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Akyns (Kazakh: ақын/aqın, Kyrgyz: Акын/Akyn, Russian: акын) are improvising poets and singers in the Kazakh and Kyrgyz cultures. Akyns differs from the so-called zhiraus, who are epic storytellers and a song performers. Akyns improvise in the form of a song-like recitative to the accompaniment of a dombra (among Kazakhs) or a qomuz (among Kyrgyz). Considering the nomadic lifestyle and illiteracy of most of the rural population in Central Asia in pre-Soviet times, akyns played and important role in terms of expressing people's thoughts and feelings, exposing social vices, and glorifying heroes.
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