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Almaty or Bust! |
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Part Twelve: Xinjiang
Quick facts about Xinjiang Population: 17,453,000 Chinese culture is, obviously, vastly different from the many cultures that make up Central Asia. Rene Grousset's book The Empire of the Steppes notes that the history of Asia was shaped by the struggles between the "barbarian" nomads of the Asian Steppe (much of Central Asia) and the "civilized" people of China, India, and Persia (Iran). If this is the case, then the Xinjiang province of China (also called Chinese Turkestan) is today a meeting point for these former enemies. Xinjiang is a rather formidable place, housing the second lowest inland point on Earth (-391m at the bottom of the Turpan Depression) and the second highest mountain (K2). Not surprisingly, the bulk of the province is made up of desert (three different ones: Taklimakan, Gurbantunggut, and Gumtay) and mountain ranges (again, three: Tianshan, Allay, and Karakorum). More than half of the people of Xinjiang are of Turic origin, and the vast majority of these are the Uygur people. As with the Tibetans to the south, the Uygurs are heavily controlled and monitored by the Chinese government, in order to prevent any independence movements from sprouting up. However, Chinese colonization has done little to suppress Uygur music. And, as you might expect, Uygur music shares a great deal in common with the other musical cultures of Central Asia. For example, check out this interesting paragraph from a web site called Uygurworld's: Nowadays, certain parts of Twelve Uighur Muqams, a unique creation of musical folklore, are widely popular. Folk songs and muqams are performed to the accompaniment of folk instruments, which the Uygurs have in a great number. Some of them are: a dutar is a string instrument with an oval barrel and a long neck, which has from 8 to 15 movable frets; a tambir is a stringed musical instrument played by plucking, a sitar is a lute with 3 metal strings; a stringed instrument with 9 strings; a 3-stringed and a 5-stringed ravap; 48-stringed dulcimer; a qalun Ð an instrument with 18 pairs of strings; a gidjak with 4 to 10 strings. Among percussion instruments there are: a dap or shaldap Ð a tambourine; a big drum - dumbak; a small drum Ð nagra; a kettke-drum Ð tevilvaz and brazen cymbals. Wind instrument include a nyay Ð a reed flute; a surnyay Ð a pear-tree clarinet; a carnay Ð a long instrument made of a brazen pipe. In other words, Uygur music features not only the same musical styles that are found in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan (folk songs and the mugam), but it also features just about all of the same instruments (like the dutar, tambur, nay, and dap). Although I've heard only a little Uygur music, I can attest to the fact that it does, indeed, sound like other Central Asian musics. However, there is a slight Chinese feel to this music (its use of long, squeaky bowed string and the occasional high-pitched flute notes that are so prevalent in Chinese music). This use of Chinese musical markers is understandable, considering that Xinjiang is part of China. I think this Chinese element actually makes this culture's art more interesting, as it is a musical representation of the country's proximity between two vast cultures. I'm eager to hear and learn more of this part of the world. YHere's a Uygur musician performing on a dutar in a Xinjiang music shop. Check out how long that dutar is! Here you go: the musical instruments of Central Asia. To the right, you can also see a master craftsman creating an instrument. These photos are from Uygurmusic's. |
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