Busan City Holds '1st Anniversary Concert of Sister City Agreement with Almaty, Kazakhstan'

7 PM on the 15th at Busan Arts Center, 'Sazgen Saji' and 'City Gugak Orchestra' Friendship and Harmony Stage

Busan City will hold the "1st Anniversary Concert of the Busan City-Kazakhstan Almaty City Sister City Agreement" at 7 p.m. on the 15th at the Busan Arts Center.

Busan-Almaty Sister City 1st Anniversary Commemorative Performance Poster.

Hosted by the city and organized by the Busan Global City Foundation (CEO Hwang Gi-sik), this concert was prepared to commemorate the 1st anniversary of the sister city agreement between Busan and Almaty, Kazakhstan, and to wish for the successful bid for the 2030 Busan World Expo.

Almaty is the largest city in Kazakhstan and served as the capital from 1929 to 1997. Approximately 110,000 ethnic Koreans reside there, and it is also the region in Central Asia where Korean Wave (Hallyu) is most popular.

On September 14 last year, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Korea-Kazakhstan diplomatic relations and the visit of the "2022 Busan Eurasia Citizen Expedition" to Almaty, the two cities signed a sister city agreement. Since then, the two cities have actively continued exchanges in cultural and economic fields, including holding a joint commemorative performance in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on August 24 this year.

At the concert, the Kazakh folk chamber orchestra "Sazgen-Sazy," representing Almaty, and the Busan Municipal Gugak Orchestra, representing Busan, will perform together to present a stage of friendship and harmony between the two cities to the audience.

The "Sazgen-Sazy" troupe, visiting Busan for the first time since its founding, will perform modern adaptations of Kazakh songs and folk tunes using traditional Kazakh string instruments such as the 'dombra' and 'shertter,' as well as accordion and drums. In addition, they will perform a Busan anthem for the citizens of Busan.

As a meaningful event commemorating the 1st anniversary of the sister city agreement between the two cities, the concert finale will be decorated with a joint performance of "Arirang" by the Busan and Almaty performance groups.

Applications to attend the concert can be made on the Busan Global City Foundation Eurasia Cooperation Center website, and admission is free.

Jo Yoo-jang, head of the Busan 2030 Expo Promotion Headquarters, said, "Since signing the sister city agreement with Almaty, Kazakhstan last year, our city has continued exchanges and cooperation with Almaty in broader and more diverse fields." He added, "As this concert is a stage of friendship and harmony showing the fruits of exchanges and cooperation between the two cities, we ask for the interest and support of our citizens."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.