Askat Jetigen uulu began playing the Kyrgyz three-stringed lute komuz at an early age, studying with an older master musician in rural Kyrgyzstan in a program created by the Aga Khan Music Initiative (AKMI) to revitalize and further develop Kyrgyz traditional music. Later, Askat moved to Kyrgyzstan’s capital city, Bishkek, and entered the Conservatory, but left after less than a year to pursue his own path to becoming a professional performer-composer-arranger. In addition to mastering the traditional Kyrgyz repertoire of solo instrumental and vocal music, Askat has composed original works that blend Kyrgyz and European instruments, and has arranged traditional solo pieces for small ensembles of mixed instruments. He has participated in several international programs that offer talented young musicians from Central Asia the opportunity to be mentored by leading musicians and contemporary music groups from North America and Europe, and his compositions and arrangements display a harmonious, yet always fresh and exciting interweaving of traditional and contemporary musical languages.