Karakush (Group)

Karakush (stylized KARAKUSH; Iradi kara kush, "golden eagle") is a five-member Iradi Mor-Pop girl group formed in Talas in 2018 by the agency Kök Ay Media. It is the best-selling Mor-Pop act in Irad and the only one to have promoted in South Korea. Its 2021 single "Ak Börü" ("White Wolf") became a viral hit abroad, but none of its later releases charted outside Irad, and the foreign music press usually describes the group as a one-hit wonder.^[1][2]

History

Kök Ay Media assembled the group through open auditions in Talas and Nurzhan in 2017 and trained its members for a year on the K-pop model. The line-up is Aruuke Temir kyzy (leader, vocals), Dana Pak (lead dancer; from the Koryo-saram community of Nurzhan), Saltanat Abdrakhmanova (rap), Meerim Sultan kyzy (vocals) and Kamila Nurlanova (vocals). Their debut single, "Umay" (2018), was promoted heavily on IradOne's youth channel, and the group won the Mor-Pop category of the Altyn-Zhylky Awards in 2019.^[1]

"Ak Börü" was released in February 2021. Its video, filmed on a frozen lake in the Talas valley, shows the members in white wolf-fur capes and horned headdresses based on Morkhan, dancing to a slowed, detuned komuz riff. A dance challenge built on its chorus spread on short-video platforms, and the song found an audience among Koryo-saram listeners in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and among Korean-American listeners. A Korean-language version was released by a Seoul label in late 2021, and the group spent several weeks promoting in South Korea in early 2022, appearing on cable music programs. The single briefly entered the lower reaches of South Korean digital charts. The group also performed at Korean diaspora festivals in Almaty and Los Angeles.^[2]

The follow-ups "Morkhan Tünü" ("Morkhan's Night", 2022) and the English-language "Talas Moon" (2023) did not chart abroad, and the Korean contract ended in 2023. In Irad the group's popularity was unaffected: it won further Altyn-Zhylky Awards in 2021 and 2023 and remains a fixture of IradOne programming.^[1]

Reception

Karakush's horned headdresses drew criticism from clergy of the Syro-Iradi Catholic Church, who object to Morkhan imagery in Mor-Wave and Mor-Pop alike. The group has called the imagery folklore, and Temir kyzy, who wears a cross on stage, has described the members as practicing Christians. Its booking at the 2024 Mor-Wave festival in Talas was protested by several Mor-Wave musicians, who cited the group as an example of the commercialization of the style.^[1][3]

Discography

Extended plays

• Ak Börü (2021)

Singles

• "Umay" (2018)
• "Ak Börü" (2021)
• "Morkhan Tünü" (2022)
• "Talas Moon" (2023)

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). 'Karakush return from Seoul: what "Ak Börü" did and didn't do.' Talas.
3. ^ Talas Herald (2024). 'Mor-Wave musicians protest festival booking.' Talas.