Unfortunately, culture has long been closely intertwined with politics, and the cancellation of artist concerts has become a propaganda tool. Especially in Kazakhstan, where the cancellation of concerts by Russian artists has become commonplace. For example, recently a concert of humorist Maxim Galkin (recognized as a foreign agent) broke down there. However, the reason for its cancellation was understandable: no one expected his speech there. Now the popular singer Grigory Leps has fallen under the distribution. The concert was supposed to take place on July 8, but the site terminated the contract with the artist. The reason for this was his statement that he was ready to pay Russian soldiers one million rubles for each destroyed Leopard tank in Ukraine. The cancellation of the concerts was demanded by local activists.
“Makao Luxury Village Resort, which provided its concert venue for the performance of Grigory Leps, has decided to unilaterally terminate the contract with the organizers of the concert,” the company’s press service said.
Director of the artist Vladimir Uryupin, commenting on the decision of the organizers, said that “recently, Kazakhstan is still that Russophobic corner.”
“Canceled and canceled, to hell with them. It’s okay, we can do without Kazakhstan. We supported our country, and we will continue to support it, and do what is in our power so that the victory is ours. Nothing happened, just another statement, and people in Kazakhstan went crazy,” Uryupin said in a conversation with journalists from Gazeta.ru.
Earlier, the authorities of Kazakhstan banned the holding of a major international festival “Heat”. The show with Russian artists was supposed to take place in 2022, but the Kazakh authorities took a break due to the dissatisfaction of local activists. The festival was rescheduled to March 2023, and all the artists supporting the CBO were removed from the original poster, which flaunted Dima Bilan, Basta, Anita Tsoi and Lolita. “Heat” never took place, fans learned about the cancellation a month before the appointed date. The reason was called “the political situation in the country and the world.”
In February 2023, Polina Gagarina’s performance was canceled in Kazakhstan, allegedly “after numerous requests.” Larisa Dolina could not perform there either. But the rapper Basta (Vasily Vakulenko), despite all the obstacles, still gave a concert in this country.
