With one week to go until this year’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest, we talk to Khamit Shangaliyev, the composer of this year and last year’s Kazakh entries.
Khamit is the composer behind Kazakhstan’s 2019 and 2020 Junior Eurovision Song Contest entries. When asked about the success of last year’s song, he said:
I thought it was my victory to get high estimates from great musicologists and jury members.
We also questioned Khamit on the inspiration behind Forever. He revealed that:
It turned out that her father passed away a few years ago. I also lost my father a few years ago. As our history coincided, the song’s history is special for us.
Watch our full interview with Khamit here:
Thank you Khamit for talking to us today.
Who is Karakat Bashanova?
Kazakhstan’s third entrant in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest is twelve-year-old Karakat Bashanova from Ryskulov. Karakat began singing at just five-years-old and went on to take vocal lessons from the age of nine.
The singer is no stranger to competitions, having participated in the final of The Voice of Children 2018, and finishing in 3rd place at the Happy Child 2019 festival. Alongside singing, she also plays the piano and violin.
Her competing song “Forever” is dedicated to her late father, and was written by Khamit Shangaliyev, who also composed Kazakhstan’s 2019 entry.
Image Source: Khabar Agency
Kazakhstan first participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2018, with Daneliya Tuleshova and her song “Ozine sen”. She went on to finish in 6th place. The following year, the country was represented by Yerzhan Maksim with the song “Armanyńnan qalma”, which scored a total of 227 points. Kazakhstan won the jury vote scoring 148 points, but was 5th with the online vote scoring 79 points, and finished in 2nd place overall.
