Bashkir group "Zaman" represents Russia in the cultural capital of Europe-2018 - Leeuwarden (Holland).

The international contest of performers "WorldMusic" is held from May 20 to 26 in the Dutch city of Leeuwarden. The competition gathers performers from 14 European countries. The main condition of the competition is the use in its music of elements of national music, native language, national melodic repertoire, instruments. The jury of the competition is experts in the field of "world music": composers, musicians, music critics from the countries of the European Union.

The honor of representing Russia at an international music show fell to the Moscow-based Bashkir group Zaman. The collective will perform a song in the Bashkir language "Alka" (music by Aidar Khamzin, the words of Fatima Yanbaeva).

"We have been participating in this project since December last year. The qualifying stages were conducted remotely: the election commission from the EU listened to the Zaman audio recordings, video from live performances, studied in detail the group's biography, the composition of the participants, publications in the media, and discography. And, finally, we are participants in a large project. As the musicians of our group say, Ramadan is a month of miracles! "- the producer and member of the group" Zaman "Radmir Muftakhin shares his impressions.

In the organization of the trip took part State Duma deputy, member of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Inga Yumasheva and chairman of the NGO "I am a patriot", Hero of Russia Rafik Ihsanov.

The group "Zaman" is a youth musical group, participant of the television project "New Star", working in the world music genre. The group successfully represented the modern culture of Bashkortostan at prestigious international competitions and concert venues, including in Italy, Norway, Germany, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan. In 2014, the collective entered the top three ethnic groups in Asia at the International Television Competition "Turkvizion", and in July 2016 the group was nominated for the "Russian World Music Awards" in the field of ethnic music in Russia.