Akyn

Statue of Kazybek Aqyn in Naryn, Kyrgyzstan

Akyns or aqyns (Kazakh: ақын, [ɑqə́n], Kyrgyz: акын, [ɑqɯ́n]) are improvising poets and singers in the Kazakh and Kyrgyz cultures. Akyns differs from the so-called zhiraus, who are epic storytellers and a song performers. Akyns improvise in the form of a song-like recitative to the accompaniment of a dombra (among Kazakhs) or a qomuz (among Kyrgyz). Considering the nomadic lifestyle and illiteracy of most of the rural population in Central Asia in pre-Soviet times, akyns played an important role in terms of expressing people's thoughts and feelings, exposing social vices, and glorifying heroes.

Akyns are known modernly for performing aytys.

Literature

Nurmakhan, Zhanash: Kazaktyn 5000 akyn-zhyrauy. Almaty 2008. ISBN 9965-742-70-7 (In Kazakh)

See also

• Kazakh music

External links

• "Alpamysh" at the Uysal-Walker Archive of Turkish Oral Narrative, Texas Tech University
• Central Asian Identity Under Russian Rule