A Kyrgyz theatre has walked away with the biggest honour at one of the Turkic world's key cultural events. The Sultan Ibraimov Osh National Academic Drama Theater won the Grand Prix at the 4th TURKSOY International Theater Festival, staged in Andijan, Uzbekistan, according to Kyrgyzstan's Ministry of Culture.
The winning production was A Song of Fate, staged under the Kyrgyz title Bir Kelip Ketchi Osh Jakka and based on a work by Arslan Kapai uulu Koichiev, a People's Writer of Kyrgyzstan. It is an ambitious piece by any standard: the play moves through three distinct historical periods in the life of the Kyrgyz people and puts more than 60 actors on stage at once.
The jury — made up of leading theatre figures from across the Turkic-speaking world — was won over. It singled out the production's epic scale, its artistic quality and an inventive directorial approach, then voted unanimously to award it the festival's top prize.
Why should travellers care? Because Osh, in southern Kyrgyzstan, has just been handed a fresh cultural calling card. The city is better known as the country's southern hub — home to the sacred Sulaiman-Too mountain, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the famous Osh bazaar, one of Central Asia's liveliest markets, with a history stretching back along the old Silk Road. Now there's a reason to add an evening at the national drama theatre to any visit. Even for non-Kyrgyz speakers, the staging, music and sheer scale of a production like this make for a memorable night, and the theatre itself is one of the oldest in the country.
For visitors, the win is also a nudge to see Osh as more than a stop on the way to the Pamir Highway. Pair a day at Sulaiman-Too and the bazaar with a performance at the theatre, and you get a fuller picture of a city that is both an ancient trading town and a living cultural centre. Andijan, where the festival was held, sits just across the border in Uzbekistan's Fergana Valley, so a combined Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan route through the valley — Osh to Andijan to Fergana's craft towns — is a natural itinerary for anyone drawn to Silk Road history and contemporary Central Asian arts.
The TURKSOY festival rotates among member cities and brings together companies from Turkic-speaking countries, making it one of the region's better platforms for spotting new work. With A Song of Fate now its most decorated production, Osh's flagship theatre has earned a spot on the list of things to see in a city travellers too often rush through.
Story first reported by 24.kg.
