Altyn Muuz (Group)

Altyn Muuz (Iradi, "golden horn") is a four-member Iradi Mor-Pop boy group formed in 2019 through Jyldyz Jolu ("Star Road"), a talent show on IradOne's youth channel. Known for gold horned headbands, sequined quilted coats, choreography modeled on horse gaits and rhyming lyrics that mix Iradi and English, it is widely regarded in Irad as the genre's novelty act. It has never had a following outside the country.^[1]

History

The members are Nurbek Asanov, Ermek Toktosun uulu, Aibek Ismailov and Timur Bakyt uulu, who finished as the top four contestants of Jyldyz Jolu and were signed as a group by the show's producers. Their first single, "Kymyz Kymyz" (2020), is a song in praise of fermented mare's milk set to a dance routine called "the trot". It was followed by "Morkhan Baby" (2021) and "Zhylky Love" (2022). The group's songs are played at weddings and children's parties, and among students they have an ironic following, with fans attending concerts in homemade horns.^[1][2]

In 2021 the group performed "Morkhan Baby" on an IradOne Sunday-morning children's program, prompting complaints from clergy of the Syro-Iradi Catholic Church, who associate Morkhan with Satan. Later broadcasts of the episode omitted the song. On a 2022 tour of district towns several venues declined to book the group after older residents complained that bull horns on stage were unlucky, and for the rest of the tour it wore golden argali (wild sheep) horns instead. A planned tour of Kazakhstan in 2023 was cancelled after low ticket sales.^[2]

Reception

Critics have generally treated the group as a joke; the Talas Herald called "Zhylky Love" the most earnest song ever written about a horse. Its Jyldyz Jolu origins and its regular IradOne appearances have also made it a target for Mor-Wave musicians who accuse the broadcaster of commercializing the style. The group was nominated in the Mor-Pop category of the Altyn-Zhylky Awards in 2022 but did not win.^[1][3]

Discography

Studio albums

• Zhylky Love (2022)

Singles

• "Kymyz Kymyz" (2020)
• "Morkhan Baby" (2021)
• "Zhylky Love" (2022)

References

1. ^ Central Asian Music Review (2024). 'Idols of the Night Wave: K-Pop, Mor-Pop and Youth Fandom in Talas.' Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 9–31.
2. ^ Talas Herald (2022). 'No horns, please: Altyn Muuz on the road.' Talas.
3. ^ Talas Herald (2022). 'Review: Altyn Muuz, "Zhylky Love".' Talas.