Kelinshek

About this piece

Kelinshek is a Kazakh folk kui of unknown authorship. It portrays a young married woman — her dance, her beauty and the way she carries herself — with considerable craft.

The piece is in 6/8 at a light, lively tempo. The stroke alternates between down and up, quarter and eighth note values are used, and repeats occur often, which is why the kui is quick to memorise.

It should not be confused with the Kelinshek of Baizhigit, a seventeenth-century Kazakh composer. Both depict a young woman and share a title, but this is the folk version and is noticeably easier to play.

For a beginner the piece is comfortable: it stays in the lower positions and is built on repeating figures. The main difficulty is evenness in the right hand. Practise at 0.4× until every note has the same length, and only then increase the tempo.