Kara Kün (Album)
Kara Kün (Iradi: "Black Day") is the first album by the Talas Mor-Folk ensemble Eski Ün, released in 2021. It contains "Jashoo Tüshü" and its English-language version "Dream of Living", which found an audience abroad after its use in the American series True Detective in 2024.[1]
Recording
The album was recorded over a winter of nights in a teahouse in the Old Talas Citadel Quarter where the ensemble played, with the room's noise left in. Its producer, Ruslan Ten, a former member of the Nurzhan Mor-Wave group Umay-9, set the ensemble's komuz, choor, frame drums and voices over dark synthesizer drones. The low scratching noise that runs beneath "Jashoo Tüshü", which the ensemble has never explained, is also heard on "Keñsuu", named after the extinct dialect of the 1928 cylinder recordings of Sary Kün, Ejen Kyz.[1][2]
Release and reception
The album was released in April 2021 on Tündük Records and sold mainly at the ensemble's teahouse concerts in Talas and Nurzhan. Its title, a phrase associated with Morkhan, drew objections from some clergy. Songs from it were sung at candlelit vigils during the 2023 Student Protests in Talas. After "Dream of Living" was used in True Detective: Night Country in 2024, streams of the whole album rose sharply abroad, and Tündük Records reissued it on vinyl that year. Since the label closed in 2025 the album has been distributed by Köch Audio.[1][3]
Track listing
All music arranged by Eski Ün from Syro-Iradi chant and traditional melodies; lyrics by Gulmira Asanova.
| No. | Title | English translation | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Jashoo Tüshü" | "Dream of Living" | 5:46 |
| 2. | "Kara Kün" | "Black Day" | 6:30 |
| 3. | "Chaykhana" | "Teahouse" | 4:12 |
| 4. | "Jalgyz Jol" | "Lonely Road" | 5:05 |
| 5. | "Ezan, Koñguroo" | "Call and Bell" | 4:44 |
| 6. | "Keñsuu" | 6:58 | |
| 7. | "Kaityp Kelebiz" | "We Will Return" | 5:21 |
| 8. | "Dream of Living" | (English version, bonus track) | 5:40 |
| Total length: | 44:16 |
Personnel
- Gulmira Asanova – vocals, lyrics
- Aibek Choroev – komuz
- Nurlan Abdykadyrov – choor
- Saltanat Ismailova – frame drums, backing vocals
- Ruslan Ten – synthesizers, production
References
- ^ Central Asian Cultural Studies Review (2024). 'Far from the Teahouse: Mor-Folk Online.' Vol. 16, pp. 21–40.
- ^ Journal of Central Asian Popular Music (2023). 'Noise, Chant and the Iradi Night: Listening to "Dream of Living".' Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 55–73.
- ^ Talas Herald (24 February 2024). 'An American detective series makes a Talas teahouse band famous.' Talas.