A Brief History of the Kyrgyz
Kyrgyzstan, today the Kyrgyz Republic, is a small, extremely mountainous region surrounded by Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China. The peaks and valleys of the Tian Shan mountain ranges cover 80-90 percent of the country. The main cities of Bishkek and Osh in the north and south of the country lie in the few areas of flat land, Bishkek near the border with Kazakhstan and Osh in the Fergana Valley on the border with Uzbekistan. Kyrgyzstan lies farther from the ocean than any other country in the world and its population of approximately 5.5 million consists of roughly 72% Kyrgyz, 14% Uzbek, and 7% Russian, while the other seven or so percent are made up of a variety of other ethnicities. [i] While only 35% of the population resides in urban locations, there are 5.275 million cell phones in use. [ii]
Kyrgyzstan’s extremely mountainous topography likely has a great deal to do with the region’s history and development. An almost constant changing of hands has been a part of the region’s history for nearly a millennium. The name Kyrgyz is first recorded in the year 201 B.C.. [iii] In 840 the Kyrgyz defeated the Uyghur Khanate and conquered wide regions of Central Asia from Southern Siberia and Mongolia all the way to Eastern Turkistan and occupied this territory for around two centuries. In the early tenth century this nomadic empire was split into small pieces held by Kyrgyz princes until their recognition of Genghis Khan in 1206. Subsequent centuries saw the Kyrgyz tribes overrun by several groups, in the 17th century by the Mongol Oirats, in the 18th century by the Manchu Qing dynasty and the Kokand Khanate from the 19th century up to the point of Russian colonization in 1876 when the region was incorporated into the Russian empire.[iv]
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A great deal of revolts ensued following the Tsarist takeover; the oppression of these initial revolts caused a great number of Kyrgyz to migrate south to the Pamir Mountains or into Afghanistan. By 1915 the Kyrgyz nomads were suffering from the confiscation of land for the settlement of Russian colonists. The Central Asian rebellion of 1916 saw a large number of Kyrgyz people killed and the harsh Russian reaction drove one third of the population into China.[v] By the 1920’s Soviet power had been established in Kyrgyzstan and by 1936 it became a full republic of the Soviet Union.
Absorption into the Soviet Union saw, as it did in other countries of Central Asia, the introduction of Western culture and a westernized education. The Kyrgyzstan State Institute of the Arts was established and introduced to a formerly nomadic group of people who had learned music orally, from master to student, to western written notation. Following Western conventions solo performers were replaced with orchestras constructed from folk instruments. Folklorists in Kyrgyzstan began to notate traditional music during the Soviet era, but unlike the Sash maquam of Uzbekistan, folk music of an anonymous origin was not canonized and turned into a state-backed “frozen music.” Musicologist Theodore Levin’s describes frozen music as a folk music tradition which is then written down and canonized, propped up from above and held as an ideological representation of national music. But, for Levin this canonization takes all the life out of the music and it “could be compared to a dying person kept alive clinically on a respirator.”[vi] Instead, composers of traditional Kyrgyz songs are known by name dating back as far at the 19th century and new songs are still being composed today and remain popular with the Kyrgyz people. Perhaps because this was allowed to continue to be an evolving tradition during the Soviet era the music continues to be popular.[vii]
Absorption into the Soviet Union saw, as it did in other countries of Central Asia, the introduction of Western culture and a westernized education. The Kyrgyzstan State Institute of the Arts was established and introduced to a formerly nomadic group of people who had learned music orally, from master to student, to western written notation. Following Western conventions solo performers were replaced with orchestras constructed from folk instruments. Folklorists in Kyrgyzstan began to notate traditional music during the Soviet era, but unlike the Sash maquam of Uzbekistan, folk music of an anonymous origin was not canonized and turned into a state-backed “frozen music.” Musicologist Theodore Levin’s describes frozen music as a folk music tradition which is then written down and canonized, propped up from above and held as an ideological representation of national music. But, for Levin this canonization takes all the life out of the music and it “could be compared to a dying person kept alive clinically on a respirator.”[vi] Instead, composers of traditional Kyrgyz songs are known by name dating back as far at the 19th century and new songs are still being composed today and remain popular with the Kyrgyz people. Perhaps because this was allowed to continue to be an evolving tradition during the Soviet era the music continues to be popular.[vii]
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However, the effects of the Soviet Westernization of culture are still strongly felt in Kyrgyzstan. While the “consummate entertainer” in traditional nomadic society would likely have been a solo performer, today even after the fall of the Soviet Union, musicians feel the need to play in ensembles to represent themselves as ‘professional’. This is evidenced at a rehearsal of the Tengir Too Ensemble. This ensemble is made up traditional Kyrgyz instruments, but put into a Western ensemble setting, combining traditional instruments with Western composition techniques as applied to traditional Kyrgyz music. One of the members of the Tengir Too ensemble states: “Nomads never played in ensembles. Instruments were played solo. That’s what’s distinctive about nomad music… To put our instruments on a professional level we had to play in a group.”[viii]
The way musicians have come to learn music in Kyrgyzstan is completely different from how nomadic musicians learned. This change reflects the shift in lifestyle which came about with the Soviet Union’s cultural changes and work opportunities. Bakyt Chytrbaev, a kyl kiyak player of Kyrgyzstan, states that:
