An outstanding kyl kyakist and komuz player was Murataaly Kurenkeev (1860—1949). He was born in the village of Taldy-Bulak, now in the Kemin district of the Chui region, into a musical family. His father Kurenkey and grandfather Belek played the kyl kyak, komuz, choore, surnae, and kernee.
In his youth, Murataaly participated in a major music competition held near Balakchy in honor of delegates from various districts who had come for a meeting. Murataaly Kurenkeev competed against the komuz players of Issyk-Kul, Chyngyzbay and Bokkoton, and emerged victorious. M. Kurenkeev met several times with Kazakh akyns-improvisers Zhambyl Zhabayev and Kenen Azerbaev, playing the Kazakh dombra.
Murataaly was among those Kyrgyz who, in 1916, fled to the neighboring Chinese province to escape the tsarist punitive detachments. After returning to his homeland a year after the overthrow of the tsarist regime in Russia, he lived in the city of Karakol, where he organized a circle of komuz players. At that time and later, many musicians, including Karamoldo Orozov, learned the art of playing from him.
From 1929 to 1936, M. Kurenkeev worked at the Kyrgyz State Musical and Dramatic Theater, participating in the musical arrangement of performances.
For ten years (1936—1946), Murataaly worked as a soloist of the Kyrgyz State Philharmonic, where he played the kyl kyak in the folk instruments orchestra. There, he also mastered musical notation.
For his active participation in the Decade of Kyrgyz Art in Moscow in 1939 and for his long-term creative activity, he was awarded the honorary title of People's Artist of the Kyrgyz SSR and received the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. In the same year, he was accepted into the Union of Composers of the USSR.
In Murataaly Kurenkeev's performance repertoire, there are over a hundred instrumental works—from popular melodies to large-scale pieces of classical tradition ("kambarakan," "shyngyrama," "kerbez," etc.). Among them are his own kyuu, as well as many folk pieces.
In terms of performance style, M. Kurenkeev belonged to that school of Kyrgyz folk tradition which is referred to in musical folklore as academic. He played complex pictorial-programmatic instrumental cycles, often accompanying his performance with commentary. In addition to Kyrgyz melodies, he frequently included Russian and Kazakh tunes in his performances.
Murataaly's contribution to the repertoire for the kyl kyak is quite significant. A. Zataevich recorded 18 pieces directly from the musician. This may only be a part of his legacy. The kyuu of M. Kurenkeev enriched both genre groups of kyl kyak music.
The pieces of instrumental genesis are characterized by vivid pictorial clarity, such as "Uraan"—a concise battle "episode from nature." The entirety of Murataaly's legacy is marked by magnificent relief, expressive thematics, and image-psychological authenticity.
An instrumental rendition of an epic tale is the kyuu "Akkochkor menen Kanky"—a monologue of a grieving father who has lost his sons. Each refrain of this miniature poem is quite individual, aided by its temporal length, developed rhythm dramaturgy, wide sound range, and thematic work in the middle section of the piece. The imagery of the piece, possessing modal ambivalence and a mysterious "darkness" of color, can be described as conflictual, which is a rarity for folk style and even more so for the repertoire of the kyl kyak.
