APRIL 17 2024 (The Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan banned the Chinese social media app TikTok because lawmakers said that it was polluting young people. Its security forces, the GKNB, said that TikTok harms the “health of children, their intellect, mental, spiritual and moral development”. Kazakhstan said it is considering a similar ban.
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— This story was published in issue 565 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on April 23 2024
— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2024
ALMATY/MARCH 14 2021 (The Bulletin) — A 20-year-old DJ from Aksu, near Pavlodar in Kazakhstan, won the country’s first Grammy award, considered to be perhaps the top accolade in music (March 14).
Imanbek Zeikenov won the Best Remixed Recording category for his remix of Saint Jhn’s 2016 song ‘Roses’.
“The best thing for a musician is to get a Grammy, we made it!” Imanbek, as he is known, said.
Kazakh President Kassym Jomart Tokayev sent his congratulations, highlighting the pride that Kazakhs, more used to winning boxing, wrestling and horse riding tournaments than music awards, have taken in the win.
“His work has demonstrated that gifted young people from Kazakhstan can reach great heights,” Mr Tokayev’s spokesman said.
Imanbek released his remix of ‘Roses’ onto Russian social media channels and then watched as it went viral. In March 2020 it rose to the top of the British singles charts.
Spotify, the music streaming app, said that it had been played 1.2b times.
He has since left his job working for Kazakh Railways to concentrate on making music.
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— This story was published in issue 475 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on March 15 2021
— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021
MARCH 2 2021 (The Bulletin) — Looking to squeeze more propaganda out of its victory in a war last year for control of the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijani officials said that they are already in talks with Turkey to produce a film on the war. In an interview with a Turkish TV channel, Azerbaijani culture minister Anar Kerimov said that it was important to “celebrate the courage of the soldiers”.
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— This story was published in issue 474 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on March 5 2021
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JULY 28 (The Bulletin) — The producers of a film showing corruption by Kyrgyz officials said that the authorities tried to block the film’s release. Meken shows a stand-off between a Chinese mining company and Kyrgyz villagers. It also shows bribes being paid by Chinese workers to Kyrgyz government officials for breaking various environmental rules. Although the film is fiction, it is rooted in real life events. The director of Meken, Medetbek Jailov, said that the film was supposed to be aired earlier in the year but was blocked because the security service had demanded that corruption scenes were removed. Instead, the producers will release the film, for free, on Youtube.
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— This story was published in issue 455 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on July 31 2020.
— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020
JAN. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia is bracing itself for a major celebrity visit when Kim Kardashian, a Los Angeles-based reality TV star, and her sisters travel to Yerevan later this year. US media announced that the sisters were planning a visit to their ancestral homeland.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 214, published on Jan. 14 2015)
JULY 15 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — US pop diva Jennifer Lopez reportedly earned $10m for a private performance last month in front of Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and his guests. Ms Lopez sang happy birthday for Mr Berdymukhamedov. Turkmenistan has a woeful human rights record. Human rights lobbyists criticised her performance.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 144, published on July 22 2013)
NOV. 12 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a meeting in October, Uzbek security services told the country’s leading artists, writers, musicians and film makers that religious references were banned from their work, the opposition uznews.net website reported. Uzbekistan is one of the most repressive regimes in the world. It is especially wary of radical Islam.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 65, published on Nov. 16 2011)