From bit: song in Bashkir language took off in the Shazam world chart
The song by Ay Yola from Ufa has entered the Shazam world chart. Homay's single took seventh place there on March 31, two points ahead of Lady Gaga's Abracadabra. The song in Bashkir is dedicated to the heroine of the epic "Ural-Batyr" Khumai. In the charts of Russian streaming, the song, which first appeared on social networks, also aspires to leading positions, and after its success, its creators receive offers from the film industry. For more information, see the Izvestia article.
The song Homay by a group from Ufa hit the world chart
Who is Humai along with the Ufa group Ay Yola? Today, this question is being asked not only in Bashkiria and Russia, but also in other countries — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Finland, the Netherlands. Homay's single, which was released in mid-March, first hit the social media trends, and now the Shazam (music recognition service) chart. He took the seventh place in the top 200 world songs this week.
The popularity of both the track and the band itself on Russian streaming services began to grow noticeably. Back on March 27, the number of Ay Yola listeners per month on Yandex Music slightly exceeded 235 thousand. In four days, this figure soared to under a million (986,177 to be exact), and the song rose from 25th place to 13th on the chart. MTS Music has Homay in second place. VK Music experts also note the interest.
— After the release of Homay, the audience of the Ay Yola group has grown many times. The track is most listened to in Ufa, with Moscow in second place. In terms of countries, the Russian Federation ranks first, and Kazakhstan ranks second. Completely different content goes viral in vertical video services, so it is difficult to make causal relationships. The song stands out from the general background of the usual content, it hooked people. It's unconventional, high—quality, and visually presented in a way that's memorable," Sergey Mudrik, editor-in-chief of VK Music, told Izvestia.
In HiFi streaming, the "Sound" track has not yet reached the top of the chart, but its listeners are also growing.
— In the second week, listening to the track jumped 12 times compared to the first week. Now the audience continues to grow, and by March 30, auditions had increased 17—fold (1,700% compared to the first week after the release)," Alexander Pletnev, head of the editorial board of the Zvuk HiFi streaming service, told Izvestia. — Despite the fact that the track is in Bashkir, it has a good chance of becoming truly popular. You should definitely pay attention to the text — it is beautiful and based on a traditional epic. This is, first of all, a well-made composition, and that's why it's going viral on social media.
Who is Humai
Ay Yola band is a musical project from Ufa, inspired by the epic "Ural-Batyr". Each song is a new chapter in which ancient stories come to life to the accompaniment of modern electronic rhythms and traditional Bashkir instruments. The team is young, it debuted in early 2025. The idea was born when band member Ruslan Sever was working on the anthem of his hometown for its 450th anniversary.
— I turned to Rinat Ramazanov, Honored Artist of the Republic of Bashkortostan, to record the kurai, and noticed how interestingly the sounds of the modern electronic arrangement combined with ethnic instruments. This gave me the idea to do something more - to combine our vision of music with him, add the voice of my daughter Adele and saturate it with meaning. The epic "Ural-Batyr" tells about the universe. It is interesting to turn to this work," Ruslan Sever, Ay Yola music producer, shared with Izvestia.
Humai is the daughter of the king of birds, Samrau, and the heavenly beauty, the Sun. The character is found in the mythology of other nations, so it found a wide response among listeners in neighboring countries. There are tens of thousands of Homay videos on social networks with a variety of plots — from humorous to ironic, with an analysis of the soloist's accent.
— The accent is really present, and it's not a secret. The fact is that Adele was born into a Russian-speaking family. I don't know much Bashkir myself, but our experience has become a good example, because the language, unfortunately, sounds less and less. Bashkir was no longer spoken in my family, although my father was fluent in the language. We have done a lot of work to avoid accents, and we continue to do so, but in order to achieve this, we must speak from childhood. Bashkir is difficult to pronounce, it is melodious, it has many shades. Something is not observed, and the wrong tone of conversation comes out," Ruslan Sever explained.
The lead singer of the AY YOLA group is Adele
Now the artists are receiving a huge number of offers of cooperation. For example, in the future, their music may become the soundtrack to a movie or TV series.
— We wake up, rub our eyes and think — is this a dream or not? Ruslan Sever is surprised. — There are a lot of proposals for cooperation of various kinds. For example, integration into movies as title tracks. There are more than ten of them from Russia and abroad. They came in a huge crowd. We're looking at everything now, and we're interested in it. But not all offers are suitable for us, after all, our Ay Yola group is more about meanings than just about some profitable offers.
"It has become difficult for pop music to compete with such trends"
The success of the single Homay, explains musicologist Sergey Uvarov, is a phenomenon of the same series and genesis as the phenomenon of the Yakut group Otyken, which proved to be in demand in the world, even despite the geopolitical situation.
— Firstly, there is a vivid national flavor created by ethnic instruments, language (Yakut, Bashkir), and vocal style. Moreover, it is perceived as exotic not only by foreigners, but also by Russians: to an ear brought up in Western culture, it sounds just as original and fresh. Secondly, throat singing is a specific technique used in some eastern and northern cultures that allows you to take particularly low sounds; it affects the listener almost physiologically, like pop and rock music. Well, in the case of Homay, a "rocking" beat is superimposed on it, which literally makes you want to nod your head," said Sergey Uvarov.
The first line in the Russian streaming charts has been occupied for a long time by "Hoodie" (Dzhigan, Artik & Asti, Niletto), a pop song understandable to a wide audience. However, folk, experts say, may well compete with such music.
— Over the past few years, we have been witnessing a steadily growing trend towards folk, with songs with elements of folk vocals storming the charts in all related genres — from indie (lampabikt, Ellie on the Poppy Field, polnalyubvi), electronica (Aigel, Cream Soda) to folk songs (Tatiana Kurtukova, Nadezhda Kadysheva's comeback) and popmusic (ALMARY). So, rather on the contrary, it has become difficult for understandable pop music to compete with such trends," Denis Saveliev, chief music editor of MTS Music, said in an interview with Izvestia.
Ay Yola's album contains 12 songs in total. The third one, called Ugez, which means "bull" in Bashkir, is planned to be released in the spring. In it, the team will tell the story of the Ural-Batyr battle in the dark lands.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
