Immerse yourself in a unique concert where modern electronic music meets traditional Central Asian folk music.

Aizhan Sultan (KZ) and Saku Liimatainen (FI) – two artists based in Helsinki – are joining forces to propose a captivating performance. They build a bridge through their cultures and history with a unique soundscape, mixing modern electronic and modern music with traditional Central Asian folk music.
Singer, songwriter and researcher, Aizhan Sultan explores the themes of disability, identity and decolonial reconstruction. Through her vocal techniques and her jaw harp, she revisits traditional sounds as tools of resilience and emancipation.
Performing with her is Saku Liimatainen, a live electronic musician, pianist, and composer. He is weaving his modern Finnish textured soundscape into Aizhan’s nomadic music. He reimagines folk traditions through ambient layers and rhythms – creating a space where ancient voices and numerical future coexist.
Together, they craft an intercultural conversation, that is as much about history and identity as it is about transformation and artistic freedom.
Aizhan Sultan is a singer, composer and doctoral researcher based in Finland originally from Kazakhstan. Her compositions derive inspiration from Kazakh folk and contemporary music to reflect on her journey around the world and her inner political and social experiences. She offers a unique synthesis of genres to continuously decolonise herself, whilst having at heart the accessibility of her music to a greater audience. Her main goal is to represent and make accessible Central Asian, in particular Kazakh, music and art to the international audience. The author is giving the audience the opportunity to discover more the art and history of the Kazakhs.

Saku Liimatainen is a musician from Helsinki focused on electronic composition, music production and piano pedagogy. Liimatainen’s roots in the field of art rely heavily on electronic improvisation and curiosity to discover unconventional sources of sound. Besides his work as a solo artist and musician, he has taken part of many different projects and music groups with various artistic interests, ranging from classical music to experimental noise.Saku Liimatainen has been involved in several experimental contemporary music and popular music productions, including as a performer with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSO), Kaartin Soittokunta, and the Pangosmos collective. Since 2023, Liimatainen has also played synthesizers in Knife Girl’s live lineup and has worked as a sound technician for various Finnish bands including Nupu and Serot.

Duration: approx 45–50 min
Languages: Finnish, Kazakh and English