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  • Note on "Creativity and Sorrow in Kyrgyzstan"

Maureen Pritchard submitted the following correction to her article previously published in the pages of this journal:

In my 2011 article "Creativity and Sorrow in Kyrgyzstan" (Journal of Folklore Research 48 [2]: 167-96), I transliterated the title of a song by Roza Amanova as "Ogon Iri" and translated that title as "Song about a Flame." A more correct transliteration is "Oogan Iyi" (Afghan Elegy). I am grateful to Jonathan North Washington of Indiana University for making me aware of this error.

Abstract

In this article, I explore the interconnections among society, ritual, and art in present-day Kyrgyzstan as manifested in koshok, a ritualized expression of grief in which melody is paired with affective performance. Like other ritualized performances of emotion, koshok incorporates a spectrum of learned affective behavior; thus phrases, utterances, vocal qualities, movements, gestures, and stances expressed in koshok are also dispersed throughout a range of non-ritual social activity. The transposition of koshok performance into new contexts and alternative media has lent new meanings and possibilities to the genre. For instance, mediated koshok as performed during a period of national mourning for the writer Chingiz Aitmatov demonstrated how ritual and art can be used by the state for the purpose of nation building. At the same time, it satisfies a desire to participate in a broader human experience as imagined through the shared experience of sorrow and beauty.

Pritchard, Maureen. 2011. "Creativity and Sorrow in Kyrgyzstan." Journal of Folklore Research 48 (2): 167-96. doi (JSTOR): 10.2979/jfolkrese.48.2.167. [End Page 293]

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