The Kyrgyz youth song genres include songs performed by young men (jigitter yrlary) and young women (kyzdar yrlary) aged approximately 14 to 25 years. This is the most dynamic layer of folklore culture, characterized by specific socio-psychological and artistic-aesthetic features determined by the age of the performers and listeners, the emotional mobility of their psyche, the optimism in their perception of the world, and the multifacetedness of their interests.
The genre group of youth songs exists at the intersection of other genre associations — lyrical, ritual (including wedding), and comedic. It is precisely due to the fluid synthesis of the properties of these genres and the energy inherent in youth, embodied in folk-sport and playful elements, that original song samples of this category are born.
In terms of performance characteristics within the genre structure of youth folk songs, two main types are distinguished — individual and mass. The first includes both solo and paired (duet, dialogic) singing. The mass type, naturally, implies collective performance. Both types are generally bright in mood and imagery.
It is noteworthy that the boundaries separating youth songs from other genre groups are often quite conditional. For instance, solo love songs performed in this age group can be classified as the first type of youth songs. A special subgroup of youth songs includes those of comedic and humorous content.
Let us focus on some specific genre varieties of youth songs.
One of them is the popular genre selkinchek (literally, "swings"). "Selkinchek" was performed, as the name suggests, during swinging on swings, outdoors, usually during the day or in the evening, in warm weather. The word "selkinchek" can refer both to the game and to the title of specific songs, and in general to one of the genres of vocal creativity.
Currently, "selkinchek" as an organic playful element of youth entertainment is almost no longer practiced, but its musical-poetic component remains popular. The musical notation of "selkinchek" songs began in the post-October period.
Young men and women sing in unison, at a fast tempo. The rhythm of the song is clear, danceable, and the melody is built on ascending and descending phrases, alternating in a "question-answer" format. The text consists of traditional syllabo-tonic seven-syllable verses with a caesura between the half-verses following the scheme 4 + 3. "Selkinchek" exists in many variants. An example recorded and published by V. Vinogradov is provided in the Appendix.
In our time, collective performance of this song is practiced in amateur creativity. However, solo versions accompanied by the komuz are also encountered. This refers to the comedic song "Selkinchek" by the improvisational akyn A. Usenbaev, which humorously depicts the portrait of a young woman awkwardly playing on the swings.
Bright examples of ensemble and group youth folk songs can be found in the songs of the genre kyzdar-jigittyn yry, or kyzdar-jigit (literally, "girl, guy"), which sounds at folk festivals and parties. The first variety is duet, while the second is collective (a group of boys and a group of girls).
A ritual variant of the "kyzdar-jigit" songs is the ceremonial wedding "jar-jar ai".
"Kyzdar-jigit" is performed as a dialog-competition between a girl and a guy or groups of youth. Traditionally, the song is performed at both mass celebrations and in a more intimate setting. Each side participating in such a song competition strives to gain the upper hand in any case, on any topic addressed: details of everyday life, interpersonal relationships, praise or reproach, etc. While listing each other's virtues, the participants express feelings of friendship and mutual sympathy. However, they often tease each other, ridiculing the flaws of human nature. Overall, this genre is generally light-hearted and playful.
To gain an advantage in musical-poetic improvisation, the most talented young men and women participate in the performance. The comedic artistic talent of the singers plays an important role. Some particularly gifted performers create a vocal-scenic composition based on the song. Such a form has been adopted by the plays and sketches of well-known folk singers and artists from the Naryn Regional Musical Drama Theater, S. Andabekov and K. Karasartova. The popular comedic song-dialogue "Old Man and Old Woman" ("Chal-kempir" or "Karyldaryn duet," example 24) presented in the Appendix is an original example of the "kyzdar-jigit" genre. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that the performance includes dance.
As an entertaining genre of song folklore, "kyzdar-jigit" is popular among Kyrgyz amateur artists, who often include it in their programs. It also shows similarities with humorous genres from other folk cultures: the Russian chastushka, the Uzbek genre "lapar," and the Kazakh folk dance-song duet.
The form of "kyzdar-jigit" songs is verse-based, strophic. The female and male parts are identical but sound in different tessituras. For example, in the eponymous song by J. Sheralieva, the male part begins in the first octave, while the female part starts in the second, and in the last verse, the parts sound simultaneously — also in an octave.
In contrast to the previous examples, the "kyzdar-jigit" genre is resolved in the composition of the improvisational akyn E. Tursunaliev to the words of R. Shukurbe-kov "Kyz menen jigit." This expanded lyrical song-poem is performed in the style of akyn's recitative "terme" accompanied by the komuz. E. Tursunaliev sings from the perspective of two "characters," whose dialogue is built on the development of a lyrical plot. The characters' lines alternate with the author's comments.
"Kyz menen jigit" by E. Tursunaliev goes beyond the traditional genre of Kyrgyz youth songs but is related to it in content. This example clearly illustrates another regularity in the development of folk songs, namely the formation of new folklore works through the crossbreeding of genres and styles, in this case — the playful dialogic song "kyzdar-jigit" and the expanded solo akyn improvisation.
Thus, "kyzdar-jigit" is a genre of traditional youth humorous-lyrical song-competition, in which the male and female parts (solo or unison-group) follow one another, and at the end, they sound simultaneously.
Folklorists and literary scholars have collected, systematized, and published a number of texts of "kyzdar-jigit" songs, but unfortunately, without musical examples.
Old samples of songs from this genre have not survived, nor are they found in the collections of A. Zataevich and V. Vinogradov. However, the tradition of the genre has not died; it has been continued by folk authors-songwriters and improvisational akyns in new humorous songs — such as "Khoroshi vy, podrugi" ("Sonun da"), "Devushka, jigit" ("Kyz-jigit") by J. Sheralieva, "Rovesniki" ("Tentush-tar") by S. Mambetbaev, "Devushka i jigit" ("Kyz menen jigit") by E. Tursunaliev, and others.
A variety of this genre is akyinek (literally, "quarrel") — a song-dialogue between two women or women's groups. The name of the genre accurately conveys the character and structure of the song dialogue.
Like "kyzdar-jigit," "akyinek" also belongs to the collective artistic tradition associated with folk festivities. These songs were performed in warm summer weather when girls from two ails entered into an improvised song competition, aiming to showcase their musical talents and skills, provoke their rivals with a witty joke or ironic remark, and receive an appropriate response.
In the performance of "akyinek" songs, choral unison could "dissolve," forming a folk-song heterophonic texture. The pronounced competitiveness and entertaining character are features of this women's group song genre, which, unlike the similar genre "bekbekey," was performed during the day and was not unambiguously utilitarian.
Thus, comedy is present in many songs of mass folklore, which are united under the common name tamasha yry (literally, "joking song"). At the same time, humorous and satirical works of professional folk comedians — kuuduls — occupy an important place in national vocal culture.
Kuudul (literally, "imitator, comic") is a special figure in Kyrgyz national artistic creativity. This is a folk poet, artist, and singer of a comedic type who possesses versatile talents: literary, acting, and musical. Often, kuuduls staged puppet (marionette) theater performances. Professional kuuduls possessed the gift of artistic speech and sharp anecdotes, invented and recounted amusing situations, humorous tales, and imitated the voices of people and animals.
Famous kuuduls who left a significant mark in the history of folk comedic creativity include Zhooshbay Borsolov (1840—1919), Kokotoy Totoev (1849—1916), Karachunak Shaldyrov (1862—1933), Kuirchuk (Kudaybergen) Omurzakov (1866—1940), Beknazar Arzymatov (1881—1953), and Sharshen Termechikov.
