Peoples & Musics
People
Population: ca. 18.7 million
Mainly resides in: Kazakhstan, China (Xinjiang), Uzbekistan, Mongolia
Main Religion: Islam
Language: Kazakh (Turkic language)
- The Kazakh people are of mixed Turkic and Mongol descent. Their ancestors are descended from the Golden Horde, which, like the Yuan dynasty, was a constituent part of the Mongol Empire. They broke free from their original tribe, called Uzbek, in the 15th century and adopted the name “Kazakh”. They subsequently established the Kazakh khanate, a nomadic state that roamed the Central Asian steppes until it was occupied by Imperial Russia in the 19th century, followed by integration into the Soviet Union and independence.
- Kazakh culture is steeped in pastoral nomadism. Ornamental patterns on textiles and handicrafts are based on animals such as horses, birds, ram’s horns and others that serve as amulets or express certain wishes; their singing of epic traditional stories is at once a compact form of entertainment and a way of transmitting its history orally.
Music
Kazakh traditional music is rich in different kinds of singing traditions that are closely tied to traditional nomadic lifestyle: there are the aqyns, singers of improvised poetry who apply their art in ritual ceremonies as entertainer and master of ceremonies, as well as in playful competition with opponents belonging to different tribes or clans; there are also singers of än, lyrical songs that express individual emotion or psychological states; finally, there are the jyrshys, singers of complex epic poetry as well as didactic and philosophical songs, providing a panorama of traditional life, and are traditionally regarded as not mere musicians but also someone who can communicate with spirits of ancestors and animals, in connection with the shamanic heritage of the Kazakhs. All of these singers accompany themselves on the two-stringed lute dombyra, and are masters of the instrument, of singing, and of the Kazakh language and its poetry.
The dombyra itself also has a rich repertoire of solo pieces called küi, which can have narrative contents based on folk legends, history or autobiographical experience, with which a particular state of mind is explored to give the narrative a deeper meaning. The kuis can be broadly divided into two styles: that of western Kazakhstan, characterized by its dynamic, dramatic strumming, and that of the south and southeast, played by plucking the strings in a more reflective manner.
People
Population: ca. 5 million
Mainly resides in: Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, China (Xinjiang)
Main Religion: Sunni Islam
Language: Kyrgyz (Turkic language)
- The Kyrgyz people are a Turkic people whose earliest existence is thought to be documented as early as in the 2nd century BC in the Chinese historical record Shiji. They are thought to originate from the Yenisey river valley in Siberia, and gradually migrated southwards into Central Asia, populating the present Kyrgyz territory by the Tian Shan Mountain range by the 11th century, consolidating a distinct Kyrgyz cultural identity between the 15th and 19th century, yet were successively conquered by surrounding nations throughout this period until gaining its own republic in the Soviet Union followed by independence.
- The Kyrgyz people are traditionally a nomadic people who roamed around the Tian Shan and Pamir mountains. Their horseback activities such as the kokpar game and the at chabyish race display the bravery and agility required. Their history and customs are transmitted through the recitation of Manas, the epic poetry that is famed for being longer than Homer’s Iliad.
Music
Kyrgyz traditional music encompasses a range of different vocal genres. First, there is the recitation of the epic poem Manas, considered as the most important of Kyrgyz epics. It is sung without musical accompaniment. Consisting of about 500,000 lines, it requires a prodigious memory, a flexible voice, and many body movements and hand gestures to convey its full dramatic power. There are also the akyns, singers of epic tales (dastan), improvised oral poetry at festivities and ritual ceremonies, as well as poetry competitions where two akyns try to outdo each other in verbal, poetic and musical genius through a back-and-forth dialogue. The yrchys, in contrast, are singers of lyrical songs of wisdom, love, praise and other subjects. The akyns and yrchys always accompany themselves on the three-stringed lute komuz.
The Kyrgyz komuz also has a repertoire of solo pieces called küü. Like the Kazakh dombyra, the komuz repertoire is narrative and philosophical, with three types including those derive from song melodies, those that include virtuosic hand gestures, as well as sophisticated, classical küüs. While traditionally the komuz and other instruments are played solo, in recent years there is a trend of composing for Kyrgyz instrument ensembles that include instruments such as the choor (end-blown flute), chopo choor (clay ocarina), kyl kiyak (bowed fiddle), temir komuz (jew’s harp) and others.
