Dialogical Akyn Genres — a professional artistic form of song and poetic competitions with the general name kayym, widely spread among the people. The youth song genres "kız-jigit," "akıynek," and friendly song and poetic tournaments "sarmerden," among others, are built on the type of competitive dialogue.
The dialogical akyn genres are called aitys (from "ayt" — literally, "to speak") and exist in two major forms: creative competition with elements of rivalry; creative meeting without explicit competition.
“Aitys” represents the highest stage of development of akyn art, but at the same time, it is closely linked to the stylistic features of solo akyn genres and their expressive means.
“Aitys” is a public musical and poetic competition between two (sometimes more) akyns in the form of a dialogue, accompanied by playing the komuz or without accompaniment. It includes elements such as mutual questions and answers, a lively creative reaction to the opponent's performance, and the desire to prove the superiority of one's voice, instrument, and improvisational talent. Thus, the creative ideas of two masters are embodied, who have the same performing means but different artistic data and opportunities.
Dialogical akyn genres are more theatrical than solo ones. All elements of “aytıt” come together spontaneously (without prior agreement) within the framework of a canonized but sufficiently free form of communication.
The competition lasts from 20-40 minutes to several hours, forming the akyn type of multipart cyclic musical and poetic form, in which vocal and instrumental sections are arranged according to a traditionally established scheme. One of the akyns (usually the older one) performs the first line after the komuz introduction, under his own accompaniment, and passes the baton of improvisation to the second akyn. The opponent, also after an instrumental introduction, delivers a "response."
It should be noted that in competitions, the vocal parts of both akyns often sound in the same modal tonality, and their komuzs are tuned identically. For example, the famous “aitys” of akyns T. Shabdanbaev and Y. Boronchiev "Under the Banner of October" ("Oktayber bergen nur menen") is performed by each of them in a characteristic for Kyrgyz folk melody variable mode: mixolydian D and dorian A.
In the process of musical unfolding in “aitys,” typical folk techniques and means are used, such as an untempered system of text intonation, variability of melodic development, free syllabo-tonic rhythm, tirade construction of lines, and individual correlation of voice and accompaniment parts.
According to national tradition, improvising akyns are specially invited to the competition, where they meet in the presence of a large audience, which adds a special solemnity to the situation. “Aitys” of all varieties enjoyed great popularity, and their results usually had a long-lasting public resonance.
The thematic direction, conditions for conducting and performing “aitys” are largely determined by the character and forms of the musical life of society. Akyns mainly perform at folk feasts - “toyah,” weddings, in respected families, and at memorials. The venue for “aitys” is a yurt or open space (summer pasture - jayloo, city square).
In the second half of the 20th century, the audience for improvising akyns significantly changed and expanded: “aitys” sounds in philharmonic halls, theaters, clubs, on the radio, and television. However, in stage concert performance, this genre loses some important features, primarily — improvisational freedom.
In the practice of “aitys,” a great intra-genre diversity has developed. Let’s list the main varieties:
• zhalkar akyn aitys (competition of major akyns, classical aitys);
• ayal-erkek aitys (competition between a male akyn and a female akyn);
• eki, uch, tert akyn aitys (competition of two, three, four akyns); mayramdyk, saltanat aitys (competition of a ceremonial nature); tamasha, kordoo aitys (competition of a humorous, satirical nature);
• tabyshtakhtuu aitys (aitys with riddles).
A significant variety of “aitys” is the genre alym sabak (“catch the line”). This is a peculiar form of musical and poetic competition, a kind of blitz tournament, in which akyns compete not in a broad and sequential unfolding of their thoughts, as in the genre of “aitys,” but in a brief and concise expression of it. In the genre “alym sabak,” akyns exchange short melodic lines in one, two, three (sometimes four) lines. Before each line, each akyn plays a short instrumental prelude on the komuz. An example is the recorded “alym sabak” of Toktogul Satylganov and his student Kalik Akiev (according to K. Akiev).
In “alym sabak,” more than in “aitys,” poetic talent is important — victory awaits the akyn who possesses a sharper word, quick reaction, and artistic imagination. The tasks of the participants become even more complicated if the conditions of the competition are agreed upon in advance, for example, to decipher the meaning of the opponent's words, to use (or not to use) certain words, etc.
In terms of content, “aitys” can be of two types: conflictual and non-conflictual. A meeting between Toktogul and Arzymat can be considered an “aitys” of the first group:
Shameless glutton, I hear your laughter,
You call me a beggar in front of everyone,
But let me be poor, let me be in shabby clothes —
I am free, like a wild horse.
Naturally, in conflict-type competitions, the audience evaluates primarily the mastery of the word as a weapon, wit, and the civic position of the akyns, while in non-conflict-type meetings — their musical and poetic abilities.
An example of an “aitys” of the second type is the meeting of Toktogul with Alymkul, later recorded by V. Vinogradov from one of its participants — akyn Alymkul Usenbaev. Such competitions are characterized by smoothness and fluidity of recitative, and the poetic text, benevolent in tone, resembles the style of instructive-didactic solo songs of akyns.
This type of akyn dialogical genres is essentially a creative meeting. Depending on the purpose, it has various thematic content:
• exchange of greetings (uchurashuu, salamdashuu);
• greeting addressed to the audience (jolugushuu, kedeeshuu); mutual information about socio-political events or personal news (jatsylyktar, kabardashuu);
• discussion of current socio-cultural, moral and ethical issues (maselery talkuuloo);
• creative exchange enriching participants and listeners (chyrgarmachylyk didarlashuu).
The absence of explicit competitiveness in the genre of creative meeting allows for a fuller realization of the properties and goals of this dialogical type of akyn activity — a joint search for answers to the pressing questions of the time, mutual enrichment through artistic methods of the profession. The creative meeting of akyns, despite its sometimes personal character, is necessarily a public artistic action.
Thus, “aitys” represents a major akyn ensemble recitative genre in the form of a conflictual or non-conflictual musical and poetic dialogue-competition.
