How ‘AY YOLA’ tells Bashkir legends through pop music
Musicians from Bashkortostan are inspired by the ancient ‘Ural Batyr’ epic poetry and combine folk instruments, vocals and electronic music in their songs.
Catchy songs, such as ‘Homay’ and ‘Aihylyu’, are now popular far beyond Russia’s borders. Even if you don’t know the Bashkir language, their sound will captivate you – ancient legends, traditional instruments and modern rhythms all flowing together.
How ‘AY YOLA’ came to be
The ‘AY YOLA’ trio consists of Rinat Ramazanov (vocals, kurai), Ruslan Shaikhitdinov (kyl-kubyz) and his daughter Adel Shaikhitdinova (vocals, dombra).
Ramazanov is a distinguished People’s Artist of the Republic of Bashkortostan and a well-known promoter of ethnic music. Ruslan and Adel, meanwhile, earned the title of Honored Artist of Bashkortostan. Before ‘AY YOLA’, they were involved in dance music as part of the project ‘MUSUME’ and Ruslan also performed as DJ Ruslan Sever.
In 2024, the musicians launched the collaborative project ‘AY YOLA’ to transform the Bashkir epic ‘Ural Batyr’ into a musical narrative. It tells of the exploits of the main hero, Ural, in his struggle against evil and of the fate of his family.
The group’s name can be interpreted in translation from Bashkir as “the code of the universe”.
What do they sing about?
“We decided to combine three incompatible elements: modern sound, echoes of ethnic music and the epic ‘Ural Batyr’. This philosophy runs through the entire album of the same name,” says Ruslan. Each song is dedicated to a particular chapter of the epic.
The album ‘Ural Batyr’ features 12 tracks, in total. The most famous of them, ‘Homay’, tells the story of the daughter of Samrau, ruler of the heavenly birds, and the sun. Humay is considered a symbol of light and wisdom. She helps the main hero, Ural-Batyr, in his struggle against evil and chaos. The song instantly went viral on social media and reached No. 5 on the global ‘Shazam’ chart.
The group’s second album opens with the song ‘Aihylyu’. Aihylyu is Humay’s sister, who is kidnapped by evil forces and tricked into becoming the wife of Shulgen, who has sided with darkness. Nevertheless, according to the legend, their son still returns to the side of good.
In their videos, the musicians play Bashkir instruments, gather around the hearth in a ‘yurt’ (a nomadic tent), ride horses and wear traditional fur hats and ethnic costumes. But, most importantly, they tell Bashkir legends not in a museum-like way, but vividly, so that even those who do not know the Bashkir language can hear these ancient epics.
The group has dedicated its new song ‘Amanat’ to the ancient epics of Bashkortostan, Yakutia, India, Kyrgyzstan and Iran.
“In Bashkir culture, ‘amanat’ is something entrusted to a person to preserve and pass on,” is how they describe their composition. “In ‘Amanat’, we turn to the epics of different peoples and say that cultures and eras may differ, but many values and moral guidelines remain close and understandable to any person in the world today.”
In October 2026, it became known that their album ‘Ural Batyr’ and the song ‘Aihylyu’ had made it to the first round of voting for the Grammy Awards in the categories ‘Best Global Music Album’ and ‘Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals’, respectively.
