Abstract
This article is aimed at studying Uyghur folk songs of the “Koshak” genre, reflecting the participation of Uyghurs from Semirechye in the 1916 uprising, in order to identify their role in the formation of historical memory and national identity. As part of the study, the texts of Uyghur folk songs related to the events of the 1916 uprising are collected and analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the interpretation of these songs, identifying the main motifs and images, as well as analyzing their role in the cultural and historical context. This study makes a new contribution to the study of Uyghur culture and history by addressing the under-researched aspect of the use of folk songs in the context of the 1916 uprising and their significance in shaping the collective memory of the Uyghur people. The research is based on methods of analyzing the texts of folk songs using the methods of ethnography, literary criticism and historical analytics. A contextual approach to the interpretation of texts is also applied, taking into account the sociocultural and historical characteristics of the period. The results of the study make it possible to identify the main themes and motives of the Uyghur folk songs “Koshak” associated with the participation of the Uyghurs of Semirechye in the uprising of 1916, as well as to assess their influence on the formation of the collective historical memory and national identity of the Uyghur people.