On May 24 on the day of his 30th anniversary Dimash Qudaibergen gave a solo concert in Istanbul. The anniversary of the Kazakh artist gathered guests from different countries of the world at the big stadium “Beşiktaş”.

How to prepare, assemble, rehearse a large-scale show at such a large significant venue? DimashNews editorial staff talked to the members of the DQ team.

How many people work on a concert in general? What are the differences, difficulties, what requires more attention when working on such huge venues?

Ekaterina Bazhanova, tour manager of DQ team shared that an international team of more than 200 people is working on the concert. The organizational part, transportation, security issues are more complicated, as there are a lot of exits at the stadium. Also working with a large number of spectators requires more attention.

How do you manage such a huge living organism during a concert?

“My role is precisely to ‘keep my hand on the pulse’, I connect the artist with the whole team and the whole team with the local organizers, get input and distribute information to the departments. If something changes on timings, new numbers are added or ideas on directing, I pass the issue to the person who can handle it.

We have a great team, very clear distribution of responsibilities, people with a lot of experience, high-class professionals. Of course, when preparing such a complex project it is impossible to avoid force majeure, changes from the original plan, but we know how to solve such issues and the most important thing for us is that whatever happens behind the stage, the final result for the audience must always be at the highest level.

The concert in Istanbul is Dimash’s anniversary, so for us it is an increased responsibility of the whole team. The final result of our work, of course, is for the audience, but it is important for us that Dimash also enjoyed the concert, that he was comfortable working”, – said Ekaterina.

How long before the preparations start? How to equip the stage, sound, light in such a short time.

DQ team technical director Alexey Bely revealed some secrets of big venue equipment:

“The active phase of preparation started from the beginning of the year. The equipment is provided by the contractors, because within the framework of the festival taking place here it is placed a month in advance. Our concert is the first in this project, so of course it is more difficult for us to keep up with the time. Workers build the framework of the stage, on which the lights, screens and sound are then hung. The preparatory work is very important here – creating drawings, calculating schedules, transportation tasks”.

For Dimash, sound is particularly important, of course. Are there any peculiarities of working with sound equipment specifically for him, for his very diverse works?

“There are peculiarities, they consist in extremely precise radio frequency management, because Dimash uses in-ear monitoring – headphones through which he hears the musical mix, the audience’s reaction and everything else. We spent a long time choosing a microphone for Dimash, so that it would fit his voice and be comfortable for the artist, me and the guys who are responsible for the sound in the hall. We have a great team, there are specialists who are responsible for the sound for Dimash separately and for the musicians separately.

It’s very easy and pleasant to work with Dimash, because he knows what he wants, what result he wants to achieve, and we have the same understanding of what the sound should be. He doesn’t panic, even when the schedule changes, he will rather support us. We listen to each other’s wishes,” Alexey said.

Dancers rehearse separately from the artist beforehand. How quickly does it take to “assemble” a new number on stage with the artist? Who directs this process?

Tells choreographer Baurzhan Seyfulin:

“The work goes in a team, there are my suggestions for productions, as well as from Dimash. And of course all this is fixed by the director. About ten days we prepare the number ourselves: the staging takes from one to four days, more time is taken by drawings (movements on the stage) and cleaning of numbers – training of synchronization. Then we rehearse together with the artist for about a week, so that he would understand and learn how to move, we always adjust to him.

It’s easy to work with Dimash, he likes everything to be perfect. With his vocally complex songs it’s not easy to find a balance with dancing, but we do it”.

For Dimash’s concerts we need universal dancers who can dance all styles from classical to hip-hop. DQ Team is just such a team.

Answering the question, which numbers in the program of the show are the most significant, Baurzhan singled out the production of the song “Stranger” as the most difficult, Alexander Lee answered that it is “Durdaraz” due to the powerful energy, Saltanat Beymisheva noted the first exciting, “springboard” for the overall mood of the concert – performance with “Golden”, and Rustam Zhanaev chose a duet with Saltanat, which is always unpredictable.

How mobile is your team of dancers in terms of changes in the program?

“Every trip is something memorable, there was a case when Dimash changed the order of a couple of songs during the concert, we went on stage and went back. Also he sometimes changes the speed of his tracks and then the whole team adjusts to him.
Sometimes we need to prepare a number urgently, then we rehearse at night and perform, as recently in Almaty”, – said Baurzhan.

Sound producer Yerlan Bekchurin told about the peculiarities of preparation for Dimash’s anniversary concert:

“Especially for the concert in Istanbul I prepared a concert version of “Happy” – the soundtrack of Jackie Chan’s movie “Vanguard”. First I made a demo version for the musicians and the composer Nathan Wang was very surprised by our work. After the concert, he asked me how and what I had arranged it on, and as a result of our conversation we agreed on future collaboration”.

Kobysist Olzhas Kurmanbek noted that it was a special impression and a great honor for him to perform in the number with composer Renat Gaysin on the song “Qairan Elim”.

