Akin - who is this? About creators and songs coming from the heart

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

Akin is not just a singer. This is the creator of music that comes from the heart. The one who sings his own poems to the sounds of dombra or komuz. It is believed that a real akyn always sings only his songs and tells the world about stories that happened in the world once - with him or with someone else. Do not confuse the creator with a simple singer - a performer of other people's poems! Akyn is always an improviser, and even the most attentive listener will not immediately guess what the new story will be about and to what unknown distances the song-river will take him.

I sing about what I see, or A few words about creativity

A poet-improviser and a singer among the Turkic-speaking peoples of Central Asia - this is the definition given to the akyn by "Wikipedia". From these words, one can easily understand that the hero of our article not only sings the traditional songs of his people, but also composes poetry himself. However, singing is not quite an accurate definition of what an akyn does. The Creator reads the created lines in a singsong voice, falling in time with the sound of a dombra or komuz. These folk plucked instruments help the akyn createthat special atmosphere that attracts every true connoisseur of the folk music of Central Asia.

Akin is the one who almost always improvises. The singer adapts to the mood of the crowd and in his songs he talks about what is relevant now. Akyn can be found at festivities among the Kazakhs, Nogais, and Kirghiz. There, at the festival, sometimes a kind of competition of singers (aitys) was also held. Gathered together, akyns amused the people, alternately trying to ridicule each other in poetic form - and I must say, during these competitions, sometimes very good songs were born. However, the master is able to sing about anything: about the house, about the holiday, about the people around. He can touch on politics, ridicule the work of those in power, share his experiences and thoughts - everything that is enough for imagination and that will be interesting to dear listeners.

Famous akyns

In Kazakhstan they talk about such improvisational singers:

• Kurmangazy Sagyrbayuly.
• Makhambet Utemisov.
• Suyunbai Aronuly.
• Sherniyaz Zharylgasov.
• Birzhan-sal Kozhagulov.
• Zhayau Musa Baizhanov.
• Dzhambul Dzhabaev and others

In Kyrgyzstan, other names are called:

• Zhaysan Toktogulyrchy.
• Togolok Moldo.
• Toktogul Satylganov and others

In Bashkiria, akyns were called sesen. These singers read their poems to the sounds of the Bashkir folk instrument - the three-stringed dombyra.

Akin is not only a poet and singer. Each of the well-known creators has contributed to the development of the music of a particular region. Unfortunately, the nomadic way of life was not conducive to keeping records, and it was not possible to save the creations of the ancient akyns on paper. Most of the works of the great masters have been lost.