Music of Xinjiang
Encyclopedia
There is much variation in the music of Xinjiang, including unique regional differences in Ili
, Kashgar
, Khotan
and Aksu Prefecture
. The southern area includes the simple songs of Hotan, the dance-oriented music of the Kuga and the complexly rhythmic songs of the Kashgar
. Ili has perhaps the most well-known musical tradition in Xinjiang
, including a number of emotional tunes that are narrative in form.
The best-known musical form of the majority Uyghur people
is the On Ikki Muqam
, a complex suite of twelve sections related to Uzbek
and Tajik
forms. These complex symphonies vary wildly between suites in the same muqam, and are built on a seven-note scale. Instruments typically include dap
(a frame drum
), hammered dulcimer
s, fiddle
s and lute
s; performers have some space for personal embellishments, especially in the percussion
. However, there is much variation on the number and kind of instruments used in the performance of a muqam. In November 2005 the Art of Uyghur Muqam was named a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity
by UNESCO
.
The sanam
tradition is a kind of dance music
popular among the Uyghurs, while spoken songs like Maida
, Eytishish and Qoshaq are popular love songs with simple tunes.
The most popular performer of recent times is Turdi Akhun
, who recorded most of the muqams in the 1950s. A regional popular music
industry arose in the 1980s, alongside Deng Xiaoping
's loosening of cultural restrictions. The resulting pop industry produced bands like Shireli, whose 1995 "" was a reggae
ish version of a local folk song. Later prominent musicians include Pasha Isha, Äskär
and his band Grey Wolf, Abdulla Abdurehim and Alim Jan, who appeared in such international releases as the soundtrack
to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
, where he plays the stringed rawap. Jan's father was also a renowned folk musician, known as Tursun Tanbur due to his skill with the tanbur, a stringed instrument like a lock-necked lute
. Rock
and heavy metal
bands like Täklimakan and Riwäyat are also well known in Xinjiang, as is the flamenco
guitar stylings of the Gipsy Kings
.
Ili
-Acronyms:* ILI: I Laugh Inside* Integrating Lifestyle Innovations, a home automation company specialising in the design and supply of systems in New Zealand to the world.* Irish Life International, part of Irish Life and Permanent...
, Kashgar
Kashgar
Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...
, Khotan
Khotan
Hotan , or Hetian , also spelled Khotan, is the seat of the Hotan Prefecture in Xinjiang, China. It was previously known in Chinese as 于窴/於窴 and to 19th-century European explorers as Ilchi....
and Aksu Prefecture
Aksu Prefecture
Aksu Prefecture is located in mid-western Xinjiang, China. It has an area of 132,500 km² and 2.19 million inhabitants .The name Aksu is Turkic for 'white water'.-Geography:...
. The southern area includes the simple songs of Hotan, the dance-oriented music of the Kuga and the complexly rhythmic songs of the Kashgar
Kashgar
Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...
. Ili has perhaps the most well-known musical tradition in Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
, including a number of emotional tunes that are narrative in form.
The best-known musical form of the majority Uyghur people
Uyghur people
The Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...
is the On Ikki Muqam
Muqam
A muqam is the melody type used in Uyghur music, that is, a musical mode and set of melodic formulas used to guide improvisation and composition....
, a complex suite of twelve sections related to Uzbek
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
and Tajik
Tajikistan
Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east....
forms. These complex symphonies vary wildly between suites in the same muqam, and are built on a seven-note scale. Instruments typically include dap
DAP
Dap or DAP may refer to:*Dap greeting, a form of greeting in which two people slap and grasp hands briefly; also called a 'fist bump'*Delivered at Place, one of the rules defined by Incoterms 2010 for general modes of transportation...
(a frame drum
Frame drum
A frame drum is a drum that has a drumhead width greater than its depth. Usually the single drumhead is made of rawhide or man-made materials. Shells are traditionally constructed of bent wood scarf jointed together; plywood and man-made materials are also used. Some frame drums have mechanical...
), hammered dulcimer
Hammered dulcimer
The hammered dulcimer is a stringed musical instrument with the strings stretched over a trapezoidal sounding board. Typically, the hammered dulcimer is set on a stand, at an angle, before the musician, who holds small mallet hammers in each hand to strike the strings...
s, fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
s and lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
s; performers have some space for personal embellishments, especially in the percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
. However, there is much variation on the number and kind of instruments used in the performance of a muqam. In November 2005 the Art of Uyghur Muqam was named a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity
Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity
The Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity was made by the Director-General of UNESCO starting in 2001 to raise awareness on intangible cultural heritage and encourage local communities to protect them and the local people who sustain these forms of cultural...
by UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
.
The sanam
Sanam
-References:...
tradition is a kind of dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
popular among the Uyghurs, while spoken songs like Maida
Maida
-Places:*Maida, Calabria, a comune in the province of Catanzaro, Italy**Battle of Maida, a Napoleonic battle in Calabria during the War of the Third Coalition*Maida, North Dakota, an unincorporated community in the United States-People:...
, Eytishish and Qoshaq are popular love songs with simple tunes.
The most popular performer of recent times is Turdi Akhun
Turdi Akhun
Turdi Akhun , sometimes spelled Turdu Ahun, was a traditional Uyghur folk musician in the Xinjiang region. He was born into a family with a rich musical history and could perform his music completely from memory, even into his 70s...
, who recorded most of the muqams in the 1950s. A regional popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
industry arose in the 1980s, alongside Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese politician, statesman, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng was a reformer who led China towards a market economy...
's loosening of cultural restrictions. The resulting pop industry produced bands like Shireli, whose 1995 "" was a reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
ish version of a local folk song. Later prominent musicians include Pasha Isha, Äskär
Askar
Askar is a Palestinian refugee camp. It is located on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Nablus and was established in 1950 on 209 dunums of land. In 1960 the camp was expanded onto a further 90 dumums. Residents of the camp refer to this as “New Askar”....
and his band Grey Wolf, Abdulla Abdurehim and Alim Jan, who appeared in such international releases as the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a 2000 wuxia film. An American-Chinese-Hong Kong-Taiwanese co-production, the film was directed by Ang Lee and featured an international cast of ethnic Chinese actors, including Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen...
, where he plays the stringed rawap. Jan's father was also a renowned folk musician, known as Tursun Tanbur due to his skill with the tanbur, a stringed instrument like a lock-necked lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
. Rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
and heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
bands like Täklimakan and Riwäyat are also well known in Xinjiang, as is the flamenco
Flamenco
Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....
guitar stylings of the Gipsy Kings
Gipsy Kings
The Gipsy Kings are a group of musicians from Arles and Montpellier, who perform in Spanish with an Andalucían accent. Although group members were born in France, their parents were mostly gitanos, Spanish Romani people who fled Catalonia during the 1930s Spanish Civil War. Chico Bouchikhi is of...
.