Study Guide
China: Uygur Music and Instruments
Tarim The performers in Tarim all come from the Uygur (pronounced wee-ghur) Municipality, where traditional music and dance are very much alive and part of daily life. The ensemble members studied their instruments and dance at respected universities such as the Xinjiang Arts Institute and Beijing National University. The combination of advanced study along with learning through community and family life makes this ensemble a truly authentic, unique, and skilled group. The ensemble has toured throughout Australia, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
Uygurs The Uygur people mainly live in northwestern Tarim , 2011 China, in the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang (pronounced shin-jyan) Province. Because of the challenge in translating Chinese characters and sounds into the English alphabet, Uygur may also be spelled “Uighur” or “Uyghur.”
There are approximately 9 million Uygurs in China and about 300,000 in neighboring Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. The Uygurs speak a Turkic language, a type of language spoken across Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan through the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan to Xinjiang Province in China. The chief Uygur cities are Ürümqi, the capital of Xinjiang, and Kashgar, an ancient center of trade near the Russian-Chinese border.
The Uygurs are mentioned in Chinese records from the 3rd century AD. They are mainly a sedentary, village-dwelling people who live in the network of oases formed in the valleys and lower slopes of mountain systems in western China. The region is one of the most arid in the world, and for centuries the Uygurs have practiced irrigation to conserve their water supply for agriculture. Their principal food crops are wheat, corn, kaoliang (a form of grain), and melons.
Muqam The Uygur muqam are performance pieces consisting of sung poetry, dances, and instrumental sections. The lyrics for the muqam are drawn from folk stories and religious poetry from a mystical tradition of Islam known as Sufism. The muqam is unique to the Uygur people and has been designated by UNESCO as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The Uygur muqam are typically performed by a small ensemble of singers, led by a lead singer, and accompanied by plucked or bowed lutes and dap frame drums. There are twelve muqam that have become fixed and standardized by professional musicians over time. Each of these twelve muqams consists of a main section that begins with a long free rhythm introduction, followed by pieces with characteristic rhythmic patterns that gradually increase in speed.
References Music of the Uyghurs
The Uyghur Muqam of Xinjiang
Katta Ashula
"Uighur." Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition, s.v. (accessed November 16, 2011).
"East Asia." Lands and Peoples. Grolier Online (accessed November 16, 2011).
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China: Uygur Musical Instruments
Rawap Dap The rawap is the most A dap is a frame drum that popular instrument among is played much like a the Uygur people. It is a tambourine. long-necked lute that typically has five strings. Rawaps have very distinctive snakeskin faces and “goat horns” that decorate the instruments.
Qang Ghijek The qanq (also spelled The ghijek is a bowed “chang”) is a large instrument with four metal hammer dulcimer using strings tuned like a violin metal strings that are but played while held on strung across raised the musician’s knee. bridges. Ancient versions of the ghijek used between six and ten strings made of horse hair.
Satar Tambur The satar is a long-necked, The longest of the Uygur bowed lute with one lutes, the tambur has five melodic and eight to metal strings and is played twelve drone strings made using a metal pick. of metal.
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