gulijanar, a student at ili senior technical school in ili kazakh autonomous prefecture, northwest china's xinjiang tells of her passion for learning aken aytes, a kazakh folk art, from her father.
aken aytes, or aken songs, is a folk art form popular among the kazakh ethnic group, in which the performer improvises a song while playing the dombra. the performer is also called an aken, which means "poet" in kazakh, as the lyrics are always beautiful, humorous or inspiring.