People
Population: ca. 18-27 million
Mainly resides in: Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, China (Xinjiang)
Main Religion: Sunni Islam, Shia Ismailism
Language: Tajik
- The Tajiks are a sedentary Iranian people who are considered descendants of the Bactrians and Sogdians, who inhabited Central Asia in antiquity, fighting Alexander the Great and trading with Tang dynasty China. With Islamisation they established the Samanid Empire in the 9th to 10th century. They did not have their own country again until the Soviet times, but exerted influence as astute administrators and educated literati under successive Turkic rulers, maintaining the courtly Persianate high culture in Central Asia.
- The Tajiks as we know today are not a homogenous group. Outside of the Tajik heartland in the mountainous central and southwest region, the northern part of Tajikistan has a culture that is very close to neighbouring Uzbekistan; in the southeast, in the Pamir mountains, are Pamiri peoples whose belief in an Islamic sect called Ismailism, and have distinct cultures and languages. The Tajiks of China are also Pamiris.
Music
As Tajikistan consists of three distinct cultural regions, so is its musical culture differentiated. In the north, the musical culture is generally shared with Uzbekistan. In the southwest, it is the art of the hafiz, the professional bard, that dominates. Accompanied mainly on the two-stringed lute dutor and the goblet drum tablak, hafiz often sing their own compositions, put together through immaculate taste in classical Persian poetry as well as in music, often inspired by the shashmaqom tradition shared with the Uzbeks, or by the more popular falak tradition proper to southern Tajikistan. Falak literally means “heaven” or “destiny”, and uses high, plaintive melodies to accompany poetry that seeks God’s mercy on life’s difficulties.
In southeastern Tajikistan, in the Pamir mountains, the Pamiri people have a distinct culture due to their adherence to the Ismaili sect, a distinct sect within Islam. The main type of music is called maddoh, a religious music with sung poetry offering praise to the “Family of the Prophet” and hereditary religious leaders in spiritual concerts. A Pamiri form of falak is also popular. Both of these are accompanied by a host of specifically Pamiri instruments, such as the Pamiri tanbur, rubab (a distant cousin of the Uyghur rawap and the frame drum daf, similar to other frame drums found across Central Asia and the Middle East.
People
Population: ca. 6.4 million
Mainly resides in: Turkmenistan, Iran, Afghanistan
Main Religion: Sunni Islam
Language: Turkmen (Turkic language)
- The Turkmen people are descendants of the Oghuz Turkic tribe originating from Central Asia, who moved into the inhospitable desert between Central Asia and northeastern Iran, as a confederation of different yet equal tribes sharing the same language and culture, fending off attacks from Iran and from Central Asian states in present-day Uzbekistan, before becoming subsumed into the Russian Empire in late 19th century and the Soviet Union afterwards.
- The Turkmens are most famous for their rugs and home textile, which are sought after world-wide, as well as for their Akhal-Teke horses which are famed for their speed and endurance. Turkmen expressive culture also takes the form of music, especially in the singing of the epic poetry, notably the Epic of Görogly.
Music
Turkmen music can be seen as represented by the figure of the bagshy, a professional singer who would traditionally have been through an initiation rite. In the north of Turkmenistan, they are more likely to be singers of epic tales, dessan, while in the south, singers of lyrical songs tirme are more common. In most regions, the singer would be a player of the dutar, accompanied by the bowed fiddle gyjak as well as another dutar. In regions neighbouring the Khorezm region of Uzbekistan, however, it is more common to use instruments similar to Khorezm such as the plucked lutes tar and rawap, the frame drum doira and the hammered dulcimer chang.
Instrumental music saz is particularly known in the south of Turkmenistan, with the dutar having the largest repertoire of sophisticated pieces. The bowed fiddle gyjak’s solo repertoire also emerges from the south, while that of the end-blown flute túyduk’s repertoire originates from eastern Turkmenistan, near the Uzbek border.
People
Population: ca. 13.5 million
Mainly resides in: China (Xinjiang), Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan
Main Religion: Sunni Islam
Language: Uyghur (Turkic language)
- The Uyghurs are a sedentary Turkic people who mainly live in today’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. While the name “Uyghur” can be found in 7th century Chinese sources, it is unclear if they are the direct ancestors of the present day Uyghurs, who adopted the name only in the 1930s. Prior to that, they identified themselves as simply “Turk”, or “Muslim”, or by their city of origin, such as Kashgar, Turpan and others.
