Gulzhigit Kalykov (Гулжигит Калыков) is a Kyrgyz pop singer and an occasional actor. Kalykov hails from Bishkek. He began singing while in school, taking a few standard music classes but actually focusing more on soccer. Yet when all the other students in his music class gradually dropped out, his teacher noticed his potential and helped […]

Gulzada Ryskulova (Гулзада Рыскулова; her stage name is gulzada, in Roman letters and often lowercase) is a well-known contemporary Kyrgyz singer. She writes her own music and lyrics. Much of her music is “inspired by Kyrgyz traditions and pride in [her] nation,” she told Sputnik Kyrgyzstan. She further said that while her genre is usually […]

Sultan Sadyraliev (Султан Садыралиев) is a contemporary Kyrgyz–Kazakh pop singer. He sings in both languages, though more often Kyrgyz. Sadyraliev has been on the Kyrgyz music scene for several years; he has been consistently appearing on Kyrgyz radio hit parade lists from 2012 or so. He is unique among current Kyrgyz singers in part because […]

Yulia Rutskaya (Юлия Руцкая) is a Russian-Kyrgyz pop singer, television host, and model who sings in Russian, Belarusian, and Kyrgyz. Originally from Vitebsk, Belarus, her family moved to Kyrgyzstan when she was five. She is a member of the significant Belarusian diaspora in Kyrgyzstan and has embraced her Kyrgyz side, singing in Kyrgyz at least […]