Musa Baetov
View to the South from Moldo Ashu Pass. In the Ak-Talaa district – to the south-west of Son Kul
On the road from Naryn to Djalal Abad, in the the last main town/village before reaching the oblast border is Baetovo,
This remote village lies next to the Naryn river on an outwash plain in the mountains. As well as the main Naryn-Kazarman road, there is another that goes south over a 3,268m pass to the At-Bashy valley and A365 to the Torugart Pass. It is described as a ”jeep road”, which means it really needs a 4 wheel drive vehicle … as it crosses a number of fords – that are not always passable after rain.
It serves as the administrative center of the Ak-Tala district … even so, it is one of the poorest villages in the region. There is basically no industry and it is said that the amount of arable land is decreasing.
The village occasionally suffers from the effects of flooding. In January 2011 there was an earthquake which caused significant damage to a number of buildings of the village.
The village is named for the singer, composer, bard and honoured artist of the Kyrgyz SSR, Myrzabek, (Musa), Baetov who was born in the village, (which was then called Baygenchek), on 10th November, 1902.
Musa Baetov
The young Musa originally made a name for himself performing for 10 years as a singer of folk songs at Kyrgyz folk festivals.
His professional career began in 1934 at the Kyrgyz Music and Drama Theatre (now the National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet. named after Aldybayas Maldybaev). In 1936 he became an performer in the Frunze Philharmonic where he was a regular performer in concerts … and from 1942 he became a tenor for Kyrgyz Opera House where he performed the roles in the operas “Aichurek” and “Manas”.
Although he had a wide ranging career, he is best known in Kyrgyzstan as a folk singer with a very distinctive style of performing – with a strong, tenor voice. He also accompanied himself on komuz and harmonica .
In his compositions, based on folk traditions, he preserved aspects of Kyrgyz folk singers. He composed a limited number of songs, which are mainly devoted to topical issues at the time: “Communism,” “Communist Party”, “happiness”, “In the Land of October”, “Red Knights”, and so on. Most popular, however, were his lyrical, love and everyday songs: “Wake up”, “Sage”, “Missing You”, “Hey, girl,” “I’ll take an apple,” “Song of the prisoner” and so on. His works were characterized by melodiousness, and lyrical warmth.
He died in the city of Frunze, (now Bishkek), on 9th May, 1949.
As well as having the village where he was born named his honour, in Bishkek a street was also named for him.
Bishkek