Kazakh singer Akerke Amalyat won the international competition Slavianski Bazaar-2026 in Vitebsk, receiving a diploma, a statuette, and a cash prize of $15,000, according to infohub.kz.
The international festival ended with a triumph for the Kazakh representative. The 25-year-old Akerke Amalyat took first place in the vocal competition, beating 19 participants from various countries. Preparation for the competition took nearly six months, and she earned the right to perform after eight qualifying auditions.
"It's very stressful, even if you are strong, even if you can handle it. Actually, it's not just singing two songs and that's it. It's mentally very hard to get through. Your nerves can give out. It's real," Amalyat shared.
The singer grew up in a creative family and has been performing on stage since childhood. She graduated from the Almaty Music College and later from the Zhurgenov Kazakh National Academy of Arts.
The competition was judged by an international panel including representatives from Belarus, Russia, Turkey, Georgia, and Germany. Kazakhstan was represented on the jury by People's Artist Alisher Karimov. "The most important thing is to be an artist on stage, to be yourself. It could be a one-and-a-half octave range, a completely non-vocal song, but you have to live it in those three minutes. My main criterion is individuality," he said.
Jury member Dmitry Malikov also praised the participants' level: "We evaluated the coherence of repertoire and the artist's image, as well as stage charisma. Everyone performed very well and very confidently."
For Kazakhstan, this year's Slavianski Bazaar was successful not only because of Amalyat's win. Earlier, 13-year-old Zhasmina Tuzelova became a second-degree laureate of the children's vocal competition.