Undoubtedly, the most important role in the united collective is played by musicians. Dimash’s DQ Band team consists of drummer Roman Alexeev, guitarists Alexei Polubabkin, Boris Akhmetov, bassist German Tigay, keyboardist Vyacheslav Bystrov and percussionist Veitia Echavarria Fidel Alejandro.

Who of you directs the process during the concert, how does it happen? Is improvisation possible in the dynamics of the concert or is everything strictly prescribed?

“At big shows like Dimash’s, there is always a well-coordinated team of professionals working together, which has its own technical cues and live communication between the show director, sound producer and music director. Almost always we are in improvisation regarding the timing of the show”, – answered the leader of DQ Band Roman Alekseev.

When asked how the work on a new song takes place, how much time is needed to “play” together, the guys answered that the work takes place in full immersion in the new material by each musician of the team, which allows to work and feel the track during rehearsals.

“Professionalism of musicians allows to prepare new compositions for rehearsals with Dimash and Erlan in a very short time, as music is the most collective creativity. Dimash’s compositions are works of complex form, multifaceted and multicharacteristic, which require great attention and immersion in a single verified musical flow. Each musician has an important task – to maintain the balance of the whole dramaturgy of Dimash’s songs and concert as much as possible”, – Roman shared.

The artist’s team from China was responsible for Dimash’s image at the concert. Manager Zhuang Yang revealed the subtleties of the team’s work:

“We are very happy to be a part of Dimash’s 30th anniversary concert in Turkiye and to be fully in charge of his image. We are very grateful for his trust and the opportunity to be together at this beautiful and unforgettable celebration. I would like to thank Dimash’s makeup artist Archie and stylist Rita for the recognition we received from Dimash and his fans.

All team members are excellent at their professions and have great aesthetic taste. As it is customary in our team, they are constantly studying world fashion trends. Most importantly, they perfectly know Dimash, his peculiarities and preferences. They also understand and respect the culture and beliefs of different countries enough to create a look that suits him exactly”.

Most of the musical program of the concert depends on the vocal support of the main voice of the concert. Dimash’s backup singers shared how the rehearsals are held and how important this jubilee concert is.

Zarina Bozhakova noted:

“Holding an anniversary, perhaps the first serious milestone, in such a huge stadium in Istanbul, will certainly be different… 30 years under our belt, so many concerts and performances.”

Zarina shared that the preparation for the concert of backing vocalists is separate, the specifics of the work provides the need to hone the parts for three singers. For new compositions, for example, for the first time soundtrack to Jackie Chan’s movie “Vanguard”, the backing vocalists prepared their parts themselves on the assignment of sound producer Yerlan Bekchurin.

The second back-vocalist Diana Tazhenova, who performed at the fifth Dimash concert for herself, also noted the significance of the anniversary show, and was glad that many musicians from different countries, including Kazakhstan, who respect Dimash’s creativity, came to Istanbul as spectators.

Rasul Usmanov emphasized that even within one show each city has its own soul, each city meets in its own way. In Istanbul everything is going perfectly, rehearsals are going clearly according to the plan, with going through all the songs, checking the stage, sound:

“Istanbul is a city with a lot of history. And one of the biggest Dimash concerts in this city will also remain in the history”.

Kanat Aitbaev, the head of DimashAli Creative Center, shared the peculiarities of working in a large team:

“Each member of the team is a professional in his work, the team has been working together for several years, understanding each other halfheartedly. No matter where in the world the team works, the guys keep in touch and rehearse from a distance. Everyone has good relations, both human and professional. Closer to the concert, when our international team arrives, we meet as relatives”.

When asked if there is a favorite composition in the show’s program, Mr. Kanat answered:

“I like all of Dimash’s compositions, I experience every song and every note. The whole process of creating compositions, the painstaking labor of Dimash and the team, happens before my eyes, each piece is dear to me as it is to him. A song sounds on stage for a few minutes, but it takes days and months, sometimes years to create it, and a lot of emotional load is put into it.

Did you think 30, 20, even 10 years ago that you would meet Dimash’s thirtieth anniversary on a huge stadium in the company of thousands of fans who came from all sides of the world, – we asked Kanat Aitbaev, as Dimash’s father:

“Dimash has dreamed of becoming an artist since childhood and has always been moving in this direction. We, his parents, of course, believed in his dreams. But besides dreams, he works very carefully and painstakingly, he always sets very big tasks. So from a dream a goal appears, and when there is a goal, then a path is found. That’s how gradually everything is realized…

Since my son’s childhood, we believed in all his dreams, saw what goals he set, and tried to support him as much as possible. We are happy to see him celebrating his 30th birthday on stage, in a big stadium, we are happy that his dreams are coming true.

A big thank you to all fans of Dimash’s creativity. People from all over the world come to the concerts – it is a great happiness for both the artist and his team.

When people come to a concert from different parts of the world for your sake, you want to create and work.

We really like the unity of Dears, when people come from one country to another for a concert and there they are met by like-minded people and supported. Thank you to all the fans for the great work of introducing Dimash’s work to many people in different countries. The whole team, family and Dimash himself, of course, are happy to see this, to feel love and care. Thank you very much!”.