Grand Prix of the music festival in Aktau awarded to Rovshen Nepesov

The international Turkic organization TÜRKSOY has chosen Aktau as the cultural capital of the Turkic world 2025. As part of the events associated with this status, a highlight was the international composers' competition "Mangystau Makamdary," which featured more than 30 contestants.

According to the competition rules, a composer could submit either a classical original work for chamber orchestra or a piece for an orchestra of folk instruments.

The jury included outstanding composers from TÜRKSOY. By the jury’s verdict, the main prize of the competition, the Grand Prix, was awarded to the Turkmen composer Rovshen Nepesov, Honored Art Worker of Turkmenistan, for his composition "The Legend of Beket Ata."

This pleasant news immediately resonated widely. We met with Rovshen Nepesov and, after congratulating him on his unprecedented success, asked him to tell us about his new work.

– Shortly before the competition, I read the legend of Beket Ata, who carved a mosque into the rock, – recounts R. Nepesov. – The colossal labor, perseverance, and skill of this man made an indelible impression on me, and I decided to dedicate a musical work to him. As an epigraph to the new composition, I took the following words: "The path to spiritual enlightenment is a true test; it is hard work and overcoming oneself."

I wrote music that unites the cultural code of all Turkic peoples. Perhaps that is why "The Legend of Beket Ata" received such a high appraisal.

– What feelings overwhelmed you when the victory was announced?

– Probably the first thing I felt was pride for my homeland, and, of course, joy that came a little later, after other emotions had subsided.

– According to the epigraph to your work, you consider the path to enlightenment to be hard work? Can it not be natural and easy?

– The natural state of mind is a flow of thoughts, reactions, attachments, and fears. Enlightenment is going beyond these conventions.

– How is your music born?

– For me, the starting point is not a melody as a beautiful sequence of notes. My music begins inside. It is a feeling, a thought, an image, an unspoken emotion, even a question... I do not compose a melody; I find it by listening to what sounds within me.

– How do the concepts of "my music" connect with the ideas of "common Turkic" or "universal human" music?

– I do not copy folklore. I am a person who grew up on Turkmen land, having absorbed its spirit, pain, and joy. And I can hold a conversation with listeners in the language of music, on almost any topic.

– Thank you for your victory in the competition. We wish you even greater success in the future.