Kara Burkut
"Kara Burkut" ("Black Eagle") is a song by the Iradi duo tüntolk, the sixth track of their debut album Jolchu (1999). It is the album's fastest and harshest track.[1]
Music
The track has no guitars and leaves much of its space empty. A distorted, gnarled Polivoks bass line runs through Askar Daniyarov's homemade effects pedals over a dry, jerky drum-machine pattern of toms, with metallic clicks and squeals around it. Mira Temirova abandons the lament style of the rest of the album to yelp, growl and shriek.[1]
Themes
The song takes the hunting eagle (berkut) of the epics and turns the image around: the singer is not the eagle hunter but the prey, and calls the eagle down on herself, its talons in her shoulder and its wings across her eyes. Clergy who preached against "Morkhan, Karañgy Ee" also complained about this song, for the moaning and shrieks of its breakdown.[1][2]
Lyrics
| Iradi | English |
|---|---|
| Verse | |
| Kara burkut asmanda, | Black eagle in the sky, |
| Kara kölökö jerde. | Black shadow on the ground. |
| Tülkü kachat, men kachpaym, | The fox runs, I don't run, |
| Kel, kel, men ushul jerde! | Come, come, I am right here! |
| Chorus | |
| Kara burkut, chap! chap! | Black eagle, strike! strike! |
| Tyrmagyñ iyinimde, | Your talons in my shoulder, |
| Kara burkut, chap! chap! | Black eagle, strike! strike! |
| Kanatyñ közümdö! | Your wings across my eyes! |
| Verse | |
| Men tülkü emesmin, | I am not the fox, |
| Men koyon emesmin, | I am not the hare, |
| Men seniñ oljoñmun, | I am your prey, |
| Asmandan tüsh, tüsh, tüsh! | Come down from the sky, down, down, down! |
| Chorus | |
| Kara burkut, chap! chap! | Black eagle, strike! strike! |
| Tyrmagyñ iyinimde, | Your talons in my shoulder, |
| Kara burkut, chap! chap! | Black eagle, strike! strike! |
| Kanatyñ közümdö! | Your wings across my eyes! |
| Breakdown | |
| Ay... ay... ay... | Ay... ay... ay... |
| Tüsh! | Down! |
| Final chorus | |
| Kara burkut, chap! chap! | Black eagle, strike! strike! |
| Tyrmagyñ iyinimde, | Your talons in my shoulder, |
| Kara burkut, chap! chap! | Black eagle, strike! strike! |
| Kanatyñ közümdö! | Your wings across my eyes! |
References
- ^ Talas Music Chronicle (2021). The Sound of the Night Wave: tüntolk and the Rise of Mor-Wave, pp. 53–55.
- ^ Central Asian Music Review (2020). 'Mor-Wave and the Post-Soviet Electronic Synthesis in Central Asia.' Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 41–66.