The project SAMRATTAMA by Kostanay-born musician Samrat Irzhasov grew out of his personal exploration of identity.
His performances combine music, theater, and performance, and his bilingual lyrics (in Russian and Kazakh) are filled with reflection and attentive observations on the world around him.
In SAMRATTAMA’s songs, electronic music is combined with a traditional sound, creating a multilayered world where the past and the present are in a constant dialogue: throat singing over electronic noise or an electroacoustic dombra, sounding as if the music has been struck by a lightning. “I don’t know how others feel” ,Irzhasov said in an interview with Dazed, “but when old sounds meet new ones, something happens in my soul. It moves me.”
Rethinking his place on the cultural map between his Kazakh heritage and the globalized world, SAMRATTAMA invites us to look at our roots and search for new ways of translating tradition into the language of today.
