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 a while to reach her goal both because of her natural shyness and her father’s forbidding her to sing (although she says that he is now very proud of her). Yet this allowed her to try out a variety of types of arts. She first trained as a pastry chef, but soon she realized that pastry wasn’t for her. She enrolled at the Kyrgyz State University of the Arts, where she studied choral direction. She worked in theater for some time, including as an actress.
In the mid-1990s she decided to leave the theater to finally pursue her long-held passion for music. She started her solo singing career and in short order became one of the most celebrated Kyrgyz singers—and still is to this day, as a whole generation grew up listening to her music. She is a People’s Artist of the Kyrgyz Republic and is sometimes called the Alla Pugachova of Kyrgyzstan.
Satylganova has a beautiful, soulful voice that transcends the pop genre—her music is deep rather than just peppy (though it is often that, too), and often uses lush, detailed instrumentation to uphold, never overshadow, her voice. She is still performing to this day, saying, “Artists never grow old … Gulnur Satylganova will never be extinguished.”
“To You” (“Сага”):
Lyrics for “Сага”:
Жашоодон бакыт издеп турган кезим
Дем берет, умут берет айткан созун
Канымда калып калат кайрык болуп
Кандай деп кабарымды алган кээбин
Дуйномдун корку сенсии, шаны сенсии
Ырымдын ырдап турган жаны сенсии
Тун кокко жылдызым деп кадап алар
Ботодой коздорундун ар ирмеми
Ааламдын сан жетпеген шамалында
Сагынткан бир жытын бар жамалында
Арманым болбосо эле ошол бойдон
Ал жытын калып калса ырларымда
Дуйномдун корку сенсии, шаны сенсии
Ырымдын ырдап турган жаны сенсии
Тун кокко жылдызым деп кадап алар
Ботодой коздорундун ар ирмеми
Сенсиз кун токтогонсуйт, мезгил жылбай
Кыялга чомулсом да журок сыздайт
Кусалык каптаганда аргасыздан
Жан эркен махабаттын ырын ырдайт
Дуйномдун корку сенсии, шаны сенсии
Ырымдын ырдап турган жаны сенсии
Тун кокко жылдызым деп кадап алар
Ботодой коздорундун ар ирмеми
“White Art” (“Ак санат”):
