Winners named in Kyrgyz-Kazakh aitysh competition at Kyrchyn

The Kyrgyz-Kazakh aitysh competition has ended at the Kyrchyn mountain pasture, with performers from both countries sharing the top honors. The improvisational poetry contest ran from Sept. 2 to 4 as part of the sixth World Nomad Games.

Kazakhstan’s Meirbek Sultanhan and Kyrgyzstan’s Elmirbek Imanaliev received the main prize, along with 300,000 soms each. The first-place awards went to Kazakhstan’s Mukhtar Niyazov and Nursultan Maldybaev, who received 250,000 soms apiece.

The second-place winners were Kazakhstan’s Khazyret Berdikhan and Kyrgyzstan’s Kutman Sadybakasov. Each received 200,000 soms. Kyrgyzstan’s Nurlan Esenkulov and Akmatbek Sultan uulu took third place and received 150,000 soms each.

Other participants also received cash awards. The total prize fund was 3 million soms. The contest was organized by Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Culture, Information and Youth Policy, the Kyrgyz National Manas Theatre and the Aitysh public foundation.