The head of the department of cultural studies and art history at the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic, Doctor of Cultural Studies Chynar Umetalieva, who was part of the commission of the Ministry of Culture, commented on the situation after listening to the anthems.
“An anthem is created only by experienced professionals in the field of composition, and not all composers can handle this task. I was surprised why the Jogorku Kenesh decided to entrust the people with writing the anthem. We worked for a year to select the most suitable option. People participated, but none of the proposals met the criteria for an anthem. Our current anthem is magnificent — both in terms of text and music. The composers who wrote it knew all the necessary rules of the art. We selected three options, but none of them even came close to the concept of an anthem,” noted Chynar Umetalieva.
After concluding the discussion, committee members decided to reject all presented options, noting the need for further work by the commission to find the ideal anthem.
The idea of changing the anthem was proposed by the Speaker of Parliament Nurlanbek Turgunbek uulu in 2024 and was subsequently supported by the President of the country. As a result, an interdepartmental commission was created to select a new anthem, which is to be chosen by April 2025.
