Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Artwork by Dosbol Kassymov, vocals by Farya Faraji, music closely based on folk motifs from Altaic music, with thanks to Murat for input on the arrangement. The Epic Turkic Music is a project where the sounds of the current, living traditions of the Turkic peoples are used as a framing device to explore themes relating to the mythology, folklore and history of the Turkic peoples. These are not historical recreations nor "epic music" in the cinematic soundtrack sense, but a project of ethnomusicological research and performance that showcases the epic narrative repertoire of the Turkic people through their living musical traditions. This song primarily uses the musical sounds found in Altai and Central Asian modern traditional music, and follows closely in the footsteps of bands such as Altai Kai. Modern Altai music often uses heptatonic minor scales alongside the more typical Central Asian and East Asian pentatonic phrasings, and also incorporates harmonic progressions inherited from Soviet influence on the dombra/topshur lutes. The instruments used are the Kazakh dombra, the Altai ilkili, and a flute.
The text is historical and extracted from the surviving Old Turkic language inscriptions called the Kul Tigin inscription, part of the larger Orkhon inscriptions found in the Orkhon valley of Mongolia, the oldest known Turkic monumental texts.
Lyrics in Old Turkic:
Üze kök Teŋri asra yağız yer qılınduqda, ikind ara kiši oğlı qılınmış.
Kiši oğlınta üze eçüm Bumın Qağan, İstemi Qağan olurtmış.
Türük bodun yoq bolmasun tiyin, Teŋri atam Qağan’ğa il berti, il tutdı.
On altı yaşında Ertiş öŋre süq apardı. Boduŋ üzer yürüdü. Süŋü sinmiş er boltı.
Türgiš bodun ile qağılım boltı. Kül Tigin er at binip süŋü urdı. Boduŋ yoq boltı.
Qırq yer süŋü sinmiş, er at yügürmiş, yürek yırtılmamış.
English translation:
When above the blue Heaven and below the dark Earth were created, between them were created the sons of men.
Among those sons of men, my ancestors Bumın Khagan and İstemi Khagan sat enthroned.
So that the Turkic people might not perish, Heaven gave my father the realm, and he held it.
At sixteen he led an army beyond the Irtysh. He advanced upon the enemy. His spear broke in battle, and he became a man.
We met the Türgish host in battle. Kül Tigin mounted his steed, thrust his spear, and the host was destroyed.
His spear was broken in forty places; his horse galloped through forty fields; his heart never tore.
Artwork by Dosbol Kassymov, vocals by Farya Faraji, music closely based on folk motifs from Altaic music, with thanks to Murat for input on the arrangement. The Epic Turkic Music is a project where the sounds of the current, living traditions of the Turkic peoples are used as a framing device to explore themes relating to the mythology, folklore and history of the Turkic peoples. These are not historical recreations nor "epic music" in the cinematic soundtrack sense, but a project of ethnomusicological research and performance that showcases the epic narrative repertoire of the Turkic people through their living musical traditions. This song primarily uses the musical sounds found in Altai and Central Asian modern traditional music, and follows closely in the footsteps of bands such as Altai Kai. Modern Altai music often uses heptatonic minor scales alongside the more typical Central Asian and East Asian pentatonic phrasings, and also incorporates harmonic progressions inherited from Soviet influence on the dombra/topshur lutes. The instruments used are the Kazakh dombra, the Altai ilkili, and a flute.
The text is historical and extracted from the surviving Old Turkic language inscriptions called the Kul Tigin inscription, part of the larger Orkhon inscriptions found in the Orkhon valley of Mongolia, the oldest known Turkic monumental texts.
Lyrics in Old Turkic:
Üze kök Teŋri asra yağız yer qılınduqda, ikind ara kiši oğlı qılınmış.
Kiši oğlınta üze eçüm Bumın Qağan, İstemi Qağan olurtmış.
Türük bodun yoq bolmasun tiyin, Teŋri atam Qağan’ğa il berti, il tutdı.
On altı yaşında Ertiş öŋre süq apardı. Boduŋ üzer yürüdü. Süŋü sinmiş er boltı.
Türgiš bodun ile qağılım boltı. Kül Tigin er at binip süŋü urdı. Boduŋ yoq boltı.
Qırq yer süŋü sinmiş, er at yügürmiş, yürek yırtılmamış.
English translation:
When above the blue Heaven and below the dark Earth were created, between them were created the sons of men.
Among those sons of men, my ancestors Bumın Khagan and İstemi Khagan sat enthroned.
So that the Turkic people might not perish, Heaven gave my father the realm, and he held it.
At sixteen he led an army beyond the Irtysh. He advanced upon the enemy. His spear broke in battle, and he became a man.
We met the Türgish host in battle. Kül Tigin mounted his steed, thrust his spear, and the host was destroyed.
His spear was broken in forty places; his horse galloped through forty fields; his heart never tore.
