April 13, 2025

From Bashkortostan to the Global Charts


From Bashkortostan to the Global Charts
Adel Musume, lead singer of AY YOLA. AY YOLA, Instagram.

A band from Bashkortostan, one of Russia's autonomous republics, has amassed millions of views on TikTok and YouTube with "Homay," a single sung solely in Bashkir. The folkloric techno song reached the fourth spot in Apple's Shazam chart, surpassing global stars such as Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar, and Bruno Mars.

The band AY YOLA takes its musical inspiration from its hometown, Ufa. The band's debut album is based on the Bashkir folktale "Ural-Batyr," which was passed down orally for generations. The record follows the tale's hero, Ural, on his journey to discover that immortality an be found in good deeds. On February 21, AY YOLA released its first single, "Batyr."

Despite only being "founded" in mid-January, AY YOLA's members have a long history. Lead singer Adel Shaykhitdinova won a singing competition on the show Pesny ("Songs") of the channel TNT. Shaykhitdinova, who also plays the guitar and the Bashkir sting instrument dombra, worked as a songwriter and vocalist with major Russian music labels. Together with her father and fellow AY YOLA member Ruslan Shaykhitdinov, they formed the now inactive musical duo Musume.

Ruslan Shaykhitdinov, also known as DJ Sever ("DJ North"), has been recognized as one of Russia's top 30 disc jockeys. He has worked for the show "Elektroshok" on Radio Maximum in Moscow. Shaykhitdinov, who plays the keyboard, the kobyz, and the bass, is the producer responsible for the band´s unique sound. 

The third member of AY YOLA, Rinat Ramazanov, who throat sings and plays the traditional Bashkir flute quray, has received national and international acclaim. Ramazanov has been recognized as an "Honored Artist of Bashkortostan." The musician's solo project "Argymak" won him the Grand Prix of the Nomad Universe international competition in Saudi Arabia. 

AY YOLA's true global recognition came after the release of "Homay." The song follows the story of a womanbird that helps Ural battle the forces of evil. The track quickly became viral, especially in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey. AY YOLA uploaded short snippets of the videoclip for "Homay" with subtitles in multiple languages, including English.

Shaykhitdinova has been criticized for her "heavy Russian accent" in Bashkir. The singer, who is half-Russian and half-Bashkir, didn't grow up speaking the language. However, that doesn't stop her from singing in her "native tongue." The band said on social media, "We are a bridge between the past and the present, telling eternal stories in a new sound."

"AY YOLA" is translated from Bashkir as "laws of the universe." Ramazanov explained the meaning of the band's name to BashInform: "Eternal values: do not kill, do not steal, respect your elder ones, protect the younger ones. These are the principals that underlie our project."

Listen to "Homay" here:

 

 

You Might Also Like

Artists in Custody
  • March 25, 2025

Artists in Custody

Russia currently has 42 "cultural" figures who are political prisoners and another 176 on their way to becoming the same.
The Music of War
  • October 30, 2024

The Music of War

Russian military ensembles glorify war and profit from it.
A Singer Diversifies
  • October 20, 2024

A Singer Diversifies

The notoriously pr-Kremlin rock star Shaman has filed trademarks for alcoholic beverages, household goods, and sex toys.
Make Fairy Tales, not War
  • June 05, 2024

Make Fairy Tales, not War

Russian authorities are spending more on the production of fantasy films than on war films, according to a recent study.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Tolstoy Bilingual

Tolstoy Bilingual

This compact, yet surprisingly broad look at the life and work of Tolstoy spans from one of his earliest stories to one of his last, looking at works that made him famous and others that made him notorious. 
The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The Frogs Who Begged for a Tsar (bilingual)

The fables of Ivan Krylov are rich fonts of Russian cultural wisdom and experience – reading and understanding them is vital to grasping the Russian worldview. This new edition of 62 of Krylov’s tales presents them side-by-side in English and Russian. The wonderfully lyrical translations by Lydia Razran Stone are accompanied by original, whimsical color illustrations by Katya Korobkina.
Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
The Samovar Murders

The Samovar Murders

The murder of a poet is always more than a murder. When a famous writer is brutally stabbed on the campus of Moscow’s Lumumba University, the son of a recently deposed African president confesses, and the case assumes political implications that no one wants any part of.
Jews in Service to the Tsar

Jews in Service to the Tsar

Benjamin Disraeli advised, “Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory.” With Jews in Service to the Tsar, Lev Berdnikov offers us 28 biographies spanning five centuries of Russian Jewish history, and each portrait opens a new window onto the history of Eastern Europe’s Jews, illuminating dark corners and challenging widely-held conceptions about the role of Jews in Russian history.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

The Little Humpbacked Horse (bilingual)

A beloved Russian classic about a resourceful Russian peasant, Vanya, and his miracle-working horse, who together undergo various trials, exploits and adventures at the whim of a laughable tsar, told in rich, narrative poetry.
The Latchkey Murders

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...
Woe From Wit (bilingual)

Woe From Wit (bilingual)

One of the most famous works of Russian literature, the four-act comedy in verse Woe from Wit skewers staid, nineteenth century Russian society, and it positively teems with “winged phrases” that are essential colloquialisms for students of Russian and Russian culture.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955