Our Managing Director Quintin Goldie has spoken about the great legacy of Burns, and has told many interesting facts related to his poetry. He is a Scotsman and Burns’ verses represent a piece of his home country and of the Scottish tongue.

As for our Kazakhstani staff, it is a great opportunity to get acquainted with the poet’s oeuvre, to learn interesting and unusual traditions about the country of the highlanders, such as the Address to a Haggis, witty word play and much more. As a matter of fact we had not realized before that Robert Burns is as popular here as for instance Pushkin or Abay are abroad, and perhaps not all of us know that Alexandr Gradksii’s repertoire contains a cycle of compositions on Burns verses. The Folk band Melnitsa has set the ballad “Lord Henry” and the poem “The Highlander” to music, and almost everyone must know the songs from the movies “Love and Poverty” (“Hello, I am your aunt!”), “My heart is sair” (“Office romance”).

It is remarkable that apart from being a cultural event that is held around the world which immerses us in an evening of Scottish poems and folklore, the Burns Supper organizational committee supports a number of charitable organizations and medical centres in Atyrau, and all the money raised from the attendance of the event is spent in supporting disabled children or children who need expert care. A pleasant surprise before the event was a performance by a band from Scotland at Bolashak’s office during the Company’s Best Employee Nomination Event.

The band has been visiting Kazakhstan for the Burns Supper celebrations for 15 years; they help the the evening’s guests learn Scottish dances, and fill the room with the inimitable sound of the bagpipes. It was a great opportunity to listen to their music and songs as well as to see traditional Scottish dancing within the walls of our office.