Meet ALPHA, the Kazakh music group sharing its culture with the world

Members i, A.boo, N.B, and QOZZY make up ALPHA, a four-member Kazakh music group with a goal of bringing their culture and music to audiences around the world.

But unlike many groups working to build an international audience, ALPHA is doing it on their own.

"We’re an independent group that is self-made. We don't have any producers or any label. We have our own team, and we do everything ourselves from the music, the lyrics, the promotions, the video production, everything," they tell FOX 13 Seattle.

The group debuted in 2021 and has since built a name for themselves in Kazakhstan, but now, ALPHA wants to introduce more people around the world to their music and to the culture that helps shape it.

"In Kazakhstan right now, a lot of musicians really want to put our culture into our music. A lot of artists from Kazakhstan love to mix our culture and our own sound into modern music, so I think that would be really special to foreigners," the members say.

For ALPHA, having creative control over their music also means having the freedom to decide how they want to represent their home country.

Rather than leaving their cultural identity behind as they look to promote their work to an international audience, the group says it is one of the things they most want people to discover about them.

"As the younger generation, we really want to show the world that we have something unique in our culture, and we're not afraid to show it, and we think it's cool and we think we can make really beautiful art mixing our cultural sounds and images and visual elements," they explain.

For listeners discovering ALPHA for the first time, the members point to four songs that they say best represent the group: "KIM OL," "BUGIN TUNDE," "JIBER" and "Seni Oilai."

The group’s music crosses multiple genres and they just released three singles, "BUGIN TUNDE," "PUMP IT," and most recently "QYZGANAMYN" on September 29.

But the members say there is more to experiencing ALPHA than just listening to their music.

For someone in the U.S. who hasn't experienced Kazakh culture and wants to experience it through ALPHA, they say other than the beautiful nature, food, and nomadic lifestyle, it comes down to one word that foreigners understand about the Kazakh people: freedom.

"Our ancestors were warriors and a lot of really brave people fought a lot of fights to keep this land together. The word Kazakh means freedom, so I think what we want to showcase to them is the attitude of Kazakh people," they explain.

That desire to share their culture has been part of ALPHA's vision from the beginning.

"That's why we started to mix Kazakh songs with English songs, because we wanted to show the world that there's this culture and it's really beautiful," they explain.

And while the group has big ambitions for the future, including dreams of a world tour, the members say they ultimately want their music to be a place where anyone can feel welcome, regardless of where they come from or what language they speak.

"No matter the language, no matter the culture or country, we always have much love for everyone, and everybody is welcome to listen to us and become a part of the journey, and a part of the community. So everybody can find their own place and their own song and their own emotions through us," they say.

As they look beyond Kazakhstan, ALPHA hopes to prove that music can cross borders while still staying true to where it comes from.