Central Asian virtuoso musicians to be artists in residence

UW–Madison students as well as music lovers in the greater Madison area will have a unique opportunity to learn first-hand about Central Asian music and culture when two Kyrgyz performers take up a Central Asian University Residencies program on March 19-23.

The performers – Rysbai Isakov, a laureate epic singer; and Akylbek Kasabolotov, a virtuoso folk musician and member of Kyrgyzstan’s Tengir Too Ensemble – will share their country’s unique nomadic musical traditions. Isakov and Kasabolotov will perform episodes from the Kyrgyz national epic Manas, the longest in the world at over half a million lines.

Residency activities will include small-scale teaching workshops, formal concerts, and outreach events. During the residency, the performers will teach audiences about Kyrgyz oral literature and musical traditions.

Accompanying the musicians and providing background will be Helen Faller, an anthropologist specializing in Central Asia.

Kasabolotov, Isakov, and Faller will give a concert on Wednesday, March 22 at 8 p.m. in the Great Hall of the UW–Madison Memorial Union, 800 Langdon Street. This event is free and open to the public.

The core mission of the residencies program is to use exchanges in the arts to increase cross-cultural understanding between peoples in the United States and the culturally Muslim regions of the former Soviet Union. These include Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan in Central Asia; Azerbaijan in the Caucasus Region; and Muslim regions of the Russian Federation.

Other participants in the Central Asian University Residencies program besides UW–Madison are Columbia University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Wyoming.

The musicians’ visit to UW–Madison is made possible with funds from the Kemper K. Knapp Bequest, in collaboration with the Central Asian Cultural Exchange (CACE) and the Embassy of the Kyrgyz Republic in the United States, as well as the Silkroad Foundation and the Soros Foundation in Kyrgyzstan.