Up to the mid-19th century a specific form of martial music evolved in the military bands of Kyrgyz and Kazakh rulers. Instruments used all over the East were transmitted to the Kyrgyz by the Uzbeks and Tajiks, who had got them from the Near East. The basic ensemble was the following: the surnay (long oboe) played the melody, while kerney/keriney (bass horn) blew the key note, and dool (drum) ensured the rhythmic accompaniment. Kerney and dool mentioned in the Manas epic as well were also instruments of military signalling. Except for military drums, membranophones are wholly missing among the Kyrgyz, Turkmens and Kazakhs.

The old military band became outdated in the 19th century, similarly to the Kazakh and other Central Asian military bands. Zataevich (1934) put down several tunes surviving in arrangements for the kiyak.

The Kyrgyz folk instruments are akin to the instruments of other Central Asian nomadic groups. Four instruments belong here: a) çoor (open end-blown flute), b) kiyak (two-stringed bowed instrument), c) komuz (three-stringed fretless plucked lute) and d) temir komuz (Jew’s harp).

a) The çoor (sometimes called sıbızgı) is a pastoral instrument made of reed, blown at the open end. Its five holes make it best suited to intone the Major scale, but with the help of the lips, half-stopped holes and other techniques several other pitches can be played, too. With the higher overtones the compass of the instrument considerably increases. No special notation for çoor tunes is known. In his “250 Kyrgyz Instrumental Pieces and Tunes” Zataevich (1934) included three flute tunes notated as performed on the kiyak.

b) Kiyak, the two-string bowed lyre is similar to the Kazakh kobız. It resembles a large wooden ladle, the handle being the neck and the bowl being the body of the instrument covered with camel skin. It has two horse-hair strings tuned to the fourth or fifth. The player presses his finger onto the string but does not press it against the fingerboard. The kiyak is basically a solo instrument, but rarely two-part pieces are also performed on it.

The Kyrgyz kiyak repertory is characterized by simple single-theme forms. The performing style, however, the pressing of the strings, the expressive glissandi, vibrati, the overtones and the legato phrasing make the sound of the kiyak and the kobiz similar to the Mongolian morin hur. Earlier the epic stories, songs of the Kazakh and Kyrgyz akins were accompanied by the kiyak. The akins used it as a solo instrument, too, with a rich repertory. Today it is practically ousted by the komuz. In my book the single example is cited from Dávid Somfai Kara’s collection, who recorded it from a professional performer in Bishkek. (ex.8a)

On the instrument of the Kyrgyz masters of the kiyak advanced programme music can also be heard with several themes and variations. The development of themes in these compositions is seen by some scholars as pointing to maqam music, but actually there is little in common between the original Central Asian improvised or varied Kyrgyz or Kazakh instrumental style and e.g. the Azeri instrumental music, a branch of the classical modal style of Arabian-Persian culture.

c) The komuz is a three-stringed fretless plucked lute played both solistically and in accompaniment. Unlike the two-stringed lute-like instruments of Central Asian groups and similarly to the instruments of the Anatolian bağlama family, the komuz has three strings. The tuning is varied and singular, the middle string tuned highest. The Major tuning schemes, going from the third toward the first string, are: D-A’-D, E-A’-E, D-A’-E and E-A’-D. When tuned by fourths, parallel fourths can be played on the higher strings and the third string can serve as bourdon. When tuned by fifths, tunes with parallel fifths can be performed. The professional technique of playing the komuz is masterly, the Kyrgyz often play in two or even three parts – that being one of the main characteristics of Kyrgyz instrumental music. In rural areas, however, more advanced many-part performance can mostly be found among the learned stratum. In view of the typically monophonic or heterophonic melodic realm of Turkic peoples it can be concluded that the more complex polyphonic com­po­sitions belonged to the professional akins and their performance by wider strata is a more recent development. The theme of this book being the Kyrgyz folksong, purely instrumental tunes are not included, but as the appended video recordings show, several singers accompany themselves on the komuz.

The komuz compositions are programmatic in nature, more monumental, varied and interesting. Some have genre names, but the exact meaning of a genre name is not always known, and a name may sometimes be applied to rather different pieces. Some terms are related to the tuning of the komuz, e.g. for kambarkan the komuz is tuned by the fifths, for şingrama by fourth+fifth, and for kerbez by two fourths. At the same time, the term şingrama also alludes to a piece of radiant, vibrant character and to a similar performing style, while kerbez is a virtuosic piece, the term also used for more monumental vocal compositions. The term kambarkan is tied to Kambar-ata (Kambar khan), the father of Kyrgyz music, the mystic protector of horses and herders. They say he invented the komuz, imitating some monkeys tugging away at a stretched intestine.

The most important segment of Kyrgyz instrumental folk music is the komuz repertory. These pieces are called küy and need years of apprenticeship with a master to learn them. The simplest are the single-theme and single-tonality varied pieces; more complex are the longer compositions of songs and attached instrumental pieces. One may come across the recurring sonata form as well, but as mentioned earlier, constant variation is more typical of Kyrgyz music.

It is to be noted that there is considerable difference between the Kyrgyz komuz, the Kazakh dombra and the Turkmen dutar. The komuz usually plays more texture, the Kazakh dombra and Turkmen dutar sound almost continuously in two parts. The music played on the three instruments also has fundamentally different structure.

d) The temir komuz (Jew’s harp) is the instrument of children and women in the first place, who perform narrow range tunes on overtones above the humming lower bourdon. I recorded a few Jew’s harp performances but they are not among the analyzed tunes. The technique of the Jew’s harp is called khömei by the Tuvans, uzliau by the Bashkirs; it is one of the most ancient methods to intone the overtones simultaneously with a sustained fundamental. Aksenov (1964: 54-62) found that in temir komuz tunes the following pitches can be intoned: G,,,-G,,-D-G-B-D-(F)-G-A-B-#C-D.