Structurally, sybyzğy is a 50-70 cm long reed tube with 3-5 play holes. Much later, sybyzğy began to be made of wood and metal, more precisely copper. But whatever material was used, it was necessarily covered with thin lamb or goat intestines (önesh) to prevent the escape of air. The simplicity of the construction is compensated by the complicated technique of performance, which uses elements of throat singing. It is performed on: 1) kui associated with the images of totem animals or sacred animals and birds, where sound and images play a major role; 2) kuy whose legends speak of a direct magical function of music “(to enchant the otherworldly forces, snakes, dragons, magical influence on animals and humans).” [14, p. 38]. According to some informants, in earlier times there were special melodies (cuisines) that made it possible to gather scattered herds or scare away predators, which testifies to a popular belief in the harmonising and ordering power of music.
The image of the shepherd – cultural hero in the myths and fairy tales of the peoples of the world – is associated with his playing the flute – sybyzğy, which, according to ancient beliefs, possesses magical powers and has the special gift of “bewitching”/”enchanting” the evil forces and “calling” for help the good ones, e.g. totem animals or birds.
