Company

Concert at the Caverb Club

From an Old Radio to the Cavern Club Stage in Liverpool

Back in our Soviet childhood in the 1970s, some of us would quietly turn the dial of a wooden radio, about the size of a small box, late at night, trying to catch Radio Liberty or one of the so-called pirate radio stations. We wanted to hear The Beatles, listen to Beatlove, get a breath of fresh air through their sound, and simply catch a little of that music that seemed so extraordinary and so far away.

Today, our band brings together people from different generations. Our oldest member is 73, while some of our members are under 40. Yet, somehow, The Beatles became something we all share. Some of us first heard them as children on an old radio, others discovered them much later. But their music became that special common ground capable of bringing together people of completely different ages and backgrounds.

And now, here we are in Liverpool.

Not simply visiting the city, but standing on the stage of the legendary Cavern Club — the very place where The Beatles once performed and where the story of the legendary Liverpool Fab Four began.

To be honest, we were nervous before going on stage. Playing Beatles songs in our office for colleagues and friends is one thing. Standing on stage at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, instruments in our hands, in front of a discerning British audience, is something completely different.

When, inspired by an idea from our General Director, Erzhan Tazabekov, we created our own music studio right in the office and began learning to play and sing together, none of us could have imagined that this hobby would one day bring us to Liverpool!

While preparing the concert programme, we wanted not only to perform The Beatles’ songs, but also to show where we came from. That is why we included “Qaidasyng” by the legendary Kazakh band Dos-Mukasan in our programme.

For people in Kazakhstan, this is very special music. The history of Dos-Mukasan is also closely connected, in its own way, with The Beatles. In the late 1960s, The Beatles’ music became one of the sources of inspiration for young Kazakh musicians.

And then we decided to do something else special: play “Yesterday” on the dombra.

The world has probably heard “Yesterday” played on the guitar millions of times. But we wanted this melody to be heard on the Kazakh dombra right there at Liverpool’s Cavern Club.

It felt wonderfully symbolic: The Beatles’ music came from Liverpool, the dombra came from Kazakhstan, and the two met on the same stage.

We Kazakhs love sharing food with our guests, so we prepared some special Kazakh chocolates in advance and placed them on the stage, hoping the audience would come and take them. But British modesty won the day — people looked, smiled, but were not in a hurry to come up and take them.

So, at the end of the concert, we decided to turn it into a little performance — a real Kazakh Shashu, right from the stage!

The chocolates flew into the audience, people reacted enthusiastically and started collecting them. It was great fun!

For us, this trip was special not only because we performed at the Cavern Club.

Perhaps the most valuable part was experiencing once again how music can bring different generations together — those who once listened to The Beatles on an old Soviet radio and those who were born much later in independent Kazakhstan; people of different professions, ages and personalities.

One day, we simply got together and started playing. And it all ended up in Liverpool! Who would have thought?!

And now, whenever we remember that evening at the Cavern Club, it is especially wonderful to realise that we came here from Kyzylorda — from faraway Kazakhstan — and, for a few hours, became part of the story of a place that means one name to millions of people around the world: The Beatles.

Thank you, Liverpool! Raqmet, Cavern Club! And great appreciation to music, which has the power to bring generations together!

And there was another wonderful surprise waiting for us after we returned home. Information about our Liverpool performance was shared in the international KUSTO holding’s group chat and immediately received many congratulations and warm messages. It was especially touching to see that our colleagues had followed our performance, supported us and genuinely shared in our happiness.

In Almaty, at the Kusto Group head office, the shareholders warmly welcomed our band and personally thanked us for our performance in Liverpool and for representing Kazakhstan and our company on the international stage. It was really nice of them and, honestly, a little unexpected.

At that moment, we felt especially strongly that this journey had mattered not only to us. Colleagues from different companies across the holding had been cheering for us, supporting us and following our journey. That feeling of support is one of the most valuable things we brought home from this trip.

Moments like these remind us once again that behind a company’s large, sometimes invisible and everyday work, there are always people — people who know how to support one another and genuinely celebrate each other’s successes.

We are already thinking about new songs, expanding our repertoire and learning new material. And, of course, we hope that new stages, new performances and new encounters with people who love The Beatles and rock ’n’ roll are waiting for us ahead.

Who knows — perhaps Liverpool was only the beginning of the next chapter in our musical story.

Oil is our profession.
The Beatles are our passion.