A bright representative of the virtuosic, so-called pop, school of komuz performance was Aydaraly Beyshukurov (1851 — 1934), one of the outstanding komuz players of the second half of the 19th — early 20th century.
He was born in the village of Kyzyl-Adyr, now part of the Kara-Buura district of the Talas region. With the help of local musicians, he successfully mastered popular traditional kyus such as "Kambar Kan," "Kara Ezgay," and "Ker Tologoo." After some time, he became fascinated with akyn improvisation and achieved remarkable results in this field. Sometimes his akyn's poetic inserts into the komuz kyus grew so extensive that they formed a kind of theatrical vocal-instrumental form.
One such example was described by akyn Kalik Akiev in his memoirs "The Path Taken," from which a free retelling of this episode is provided.
“Among the crowd, a short man with a red face and a white beard sat on a horse. Gesticulating, he played the komuz and moved his round cap 'topu' in rhythm with the kyus by nodding his head frequently.
— Who is this? — I asked the person standing next to me.
— This is Aydaraly the 'Creeping,' — he replied.
— Is he a singer? — I asked again.
— No, he is a komuz player, a comic-musician, — came the answer.
Aydaraly continued to play and sing:
Boastful piece of Aydaraly!
From St. Petersburg and Moscow,
From Oluy-Ata and Tashkent
Came the boastful piece.
In six bags
They brought the boastful piece.
On six camels and one horse
They loaded the boastful piece.
Tied with a lasso,
They brought the boastful piece.
To various peoples
They announced the boastful piece.
Here, here, here it is.
Here, here, here it is...
Akiyev gives a very colorful nickname for Beyshukurov — Aydaraly the 'Creeping' (Aydaraly jorgolek). The story of its origin is interesting. In one of the vivid theatrical komuz pieces titled "The Game of the Swan" ("Akkuunun oynogonu"), the komuz player-actor masterfully imitated a creeping white swan, which anxiously looked around to avoid being caught off guard by an eagle or a hawk.
"The Boastful Piece" ("Keyrets kuu") — one of the most popular compositions of Aydaraly Beyshukurov — has been recorded in the performance of the Kyrgyz State Philharmonic's komuz ensemble, where it has been part of the repertoire since 1936. There are two versions of the musical notation for "Keyren kuu." The first was recorded by V. Vinogradov from Korgool Dosuiev (1940). The second was performed by K. Dyushaliev based on the version of the komuz ensemble.
Toktogul Satylganov included this kyuu of Beyshukurov in his repertoire and passed it on to his students. A. Zataevich apparently had this piece in mind when he wrote about Toktogul's playing style: “The old man turns his lambskin hat inside out, flattens it, and, placing it on his head in this form, makes it crawl across his shining skull while playing, sometimes covering his eyes, sometimes tilting it jauntily, etc.”
In recent decades, the solo performance of "The Boastful Piece" by Aydaraly Beyshukurov has been presented by the soloist of the Kyrgyz State Philharmonic, Myktybek Umetaliev, who masterfully conveys all the nuances of the style of this remarkable creation.
