Gulnur Satylganova / Гульнур Сатылганова

Gulnur Satylganova (Гульнур Сатылганова) is a very popular contemporary and classic Kyrgyz pop(ish) singer. She is one of the best-known female Kyrgyz singers perhaps of all time—it’s hard to overstate her importance to Kyrgyz contemporary music. Satylganova was born in Toktogul, Krygyzstan, in 1968. She always dreamed of becoming a performer, but it took her […]

Aibek Zamirov / Айбек Замиров

Aibek Zamirov (Айбек Замиров) is a Kyrgyz pop singer who sings in both Kyrgyz and Russian (and occasionally English). He is best known for participating in the duet Bishkek with Arsen (Арсен) when the two were representing Kyrgyzstan at the New Wave international music festival in 2011. They were competing separately at first, but for […]

Bek Borbiev / Бек Борбиев

Bek Borbiev (Бек Борбиев; real name Berador Borbuyev, Берадор Борбуев) is a Kyrgyz singer-songwriter still working today, though he is from the generation before the new crop. His style is completely different from that of today, totally uninfluenced by American pop (although it is perhaps influence by the Soviet pop of his time). His music […]

Eles / Элес

Eles (Элес, meaning “dream” in English, and not to be confused with the Kazakh girl band of almost the same name) was a contemporary Kyrgyz band popular in the 1990s and 2000s. They sang in Russian and Kyrgyz. One of the most successful Kyrgyz bands of all time, they are credited with being one of […]

Arsen / Арсен

Arsen Zhumabekov (Арсен Жумабеков, though he goes by his first name alone) is a popular contemporary Kyrgyz pop star who sings in Kyrgyz, Russian, and English. His music is a bit different from that of some of the other most famous Kyrgyz singers of today—less dance-y, more melodic, fitting his more serious-sounding voice. From Talas, […]

Bayastan / Баястан

Bayastan Botokanov (Баястан Ботоканов; he also sometimes goes by the moniker Ortoasiabayastan, Ортоазиябаястан) is a Kyrgyz rapper. He’s young—born in 1993—but not new to Bishkek rap. While there isn’t a ton of information floating around about him yet, he’s definitely someone to watch out for on the Bishkek music scene. Many of his songs are […]

Omar / Омар

Omar (Омар; Omurbek Zhanyshev, Омурбек Жанышев) is one of the most popular contemporary Kyrgyz singers, one of the members of Kyrgyzstan’s up-and-coming current pop scene. He sings in Kyrgyz, Russian, and English in a classic pop voice. He also plays the komuz, the Kyrgyz national instrument. Omar was born in 1988 in Bishkek. He began […]

Kanykei / Каныкей

Kanykei (or Каныкей; her full name is Kanykei Alymbekova, Каныкей Алымбекова) is a popular contemporary Kyrgyz singer. She is known for singing in the ethno-rock genre—she uses some rock instrumentation, but her music is somehow deeper and fuller than much contemporary rock—and sings in a stunning, powerful voice in both Russian and, more often, Kyrgyz. […]

Mirbek Atabekov / Мирбек Атабеков

Мirbek Аtabekov (Мирбек Атабеков) is known as the most famous Kyrgyz singer of today (or perhaps of all time). Limon.kg, a Kyrgyz online newspaper, has called him “our everything,” a title that refers to common way that Russians have of referring to Pushkin. He’s also a songwriter and starred in the 2014 Kyrgyz film Talisman […]

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