Today, most of us are no longer nomads. Now we live in the city, in apartments on high floors. Nowadays musicians come to the city to study. We create ensembles, we enjoy Western music. It has already been 70-80 years since we were nomads. Our urban lifestyle led us to create musical ensembles.[ix]
Today, most of us are no longer nomads. Now we live in the city, in apartments on high floors. Nowadays musicians come to the city to study. We create ensembles, we enjoy Western music. It has already been 70-80 years since we were nomads. Our urban lifestyle led us to create musical ensembles.[ix]
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The act of transcribing traditional folk music into Western notation and recording it had a profound effect on the way it was transmitted. No longer did one need a master to learn an instrument; and for those who were truly driven to learn, a conservatory education could be superfluous as well. Zainidin Imanaliev, a Kyrgyz komuz player and singer reminisces about when he was a child and he wanted nothing more than to play the komuz: “I started to go to houses that had a gramophone. I thought that when I grew up I’d go inside and play the komuz. I thought komuz players were inside gramophones. My teacher was a gramophone.”[x]
However, this expansion of music education and music recording did not come without a price. The change in lifestyle in the twentieth century came with the abandoning of many traditional elements of Kyrgyz culture. Nurlanbek Nyshanov, the leader of the Tengir Too Ensemble says, “Until the middle of the 20th century, wind instruments were played by shepherds. In the second half of the 20th century, these instruments were almost completely forgotten.”[xi]
However, this expansion of music education and music recording did not come without a price. The change in lifestyle in the twentieth century came with the abandoning of many traditional elements of Kyrgyz culture. Nurlanbek Nyshanov, the leader of the Tengir Too Ensemble says, “Until the middle of the 20th century, wind instruments were played by shepherds. In the second half of the 20th century, these instruments were almost completely forgotten.”[xi]
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Kyrgyzstan’s history has been one of change. They are a nomadic people whose empire has expanded and contracted over two thousand years and whose recent history has seen the emigration of a great number of Kyrgyz to other countries in Central Asia and China. The Soviet era brought more changes still, in terms of not only the groups that entered the territory, Russians and later German prisoners of war, but sweeping cultural changes as well. Regardless of the region’s mountainous terrain it was of great interest to the Soviets, particularly after World War Two, as the Tian Shan Mountains were rich with uranium. Along with economic, social, and cultural development under the Soviets also came the imposition of Western ideas. However, there existed the desire to retain aspects of national culture, which can been seen through the actions of the people and their culture, such as the fact that even if Tengir Too Ensemble feels that must play in an ensemble to be seen as professional, they still perform new compositions in addition to playing songs from the 1930’s, which reflects a nostalgia for the optimism if the early Soviet period.
[i] Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs. “Background Note: Kyrgyzstan.” U.S. Department of State. March 29, 2012. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5755.htm
[ii] The World Factbook. “Central Asia: Kyrgyzstan.” Central Intelligence Agency. May 03, 2012. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kg.html
[iii] Tchoroev, Tyntchtykbec. “Histography of Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan.” International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 34, no. 2, (May 2002), 355
[iv] Ibid, 358-359
[v] Curtis, Glenn E. ed. “Kyrgyzstan: A Country Study.” Country Studies 1996. Accessed May 15, 2012. http://countrystudies.us/kyrgyzstan/3.htm
This website contains the on-line versions of books previously published in hard copy by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress as part of the Country Studies/Area Handbook Series sponsored by the U.S. Department of the Army between 1986 and 1998.[vi] Levin, Theodore. The Hundred Thousand Fools of God: Musical Travels in Central Asia (And Queens New York). Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999. 46
[vii] Levin, Theodore. “Tengir Too: Mountain Music from Kyrgyzstan.” Liner notes. 10-12
[viii] Music of Central Asia Vol. 1: Tengir – Too: Mountain Music from Kyrgyzstan. Directed by Saodat Ismailova & Carlos Casas. Ensemble Tengir Too. Kyrgyzstan: Smithsonian Folkways, 2006. DVD
[ix] ibid. Bakyt Chytrbaev
[x] ibid. Zainidin Imanaliev
[xi] ibid. Nurlanbek Nyshanov
[ii] The World Factbook. “Central Asia: Kyrgyzstan.” Central Intelligence Agency. May 03, 2012. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kg.html
[iii] Tchoroev, Tyntchtykbec. “Histography of Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan.” International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 34, no. 2, (May 2002), 355
[iv] Ibid, 358-359
[v] Curtis, Glenn E. ed. “Kyrgyzstan: A Country Study.” Country Studies 1996. Accessed May 15, 2012. http://countrystudies.us/kyrgyzstan/3.htm
This website contains the on-line versions of books previously published in hard copy by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress as part of the Country Studies/Area Handbook Series sponsored by the U.S. Department of the Army between 1986 and 1998.[vi] Levin, Theodore. The Hundred Thousand Fools of God: Musical Travels in Central Asia (And Queens New York). Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999. 46
[vii] Levin, Theodore. “Tengir Too: Mountain Music from Kyrgyzstan.” Liner notes. 10-12
[viii] Music of Central Asia Vol. 1: Tengir – Too: Mountain Music from Kyrgyzstan. Directed by Saodat Ismailova & Carlos Casas. Ensemble Tengir Too. Kyrgyzstan: Smithsonian Folkways, 2006. DVD
[ix] ibid. Bakyt Chytrbaev
[x] ibid. Zainidin Imanaliev
[xi] ibid. Nurlanbek Nyshanov