The Academic Folklore and Ethnographic Orchestra named after N.Tlendiev, born on October 2, 1982, gives an opportunity to get acquainted with the richest collection of Kazakh national musical instruments – modern and ancient, which, being a precious cultural heritage, have come down to us from the depths of centuries. They were passed down from generation to generation by obscure folk akyns. The scientific research of the musicologist, Professor Bolat Sarybayev is of invaluable importance, because the voices of past generations are hidden in the sounds of antiquity — the living pages of the history of the musical culture of the Kazakh people. In addition to dombra and kobyz, the Otrar Sazy orchestra features ancient instruments — zhetygen, sherter, shan-kobyz, mes-kobyz, syrnai and saz-syrnai, sybyzgy, as well as percussion instruments — asatayak, dauylpaz, tuyak-tas, konyrau, kayrak.

Such a variety of sound makes it possible for the orchestra to widely display and show the listener the richest original samples of national folklore. This is the goal set for the orchestra by its first artistic director and chief conductor, People’s Artist of the USSR, laureate of the State Prize, Halyk Kaharmany, prominent public figure, composer Nurgisa Tlendiev, who managed to prove that ancient folk instruments are able to embody not only works of small forms, but also large dramatic designs. Today, demonstrating the continuity of generations, the orchestra is led by N. Tlendiev’s daughter, Dinara Tlendiev. The orchestra actively performs concerts in the cities of Kazakhstan, in the countries of the near and far abroad – Iraq, Morocco, Vietnam, North Korea, Germany, Spain, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and many others. In 1996, the orchestra “Otyrar Sazy” was awarded the prize of the International Foundation.Zhambyl. The collective not only keeps the best samples of Kazakh musical folklore, but also constantly improves them with new treatments made taking into account modern expressive means and timbre capabilities of the orchestra.