The Altai Ethnomusicology Expedition in 2002 documented the diverse musical traditions of the Altai Republic in southern Siberia, focusing on indigenous Altaian, Kazakh, and Russian communities. Over six weeks, the team travelled across the region—from Gorno‑Altysk to Ongudie, Kosh Agash, Chemal, and surrounding villages—recording performances at festivals, in homes, cultural centres, and from historic radio archives. The aim was to map the region’s ethno‑musical landscape, document oral literature, and understand the role of music within local societies.
Fieldwork revealed three co‑existing musical cultures. Altaian music, characterised by kai (throat singing) and traditional instruments such as the komus, topshuur, ikili, shoor, and teadagan, appeared in both solo and group contexts. Storytelling sagas—epic narratives accompanied by throat singing and topshuur—survived largely due to the efforts of key practitioners like Aleksai Kalkin. Altaian songs often referenced nature, spirituality, and ancestral heroes, reflecting an animist worldview centred on Altai’s landscape.
Kazak music, concentrated in the Kosh Agash region, featured solo or paired singing accompanied by the dombra, with themes focused on love, homeland, and memory. Some songs included archaic Kazakh vocabulary, and the tradition showed subtle differences from Kazakh music of Kazakhstan. Karaoke‑style singing and accordion accompaniment signalled the influence of modern media.
Russian musical traditions—often performed by village choirs—featured accordions, balalaikas, and rhythmic clackers, drawing on Cossack‐derived and folk repertoires. These were performed widely at festivals and community gatherings.
Recordings were made at the Irbizek Festival, domestic gatherings in Ongudie and Karakol, Kazakh homes in Kosh Agash, and the large Eloin Festival, which brings together tens of thousands of attendees and showcases emerging post‑Soviet cultural identity.