TV Song Festival: Kairat Nurtas, Zhanar Dughalova, Kesh-yoU, Möldir Äwelbekova and Dastan Orazbekov and Aygül Ïmambayeva.

ABU Song Festival Future.

Khabar Agency is member of the ABU (Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union). After the second edition of the ABU TV Song Festival, held in Hanoi, Qazmedia Ortaligi, showed interest in order to take part in the festival, but finally the broadcaster has never sent an entry to the ABU Festivals. In fact, this country has only taken parti in the Turkvision song contest, which won in 2014. 

Although the country has never participated in the ABU TV Song Festival, or the ABU Radio Song Festival, like many other countries, It has got the necessary potential to catch the attention of the audience. It could also win the festival if in the 2015 edition it turned into a competitive event.

Venues

Both Astana, and Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan, are elegible cities in order to organise the ABU TV Song Festival, or the ABU Radio Song Festival. Astana has got two important concert halls and theatres that could be used as venues for both events.

Astana state auditorium is one of the biggest concert halls of the country. It hosted the national final for the Turkvision Song Contest in 2013. (Song Festival in which the independent countries and autonomous regions of turkic heritage, take part). It could also be a perfect venue for the ABU TV Song Festival because its large number of seats (Over 3.000).

The Palace of the Republic in Almaty is also a suitable venue for any of the ABU Song Festivals. This congress halls has also been the host place for important musical, cultural and political events.