In pre-class and class societies, when the ancient Turkic-speaking ancestors of the Kyrgyz lived a nomadic pastoral life, song folklore was inseparable from their labor activities.
However, modern musical transcriptions of the few samples of labor chants have been made by folklore collectors based on reports from informants who performed them in conditions far removed from the authentic labor process.
Based on the poetic content of the performed and recorded songs, it can be concluded that in their archaic form they were sung up until the early 20th century, when a radical break from the feudal-clan way of life of the Kyrgyz began.
Among all the ancient mass folklore songs related to labor, the genres of "bekbekey," "shyryl-dan," and "op mayda" stand out clearly. The first two are associated with animal husbandry, while the third is linked to agriculture, directly related to the labor process itself.
They emerged approximately in the middle or at the final stage of the primitive communal system (the Bronze Age). This can be inferred from the typical musical and poetic means, as well as the peculiar mythological representations reflected in these genres.
Bekbekey is one of the oldest shepherd song genres. Its emergence was due to the economic characteristics of the nomadic pastoral community, which organized collective protection of small livestock in summer pastures (zhailoo). In early spring, winter, and late autumn, the song "bekbekey" was hardly performed; rather, its performance was possible only in the form of music without the appropriate background for this genre, as during these seasons, nomads kept sheep and goats in pens.
This song is first mentioned in pre-revolutionary sources. The Russian orientalist G. Zagryazhsky, who studied the old pastoral life of the Kyrgyz, wrote that "at night, the livestock are guarded by girls who shout the song until dawn to scare away wolves." Thus, the author correctly noted a typical element of the genre — emotionally-signaling exclamations.
The first definition of this genre was later given by A. Zataevich: "Bekbekey refers to the songs sung by Kyrgyz women who guard the flocks of rams at night." In his commentary on the version of the "bekbekey" chant he published, the scholar emphasized that these songs "usually consist of a high, prolonged note, falling out of the main tonality and lingering long in the night silence, in the nature of a warning exclamation."
A. Zataevich refers to a typical feature of the genre — the concluding intonated interjection "ai, du-u-u-yt!" At the same time, in other versions of the song "bekbekey," there is a characteristic moment — the multi-voiced "laughter" of the guards, intonationally descending after the cadential exclamation. This, evidently, was how they encouraged themselves in the anxious atmosphere of the night.
The socio-domestic function of the "bekbekey" songs had a distinctly practical character. For the shepherdesses, these songs served not only as a signal to scare away wolves but also as a means of entertainment. It was a unique form of popular mass folklore music-making. In general, "bekbekey" does not fully correspond to the category of labor song genre, which implies direct accompaniment or musical reflection of the rhythm of labor movement. This is an aesthetic element that plays an important role in the performance of the guards in fulfilling their communal production duties.
V. Vinogradov provides a characterization of the "bekbekey" genre. He studied the socio-domestic, content, and musical-performance aspects of the genre. He described "bekbekey" in detail, but at the same time, his definition requires some clarifications regarding the degree of popularity of this genre. V. Vinogradov's assertion that "bekbekey is a widespread song among the people" is only true concerning the previous era, as at that time these songs indeed had a strong social foundation and were widely performed.
In the 20th century, the genre lost its original properties, which is associated with fundamental social changes in the economic life of the Kyrgyz. It increasingly lost its previous foundation, coming into clear contradiction with the system of socialist cooperative economy.
