While mainstream Russian pop artists have found themselves “canceled” in other Central Asian countries following Moscow’s brutal invasion in Ukraine, at least three will be on stage to ring in independence day in Kyrgyzstan on August 31.
And not everyone is happy about that.
As one activist put it: Who did Kyrgyzstan gain its independence from, if not Moscow?
But Kyrgyz officials all the way up to President Sadyr Japarov have told critics to keep a lid on their complaints, which means that Russia's 57-year-old stadium favorite Filip Kirkorov will be bringing his inimitably camp brand of pop to Bishkek on August 31.
All that remains to be seen now is what outfit the bearded diva will choose to wear.
'We Didn’t Pay For It.' So Who Did?
More relevant questions seem destined to remain unanswered.
In a typically dismissive response to public criticism surrounding the booking of the artists, Japarov took aim at "short-sighted politicians" and their supporters.
"Remember when people would say that no one recognizes us and no one wants to come to our country? Now the situation has changed: all countries have begun to reckon with Kyrgyzstan,” Japarov told the state media outlet Kabar on August 28.
Along with Kirkorov, Russian artists Stas Mikhailov and Lusia Chebotina will perform in Kyrgyzstan’s Ala-Too Square, as well as turn-of-the millennium stars Ingrid Alberini (In-Grid) of Italy and Staffan Olsson (Bosson) of Sweden.
Since the Culture Ministry announced the lineup earlier this week, social-media invective has focused on why Kyrgyz artists were not being afforded top billing on the country’s most politically important public holiday, the cost of bringing the artists to Bishkek, and the Russian singers' perceived support for the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Regarding the second complaint, Japarov said that “[the artists] seemingly aren’t accepting fees -- God bless them,” without offering any further information about sponsorship of the event.
Few believe in the idea that the musicians are singing out of the goodness of their hearts.
“What is worse? If we aren’t paying them ourselves it means that the person who did pay for them thought that precisely these Z-artists should be performing at a holiday celebrating our freedom,” wrote journalist Mahinur Niyazova on Facebook. Niyazova suggested that August 31 might better be called “Dependence Day” in light of the concert.
Both Mikhailov and Kirkorov are long-term bastions of the Russian pop culture establishment, with all that entails.
Earlier this year, Mikhailov was vociferously critical of other Russian artists that had left the country in the wake of the invasion.
“Firstly, Russia made them important and recognizable people. As soon as they stop understanding this, they will cease to exist as individuals. [Later] they will still crawl on their knees and stand at Russia's feet and kiss its feet,” the Russian media outlet Komsomolskaya Pravda reported him as saying in March.
Dual Bulgarian-Russian national Kirkorov, meanwhile, has never openly condemned or supported the war. But he was earlier this year shown in footage giving a concert for injured Russian soldiers in Russian-occupied Ukraine, and has in the past staged concerts in the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine.
'The Minority Must Submit To The Majority'
Kyrgyz Culture Minister Altynbek Maksutov was equally combative in his comments on criticism of the concert.
He claimed that the Russian artists had themselves suggested the visit, wishing to congratulate the Kyrgyz people both on independence and on the 100-year anniversary of the foundation of the Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast, which will be marked in October.
“Most people will greet [the concert] with joy. The minority must submit to the majority,” he said, pointing out that anybody that didn’t like the musicians didn't have to attend.
That the artists were apparently so aware of the Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast’s upcoming centennial is curious.
Some Kyrgyz historians point to the creation of the territory as a vital step toward modern Kyrgyz statehood, coming at a time when the outsized Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was being broken into smaller parts.
They argue that, were it not for the Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast, the territory currently known as Kyrgyzstan might have been divided up between other Central Asian countries, and credit its formation to the advocacy efforts of Kyrgyz statesmen at the time.
But it was Moscow, of course, that took the final decision to grant it this status.
And modern-day Kyrgyzstan would exist as a subentity under the purview of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic until 1936, when it was able to join the ranks of other fully fledged Soviet republics that later became independent states.
A gift then, like Kirkorov’s upcoming presence in Bishkek?
The Kremlin has traditionally enjoyed inflated influence in independent Kyrgyzstan, even compared to its sway over other Central Asian countries.
Since the invasion began more than two-and-a-half years ago, neighboring Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have both been responsive to cries to “cancel” pro-war Russian artists with gigs booked in their countries.
In June 2023, officials in southern Kazakhstan blocked a concert by pro-Kremlin Russian singer Grigory Leps after a public outcry over his strong backing for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier that year, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan all moved to cancel the Zhara music festival featuring Russian stars, many of whom were identified as being supportive of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Kyrgyzstan, though, allowed the Russian group Gorod 312 to hold a concert at a "veterans" football match in which Japarov and other officials played, just months after the same group had played at a pro-war concert in the Russian city of Ufa.
The Kyrgyz Culture Ministry justified the invitation by noting that, while achieving fame in Russia, Gorod 312 is in fact a Kyrgyz band, drawing its name from Bishkek's dialing code.
Gorod 312's Kyrgyz-born lead singer, Svetlana Nazarenko, had earlier written in a social media post that she stood "for a world without Nazism," repeating a trope that Putin's government has repeatedly aimed at Kyiv.
“I sincerely love my family, loved ones, and friends, and people in general in Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine. I believe in the best for everyone,” she added.
Kyrgyz authorities have denied permission for some other Russian singers to perform, but only those opposed to the Russian authorities.
Hip-hop phenomenon Morgenshtern (born Alisher Valeyev) fell foul of the Kremlin even before the February 2022 invasion, which he has appeared to criticize in his music.
He is now no longer a resident of Russia, where he faces charges of selling narcotics -- a claim his lawyer has denied.
The star was due to play last summer at a music festival in Bishkek.
But Culture Minister Maksutov cited “a criminal case opened in Russia against Morgenshtern” as part of the reason to prevent him from appearing there after a Kyrgyz lawmaker decried the star’s “bad influence” on young people.
