Akyns or aqyns (Kazakh: ақын, IPA: [ɑqə́n], Kyrgyz: акын, IPA: [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.
Literature
Nurmakhan, Zhanash: Kazaktyn 5000 akyn-zhyrauy. Almaty 2008. ISBN 9965-742-70-7 (In Kazakh)
See also
External links
- "Alpamysh" at the Uysal-Walker Archive of Turkish Oral Narrative, Texas Tech University
- Central Asian Identity Under Russian Rule
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