Music of Turkmenistan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The music of the nomadic and rural Turkmen people is closely related to Kyrgyz and Kazakh folk forms. Important musical traditions in Turkmen music include travelling singers and shamans called bakshy, who act as healers and magicians and sing either a cappella or with instruments such as the two-stringed lute called dutar.

Turkmenistan's national poet is Magtumguly Feraghy, from the 18th century, who wrote four line qoshunk lyrics. The Central Asian classical music tradition mugam is also present in Turkmenistan by name as the mukamlar [1].

Contents

[edit] National anthem

As a Soviet Republic, Turkmenistan's national anthem was "Turkmenistan", composed by Veli Mukhatov with words by Aman Kekilov. In 1997 (well after independence), the anthem was changed to "Independent, Neutral, Turkmenistan State Anthem", the music and lyrics of which were written by President-for-Life Saparmurat Niyazov.

[edit] Dutar

Main article: Dutar

The dutar is the most representative instrument of Turkmen folk music. It is used in many styles, ranging from the mukamlar and saltiklar to the kirklar and navoi. These are performed by professional musicians called sozanda.

[edit] Bakshy

Main article: Bakshy

Bakshy were formerly the most important musicians in Turkmen society, along with tuidukists. They played the dutar to celebrate weddings, births, and other events.

[edit] Mugam

Main article: Mugam

Mugam is a pan-Central Asian style of classical music, performed in Turkmenistan by a dutarist and gidjakist, or by an ensemble of just dutarists [2].

[edit] References

  • Broughton, Simon and Sultanova, Razia. "Bards of the Golden Road". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 24-31. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0

[edit] External links

Central Asian music

Afghanistan | Badakhshan | Buryatia | Gansu | Inner Mongolia | Kazakhstan | Khakassia
Kyrgyzstan - Mongolia | Qinghai | Tajikistan | Tibet | Turkmenistan | Tuva | Uzbekistan | Xinjiang