The Cultural Research Center “Aigine”, within the framework of the youth project “Solving Youth Problems through Creative Interactions”, supported by the Soros-Kyrgyzstan Fund, announces the selection of participants among young komuz players and visually impaired/blind people ages 14 to 23 years, to participate in a series of training seminars. What does the seminar involve? Learning …
Month: March 2016
Kyrgyzchylyk Searching New Paradigms for Ancient Practices. Aitpaeva G.
This essay discusses the concept of kyrgyzchylyk (rather inadequatelyrendered in English as ‘Kyrgyzness’) as a way of transcendingdifferent boundaries: the Soviet past, Koran-basedIslam, rational thinking. Several aspects of the concept andits meaning in everyday life are discussed; in particular theidea of kyrgyzchylyk as spirituality is examined. Moreover,the concept can be seen as transcending the boundaries …
The Kyrgyz trilogy “Manas,Semetey,Seitek”: safeguarding epic’s diversity through digitization. Aitpaeva G.
The paper is aimed to share the case study on a successful safeguarding practice of the Kyrgyz epic trilogy “Manas,Semetey,Seitek”, carried by Aigine Cultural Research Center in 2010-2014. The paper describes the process of identification of safeguarding issues and approaches to address them. Since the Kyrgyz epic is a living heritage, safeguarding variety of the …
The Phenomenon of Sacred Sites in Kyrgyzstan: Interweaving of Mythology and Reality. Aitpaeva G.
This paper explores the role of Mazars (sacred sites) in the contemporary social and spiritual life of the Kyrgyz. Based upon recent ethnographic research in the Talas region of northern Kyrgyzstan, the paper argues that Mazars perform an important function in enabling local residents to deal with the emotional, psychological and physical consequences of a …