Less Soviet, more inspiring: Kyrgyzstan launches public contest for new national anthem to reflect its nomadic heritage

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Renowned composer and head of the department of musicology and composition at the Kyrgyz National Conservatory, Balasaguyn Musayev, who participates in a competition to create a new national anthem for Kyrgyzstan, observes the orchestra of the Kyrgyz National Conservatory performing his composition for the contest in Bishkek on April 4, 2025. — AFP pic

BISHKEK, April 21 — Kyrgyzstan is getting rid of its Soviet-inspired national anthem and has launched an unprecedented public contest to find an alternative.

The mountainous Central Asian country adopted a new anthem in 1992 after independence from the USSR but it is largely based on the Soviet-era one.

The government says the anthem fails to accurately represent the young nation descending from the ancient history of the nomadic Kyrgyz people.

The Kyrgyz were incorporated into first then Tsarist and then the Soviet empires and the country still retains a strong Russian influence.

“Winning this competition would be a huge success,” said Balasaguyn Musayev, a 36-year-old composer and one of hundreds who have submitted entries for a new national anthem.

Renowned composer and head of the department of musicology and composition at the Kyrgyz National Conservatory, Balasaguyn Musayev, who participates in a competition to create a new national anthem for Kyrgyzstan, attends an AFP interview in Bishkek April 4, 2025. — AFP pic

Speaking during a rehearsal at the music conservatory in the capital Bishkek, Musayev said it took him a month to find inspiration and then he “wrote the music in two days”.

A poet friend wrote the text.

“The new anthem must be better than the previous one in every way. Otherwise, people will wonder why we changed it,” Musayev told AFP.

The winner of the contest was due to have been announced in April but the contest rules were modified and it is now unclear when an announcement could be expected.

Nurzhyguit Moldoyar, singer, composer and student at the K. Moldobasanov Kyrgyz National Conservatory, who participates in a competition to create a new national anthem for Kyrgyzstan, together with fellow musicians and collaborators performs his composition he submitted to the contest, in Bishkek April 5, 2025. — AFP pic

‘State in our own right’

Soliciting ideas from the public is a rarity in Central Asia, where Kyrgyzstan’s more competitive political system is an exception among its authoritarian neighbours.

On a global scale, a complete change of the national anthem without a radical change of the political regime is also exceptional.

In recent years, Australia, Austria and Canada have replaced some words in their anthems to promote greater gender and ethnic inclusivity.

Kyrgyzstan’s unusual decision is part of a series of measures to overhaul state symbols taken by President Sadyr Japarov, who has been in power since 2021.

Following a constitutional reform in 2021 that strengthened his powers, Japarov changed the sun on the Kyrgyz flag at the end of 2023 so that it no longer resembled a sunflower, arguing that this would strengthen national sovereignty.

He has achieved a number of successes in his time in office including boosting economic growth and fighting corruption but rights groups are concerned about growing pressures on civil society.

Japarov has said that the anthem’s lyrics about the Kyrgyz people being “on the road to freedom” does not reflect the country’s historic reality after more than three decades of independence.

“Are we going to sing for another hundred years that we have just become independent? We have a state in our own right now, and we need to write an anthem that will inspire young people and future generations,” he said last year.

Officials have also been critical of the current anthem for other reasons.

Parliament speaker Nurlanbek Shakiyev said it was so bad that “birds fly away” when they hear it.

He said the next one should “stimulate the country towards development” and be “easy to sing”.

Nurzhyguit Moldoyar (left), singer, composer and student at the K. Moldobasanov Kyrgyz National Conservatory, who participates in a competition to create a new national anthem for Kyrgyzstan, together with fellow musicians and collaborators performs his composition he submitted to the contest, in Bishkek April 5, 2025. — AFP pic

But Nurzhyguit Moldoyar, a 25-year-old composer and vocalist who has also submitted an entry, said the current one was already “a masterpiece”.

“The bar is very high,” he said, adding that he would not have wanted to change the anthem.

He said he hoped the winner would be selected based on “the feelings felt when listening to it, the musical novelties and sincerity”. — AFP

Nurzhyguit Moldoyar, singer, composer and student at the K. Moldobasanov Kyrgyz National Conservatory, who participates in a competition to create a new national anthem for Kyrgyzstan, together with fellow musicians and collaborators performs his composition he submitted to the contest, in Bishkek April 5, 2025. — AFP pic