(b Chon-Kemin, 1860; d Chon-Kemin, 1949). Kyrgyz instrumental performer. His grandfather Belek and his father Kurenkei (1826–1907) were well-known musicians, and Kurenkeyev learnt to play a number of traditional instruments including the kïyak (two-string fiddle), the komuz (three-string lute) and the choor (end-blown flute). In 1922 he organized the first ensemble of komuz players in the city of Przheval'sk. From 1930 to 1946 he worked in Frunze (now Bishkek), performing as a soloist and as a member of the orchestra of traditional instruments. He had an extensive knowledge of folklore, especially ceremonial genres, and his works included all the most important characteristics of the Kyrgyz melodic heritage. His repertory of traditional music comprised about 100 works, including shepherds' tunes, ritual koshok, instrumental miniatures and complex kyuu (programmatic instrumental pieces), and he was familiar with several komuz poems such as shyngrama, ker tolgoo and botoü. He also created his own kyuu, notably Kambarkan in honour of the hunter Kambar, the legendary inventor of the Kyrgyz komuz. Kurenkeyev used the kïyak to imitate the cries of animals, the sounds of nature and the patterns of human speech; it was said that ‘his kïyak articulates words’. He was acquainted with the Kazakh aqyn and dömbra player Jambyl Jabayev. Kurenkeyev's work influenced that of several Kyrgyz composers, and his works have been used in operas, ballets and orchestral pieces.
V.S. Vinogradov: Murataalï Kurenkeyev (Moscow, 1962)
V.S. Vinogradov: Kirgizskiye narodnïye muzïkantï i pevtsï [Kyrgyz folk musicians and singers] (Moscow, 1972), 35–47
ALMA KUNANBAYEVA