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Almaty or Bust! |
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Part Five: Kazakhstan
Quick facts from the CIA World Handbook Population: 16,763,795 (July 2003 est.) The largest of all the Central Asian republics (and the ninth largest country in the world), Kazakhstan is a land of rich, beautiful mountains, flowing rivers, deep lakes, arid deserts, and a grassland area known as the steppe. It's the least densely populated country in Central Asia, and it also has the potential to be the richest, thanks to huge (and largely untapped) mineral, natural gas, and oil reserves. And, as an added bonus for westerners hoping to visit Central Asia, Kazakhstan is probably the least Islamic of the region's countries. [By the way, these facts all suggest that Kazakhstan is the most inviting tourist destination for westerners; if you're interested in heading to Central Asia, you'd probably be wise to start your journey in Almaty.] The nomadic tendencies of its inhabitants (the country's citizens were largely nomadic until well into the 20th century) meant that Islam, while still practiced, was never as fully embraced as it is in other, more urban countries like Uzbekistan. The music of Kazakhstan, like the country's inhabitants, is less urbane and classical than the music of other Central Asian countries. Most of the traditional music consists of folk tunes (the mugam never really made it here). Because of the nomadic history, Kazakhstan's folk music and its literature are largely intertwined. As Lonely Planet notes, "Before the 19th century, Kazak literature consisted chiefly of long oral poems, a reflection of the race's nomadic life. Recitals by bards (akyns), and contests between them known as aitys, are still important and popular." The Kazak President's web site sheds more light on these aitys: "Aitys is rooted deep in ancient times, [sic] it stems from in ritual and every-day songs, in chorus-like songs-dialogues exchanged by young boys and girls which - later on - transformed themselves into aityses of akyns (Akyn is a poet-improvisator and a singer with Kazakhs and some other ethnoses [sic] of Central Asia). Not infrequently they raised quite topical issues of social life when staging aityses. An aitys is full of dynamics, it requires particular quickness and brightness, an uncommonly fine wit and improvisation skills." I haven't heard a great deal of Kazak music, but what I have heard I've enjoyed. Kazaks use many of the same kinds of instruments as other Central Asian peoples (horse-head fiddle, dombra or dutar, drums, cymbals, and so on), so Kazak music sounds like a lot of other musics of the region. However, because of the nature of the "aitys," the music is rooted in improvisation. It's fun, fast, highly melodic, and always entertaining. The music of Kazakhstan shares a lot in common with its Central Asian neighbors. That includes instruments, like zhetigen, pictured here in the center, and what I think is a dombra, on the left. The Kazaks were largely a nomadic people--at least, until the Russians arrived. But there's still a bit of nomad in the modern Kazak. Check out the traditional nomadic domicile, which some in Central Asia call a yurt, but which the Kazaks call a kiizuy. These are round, portable houses made of felt and wood frames. Also notice the dombras that these musicians are preparing to play. I couldn't leave out a picture of Almaty, could I? Almaty is not the capital of the country any more, but as you can tell from this picture, it's a beautiful city. This is from Paul Peyrot's website. |
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