Toktogul Satylganov, Kyrgyz Akyn, poet and singer (died 1933)

Toktogul Satylganov

Kyrgyzstani poet and singer

Toktogul Satylganov was the most famous of the Kyrgyz Akyns – improvising poets and singers. The Kyrgyz town of Toktogul in the Jalal-Abad Region is named in his honor. Toktogul was born in Kushchusu, a village now submerged in the Toktogul Reservoir.

Aqyn

Aqyn or akyn, is an improvisational poet, singer, and oral repository within the Kazakh and Kyrgyz cultures. Aqyns differ from the zhyraus or manaschys, who are instead song performers or epic storytellers.