With pink-coloured lake in backdrop, Kazakh woman plays dombyra at Lake Kobeytuz

Often times we come across a video on social media that makes us stop and take a second look at it. Former Minister of International Development of Norway Erik Solheim’s recent tweet might do just that.The former diplomat shared a video of an artist from Nursultan, Kazakhstan where she was seen playing the country’s national instrument with a pink salt lake in the background. The video, originally shared in 2020, shows Marzhan Kapsamat playing the dombra, a long-necked two-string lute with a pear body. In the video, she took her dombra and played it while sitting on a chair in Lake Kobeytuz, a body of water located in the Akmolinskaya region of Kazakhstan that turns a shade of Pepto pink every few years.It is not just the instrument and the enchanting background that makes the video stand out, but Kapsamat’s costume as well that adds a touch of fashionable zing to the video. The young artist, who was 23 at the time the video was shot, had put a modern spin on traditional Kazakh clothing and paired a tulle baby blue dress with a version of an ornamental hat called a saukele, an ornate headdress that Kazakh women would wear as brides.Kapsamat shared the video on Instagram in 2020 along with an explanation of the melody she played. “By popular demand. Pretty status. The story is based on a legend.” She explained that “‘Kor’ means ‘Mazar’ in Kazakh. That is, Kurugly means ‘child of the grave.’ A woman with heavy legs dies and is buried in the same condition. However, the baby in the womb is born, grows every hour with mother's milk, and emerges from the grave to become a brave hero.” Solheim shared the video on Twitter on Sunday and mentioned in the caption, “A musician is playing in Lake Köbeituz, a salt lake in Kazakhstan that turns pink every several years. Fashion, nature, vibes … beautiful.”