Laysan Usmanova: ‘It is a great opportunity to present Tatar folk culture’
A Tatar singer from Ulyanovsk has tried her luck at The Voice of Bulgaria
A native of Ulyanovsk, Tatar singer Laysan Usmanova, who now lives in Moscow, became a participant in the blind auditions of the 11th season of the The Voice Of Bulgaria show. The episode with her participation was released at the end of last week. As the singer admitted in an interview with Realnoe Vremya, she dreams of introducing Tatar folk culture not only to Russia, but also to the whole world.
Both Tatar and Bulgarian
“I studied in Bulgaria, so this is not a completely foreign country for me," explained Laysan Usmanova her participation in the Voiceof Bulgaria. “I periodically submitted applications for different castings: Moscow, foreign, I do not limit myself in this.”
The singer said that participants from various countries submit to the competition (according to some reports, the number of applicants reaches 50,000). Usmanova performed the song “Син сазыңны уйнадың"/“You played the saz” at the audition. Moreover, producers of the show themselves offered her to choose a Tatar folk song. The Tatar song was mixed with the Bulgarian one — “Lyulyakovy noshchi” /“Lilac Nights”.
“This is a great opportunity to present Tatar folk culture, sound, melodies not only to the whole of Russia, but also to the whole world. This was probably my main task," says Usmanova. “I always wanted our culture to be as well-known as possible to the whole world, the more the better. If there is such an opportunity, why not? Turkish music, for example, is known all over the world. Kazakhstan, with its musical culture, is now just breaking into the world charts. And, in principle, not much is known about Tatarstan in the world, especially about Tatar songs.
The auditions took place in late June and early July. Unfortunately, Usmanova was not chosen by the members of the jury. Among them there was Ivan Lechev: for the Bulgarian guitarist, this is the eighth season of the show. He is known for the groups Formation Studio Balkanton and Stari Mutsuni. Also, the jury was represented by singers Dara and Maria Ilievas and performer Graf, who has repeatedly participated in the show.
Laysan Usmanova studied at school in Ulyanovsk. Besides music, she was engaged in ballroom dancing. Then she studied at the Kazan State Institute of Culture and the Chuvash State University. For the last two years, she has lived in Moscow, working as a singer, presenter, teacher, event organiser, and also heads the HR department. In Bulgaria, she studied at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts named after Professor Asen Diamandiev, travelled to the Balkans many times, speaks Bulgarian at a conversational level.
“I really liked Laysan's performance," a commentator writes under the video. “The language she sang in at the beginning seemed foreign and familiar to me at the same time.”
Not only the Russian Voice
Tatar artists participated several times in the Russian franchise Voice, starting from the first season — these were Dina Garipova and Elmira Kalimullina. Saida Mukhametzyanova, having reached the final in The Voice Kids, this year she went to the Uzbek equivalent called Ovoz, performing “Golamal” to begin with and choosing Sevara Nazarkhan as a mentor. As a result, she also reached the final, with 45% of viewers voting for her in the semifinals. In addition to her native language, Mukhametzyanova sang in Russian, Uzbek, and English. Armenian, Kazakh, Azerbaijani, and Karakalpak were also heard at Ovoz, and representatives of Cuba were among the participants.
In Uzbekistan, the artist of the city philharmonic has made a clip of Unutma meni, duets with Nazarkhan are planned, as well as the leader of the Yalla group Farrukh Zakirov.
Last year, Ralina Ibraeva, an 11-year-old resident of Kazan, participated in Qazaqstan dauysy. Balalar (Voice Kids Kazakhstan). In 2021, she participated in the shortlisting for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest as part of the Lol&Pop trio. She participated solo in 2022 in The Voice Kids, having got into the team of Egor Kreed, who appreciated her performance of Leonid Agutin's song “Samaya Luchshaya”. Then Ibraeva lost in “Duels” with the mix of the Ghostbusters and Bad by Michael Jackson's film hits.
In Kazakhstan, Ibraeva sang “Tugan tel” at the blind auditions. Surely many people remember how after the very first lines the jury began to whisper in surprise: “Tatarcha?” — “In Tatar?”
As a result, all four mentors turned to Ibraeva — singer and teacher of the Almaty Conservatory Tolkyn Zabirova, member of the group Ninety One ALEM, Honored Kazakhstani performer Zhubanysh Zheksenuly and author-performer Marhaba Sabi. She chose ALEM (real name is Batyrkhan Malikov). Ibraeva did not make it to the finals, performing the song Summertime. The Kazakh participant won the audience voting.