"Let's sing Kyrgyz songs"

April 13, 2018

  On April 12, in honor of the state language,  the competition "Let's sing Kyrgyz songs" was held at the International University "Ala-Too"  with the participation of representatives of foreign and local nationalities. The purpose of the competition is to interest representatives of other nationalities, who study and work at the university in the study of the state language, and to strengthen interethnic harmony.

  The competition was held in two stages: at the first stage of the competition, the 25 best participants were selected and sent to the second round. A total of 15 participants were registered for the second round.

The competition was traditionally opened with the epic "Manas", the official opening of the competition was attended by Suleiman Shenturk, a representative of the university administration and Gulnara Ibraimova, head of the state language development sector of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic. In their speech, they stressed that the language is a link of friendship and harmony between peoples and in today's era of globalization, students should know not only one, but several languages.

To evaluate the competition, a special jury was formed under the chairmanship of Sezim Tolukbaeva, a leading specialist of the education department of the National Commission on the State Language under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, and the members of the jury were: Tinatin Zhakshylykova, Director of the Language Institute, Alymbekova Suurakan, Head of the Department of Russian Language and Samatova Anipa, teacher of Turkish language.

According to a pre-compiled program, the participants were performing one by one. The first  performer was Rabia Nur Ergench from Turkey, a  second year student of the Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology, she sang the song "Apakem". Kemran Karaev, a first year student of the Faculty of Computer Engineering, a representative of the local Turkic population, performed "Mash Botoy" on the piano to the accompaniment of  komuz, and Lin Tan, a second year student of the Faculty of English Language and Literature, sang the song "Enekem" in Kyrgyz. 

The song "Bishkegim" performed by the choir of students from Turkey and the United Arab Emirates aroused a lot of positive emotions among audience. Mahir Comce from Turkey, a first-year student of the Faculty of English Language and Literature, sang the song of pop star Nurlan Nasip “Tuulgan kunun menen”, and he succeeded. Nicholas Kayembo from Uganda masterly performed the dance "Zhalyn Biy" under squall of applause. Students from Turkey, Murat Dogonay and Selim Cham, performed rap in the Kyrgyz language, in a genre that is popular among today's youth.

Anushervon Salikhov, a student from Tajikistan, sang the song "Enekem ai" with Nurbolot Sharipov. Ryan Zarga, a preparatory course student, who is an arab national, sang the song "Kyzyl Oruk". Also, the professors of our university did not stand aside and set a good example for students with their performance. Elena Romanenko, a university marketing specialist, performed a medley of Kyrgyz songs, and Satylmysh Badjak, a Turkology teacher,  read a poem by a Turkish poet in Kyrgyz.

Teachers of English and simultaneous interpretation Nazarbek Akylbek uulu and Yahya Polat performed Kyrgyz songs in a duet. Kazym Yesim, teacher of the language institute, sang a melodic song in Kyrgyz. Among the performances were also dances "Torgoyum", "Molmolum" and "Cholponum" performed by representatives of local and other nationalities. The audience especially liked the flash mob of Kyrgyz songs performed by students of the Faculty of Economics.

Among the guests of the competition: Roman Chesnov, a student of the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University, sang the song "Zhamgyr toktu", and representatives of the Language Training Center, African students sang the song "Ai ezheke".

According to the results of the competition, by the decision of the jury, the first place was awarded to Rabie Nur Ergench, the second place was taken by Lin Tan, and the third place was taken by Kemran Karaev, Nicholas Kayembo received the commendation of audience and judges for the dance "Zhalyn biyi", these students were awarded letters of thanks from the university and valuable gifts.

In conclusion, we would like to note that students can learn about the culture, customs, traditions and culture of the Kyrgyz people through studying the Kyrgyz language. This culture has been preserved in the ancient songs of our people. These songs symbolize harmony, friendship and unity between peoples. May these melodies live forever, and may our native, Kyrgyz language, inherited from our ancestors, live forever.