Airmen learn traditions during Kyrgyz Cultural Day

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Olufemi Owolabi
  • 376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, Kyrgyzstan (AFNS) --  Airmen of the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing got a close look at some of their host nation's customs and traditions during Kyrgyz Cultural Day held here recently.

The day focused on familiarizing Airmen with the uniqueness of Kyrgyz heritage. Through practical hands-on experience, Airmen here had the opportunity to learn about Kyrgyz crafts, such as rug making and building a round shepherd tent made of wood and felt, called a yurt.

"I was fascinated by how functional the yurt and all Kyrgyz art and crafts are," said Chief Master Sgt. James Dowell, 376th AEW command chief. "Even though it seems like simple material and it all comes from nature, every bit of it has to be handcrafted and picked out very carefully. When they put it together, it comes together really quick. It is fascinating to see something that was designed thousands of years ago still be a functional, useful and very practical item."

The culture day presented a three-person folk band, which performed various songs using several ancient and unique Kyrgyz musical instruments, such as the komuz and daboobaz.

The team of performers, led by Belek Shakirov, even evoked more applause from the audience, made up of Airmen and coalition forces, when Gulinara Raimalieva played a traditional national instrument, called the "temir komuz."

Temir komuz, which translates into "iron accordion," is played with the tongue while in the performer's mouth and plucking an attached reed with the finger to produce a note.

"Music is a way of life for Kyrgyz people," said Mr. Shakirov. "We are able to live together as a nation through music because music is an inspiration for us. This group, which has been together for 18 years, keeps old music alive. We play for everybody, old and young people alike, and try to get everyone involved. Our group can play for people in different moods and for different occasions."

After their performance, the group of singers posed for photos with the servicemembers.

Mr.Shakirov said he was very excited to be a part of the cultural day events. 

"This cultural day is a baby step in building on the already strong community relationship between Manas and our people, and we hope to work more with Airmen at the Transit Center in the future," he added.

Hosted by the 376th Expeditionary Mission Support Group, the cultural day event generated further interaction and teamwork between Kyrgyz citizens and Airmen when audience members volunteered to see what it was like to make a rug, and to erect and assemble a yurt from scratch.

"I like the event because it shows a lot of Kyrgyz culture," said Senior Airman Maria Gates, 376th AEW coalition coordinator and translator, who was born in Russia and raised for a while in Kyrgyzstan. "I learned about the different types of musical instruments, and different of ways of making a living.

"Some people have been doing this for a very long time, and it works just as good today as some of the modern ways of life. I like this culture because the people are very family oriented, and everybody works as a team," she said. "This event is a good lesson about teamwork, which was especially exhibited when they were building the yurt. The culture is also a lot about mutual respect. It was an eye-opening event for a lot of people."

Most Airmen said getting hands-on on and getting a closer interaction with their Kyrgyz counterparts make the cultural day event much more educational. Most of them said that the interaction part of the event was fun, and made the overall goal of the Kyrgyz Cultural Day more realistic.

"The interaction between Airmen, coalition partners and the Kyrgyz citizens was phenomenal," said Chief Dowell, who was one of the volunteers for rug making and yurt building. "Even though we didn't all speak the same language, we got together and worked together. I think that is symbolic of what we do here day-to-day at the Transit Center at Manas."