- Uyghur traditional culture is very closely related to the classical, sedentary culture of the Uzbeks and Tajiks in Central Asia. They share the love for ghazals, poetry celebrating mystical love in Islam, for colourful textiles, and for music, which different Uyghur cities have their own distinct styles.
Music
The most venerated repertoire among the Uyghurs is the muqam, popularly known as twelve collections of highly sophisticated pieces and songs that originated from the city of Kashgar in today’s southern Xinjiang, and spread to different Uyghur cities such as Ghulja in the north, Turpan and Qumul in the east and Dolan in the south, where they have become distinct traditions. Like the Uzbek shashmaqom, they are also set to poetry celebrating mystical love of Sufism, the Islamic mystical practice, alongside poetry from romantic tales. The muqam ensemble usually consists of the frame drum dap providing the basic rhythmic pattern, to which one may freely add different instruments including plucked string instruments such as the tembur, the dutar and the rawap, the bowed-lutes satar and ghijak, the zither chang and other instruments. Many singers of muqam are also renowned performers of traditional folksongs from different regions, each of which has its own distinct style and remains very popular.
The singing of narrative poetry, dastan, is also an important tradition among the Uyghurs. The topics can be historical, heroic, romantic or religious and didactic. Performance of dastan usually takes place in large public or social gatherings, and not only provides entertainment, but is also an important transmitter of traditional knowledge and values. The length of performance can vary according to the mood of the audience. It is distantly related to the narrative poetry performance of the Uzbeks of Khorezm in Northwestern Uzbekistan and of the Azeris.
People
Population: over 36 million
Mainly resides in: Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, China (Xinjiang)
Main Religion: Islam
Language: Uzbek (Turkic language)
- The Uzbek people are, like the Kazakhs, descended from the Uzbek tribe that came out of the Golden Horde of the Mongol Empire. Unlike the Kazakhs, however, they adopted a sedentary lifestyle, and in their extensive contacts with the Tajiks, created a Turco-Persian sedentary culture in the oases of Central Asia, around cities such as Bukhara, Samarkand, Khiva and Kokand. Today, the Uzbeks are the largest ethnic group in Central Asia.
- Uzbek traditional culture sees a mixture of both sedentary and nomadic cultures, as reflected in the popularity of both oral folk poetry recounting heroic stories, as well as the refined ghazals celebrating mystical love in Islam, that is found among other settled Muslim populations.
Music
The most highly-regarded musical repertoire among the Uzbeks is the shashmaqom, which are six collections of highly sophisticated pieces and songs. These songs and pieces are often multisectional, with lengthy melodies set to poetry celebrating love as depicted in Sufism, the Islamic mystical practice. This elite art was closely associated with the courts of khans and emirs in the royal cities of Bukhara, Khiva and Kokand in the 19th century. This music also gave birth to a bigger repertoire of songs and instrumental pieces which are also serious in taste but less difficult technically. They together form the core repertoire of Uzbek classical music. As Uzbeks and Tajiks have cohabited together over centuries, this repertoire is also much prized among Tajiks, especially in Northern Tajikistan. This music is usually accompanied by a small ensemble consisting of plucked string instruments such as the tanbur and the dutar, and a frame drum called dap or doira. The ensemble is often expanded to include the bowed-lute sato and g’ijjak, the zither chang and other instruments. Many of them also have a solo repertoire. This tradition is very similar to the muqam tradition of the Uyghurs.
Like many other Turkic nations, the Uzbeks also have a tradition of singing narrative poetry, called dastan, that celebrates the exploits of ancient heroes or recounts romantic tales of star-crossed lovers. Performed by the bard baxshi, the length of performance can vary according to the mood of the audience. This tradition is most popular in southern Uzbekistan, where the style is closer to the Kazakhs and Kyrgyzs, as well as in Khorezm in northwestern Uzbekistan, which shows an affinity to similar traditions among the Azeris, Turkmens and the Anatolian Turks. The performance of dastan not only provides entertainment, but is also an important transmitter of traditional knowledge and values.