Central Asian virtuosos to be artists-in-residence

UW–Madison students and local music lovers will have an opportunity to learn firsthand about Central Asian music and culture when two Kyrgyz performers take up a Central Asian University Residencies program at UW–Madison Sunday-Thursday, 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 nomadic musical traditions and will perform episodes from the Kyrgyz national epic Manas, the longest in the world at more than half a million lines.

Isakov is a virtuoso singer of the Manas epic. In 2005, he won the Grand Prix in the Drop All Else and Sing Manas competition in Kyrgyzstan’s capitol, Bishkek.

Kasabolotov has been part of Nurlanbek Nishanov’s traditional Kyrgyz folk ensemble Tengir Too since 2003.

Residency activities will include small-scale teaching workshops, formal concerts and outreach events. 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 at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 22, in the Memorial Union’s Great Hall. This event is free and open to the public.