Ay Yola – Breakthrough of the Year: Bashkir Ethno-Group Wins Prestigious Award

The Bashkir group Ay Yola received the «Breakthrough of the Year» award from the Russian World Music Awards. This is a professional award in Russia for ethnic music, with winners chosen by an international jury.

«We»re starting 2026 with our first award!« the musicians noted on the group»s social media page.

Recall that in 2025, Ay Yola released an album based on the Bashkir epic of Ural Batyr. One of its songs, «Homay,» went viral on social media, pushing compositions by world-renowned artists out of the charts. The group began to be invited to popular TV shows and concerts and was also awarded prestigious titles in the republic itself.

The group started this year by releasing a music video for the song «Ay, bylbylym,» a collaboration with singer Alsou. It is considered a folk song in Bashkortostan and Tatarstan, and the musicians rearranged it in a modern style. However, there is a version that the music was borrowed from a traditional Crimean Tatar song.

Read more about Ay Yola«s path to success in the article on UFA1.RU. If you haven»t listened to their album yet, you can check out the review on our portal.