Buried Fragments: Gunesh Ensemble - "Nar Agajy" b/w "Yelpesene"

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 22:16:30 -0400

We’ve got not one–but two–fragments buried deep within the bunkhouse… this time, from the desert of Soviet Turkmenistan.

The Gunesh Ensemble (ВИА «Гунеш») were a jazz-fusion group formed in 1970 in Ashgabat. Their style blended traditional Turkmen instruments and melodies with frantic fusion and progressive rock. They are most notable for their two studio albums: the eponymous Gunesh (1980) and Looking at the Earth (1984). However, prior to those albums, they have recorded much more obscure songs; two of those include “Nar agajy” (Pomegranate Tree) and “Yelpesene” (Hello). Unlike what they would later record, the two songs are in a Beatles-like vocal style with some ethnic flair. The interconnected music videos for them, which originate from an unknown film, are sometimes played on the Turkmenistan state-owned television channel Miras via the program Arhiwden (From the Archive).

Buried Fragments on World Bunkhouse Radio

Buried Fragments: Gunesh Ensemble - "Nar Agajy" b/w "Yelpesene"