Ustatshakirt - Kyrgyzstan

Galloping song traditions from Kyrgyzstan 

Ustatshakirt Ensemble hails from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and is a group of five talented young musicians who use imagination and insight to reinterpret Kyrgyz music – inspired by, but not bound by, tradition. Their lively concerts offer a rich tonal spectrum and galloping rhythms from archaic nomadic instruments such as the kil-kiyak (a two-stringed horse-eared fiddle), the komuz (a long-necked lute with three strings), the temir komuz (a mouth harp) and the sybyzgy (a long transverse flute). This forms a counterbalance to the light and soaring singing style known as “steppe bel canto”. 

The ensemble is part of the Ustatshakirt Centre, founded in 2005 as a non-governmental organisation with support from the Aga Khan Music Initiative. The name “Ustatshakirt” is the Kyrgyz form of the Persian term ustod-shogird , meaning “master-apprentice” or “master-disciple”, and refers to the traditional way in which art, music and many other skills and professions have been passed down in Central Asia. Over the past 14 years, the Centre has trained a new generation of Kyrgyz music leaders who combine deep knowledge of their own traditions with fluency in contemporary, cosmopolitan musical expressions. The Ustatshakirt Ensemble is a kind of living musical laboratory for these leaders.  

The young musicians have given concerts at several major stages and played at several national and international festivals in East Asia, Central Asia and Europe, but have traveled to Førde will be the first to the Nordic countries.  

In collaboration with the Aga Khan Music Programme