In the hands of Aygul Ulkenbaeva, who began her musical studies at the age of five, the two-stringed dombra projects a virtuoso technique. Here, she plays an instrumental solo known as kui, a word that means "frame of mind" or "mood." This kui stems from the work of the famous Kazakh composer Kurmanghazy (1818-1889), who left more than 60 works for dombra. (During, Levin 2001)