Xinjiang Weiwuerzumaixirefu
01 · Historical Records
The Querikumu meshrep has its source in two villages of Karatal Town, Aksu City: Querikumu Village and Kedimu Ayimake Village. This activity, which combines lyrics, muqam music, dance and all kinds of humorous games, has a history of about four hundred years to this day. It is not the exclusive skill handed down by any single family, but the product of the people of the two villages living together on the same oasis: after finishing work in the busy farming season they would gather for a session, whoever could sing would begin, whoever could make everyone laugh was welcomed, and whatever props were at hand would be used; for more than four hundred years it has lived on in this way. The inheritor Eli Ibrayin was born in 1928 into a peasant family of Karatal Town; he began learning in his teens, has practiced for more than seventy years, and is capable in hand drum, song, dance and games alike, with dance as his particular strength.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The word "meshrep" comes from Arabic and means "gathering". Meshrep is centered on dance and recreational activities; participants amuse themselves, and the numbers taking part are large. Meshrep can be divided by performance form into song-and-dance meshrep, game meshrep and speech-and-song meshrep, and by performance content into parlor meshrep, welcome meshrep and harvest meshrep. Every part of Xinjiang has its own meshrep; the forms are broadly similar, and they are given names such as "Dolan", "Kok" and "Tahe", each with its own distinctive features. The Querikumu meshrep of the Uyghurs is a form of the Dolan meshrep; it circulates in Querikumu Village and Kedimu Ayimake Village of Karatal Town, Aksu City, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and was formed on the basis of the production and daily life of the people of these two villages. It consists of lyrics, music (muqam), dance and various humorous traditional folk games, and has a history of more than four hundred years to the present day.
The two villages of the form
The form grew out of daily life in Que Rikumu and Kedi Mu Ayima villages of Karatalle town, and has stayed with them for four centuries.
Linking Muqam melody to song and dance
As each Muqam tune begins, dancers enter; when a section ends the next tune starts, so song and dance alternate within one evening.
The games that hold the floor
Witty folk games thread through the songs and dances, loosening the gathering from ceremony into fellowship.
Seventy-odd players and dancers
Many dancers and more than seventy instrumentalists remain across Aksu, but few still master the witty games that give the form its character.
Seventy years of Aili Yibulayin
The inheritor began as a youth, practised for more than seventy years, joined a local troupe and toured the region, training over twenty pupils.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Querikumu meshrep remains rooted in these two villages of Karatal Town, but it has also spread outward. In the villages of Aksu city proper, many people can dance it, and there are more than seventy folk artists who can play its muqam pieces; artists from the two villages are often invited to weddings and festival occasions in the townships to hold the floor. The weak points of transmission are equally clear: people who can dance or play the drum are relatively easy to find, but old hands who truly understand the humorous folk games and can heat up the atmosphere have become very few, and this is precisely the part in which the Querikumu meshrep shows its character most. The artist Eli Ibrayin has taught more than twenty apprentices; in the early years of this century he also joined the local folk art troupe and honed his skills at regional and autonomous-region exhibitions and performances.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Weiwuerdaolangmaixirefu · Xinjiang Weiwuerzumaixirefu · Xinjiang Weiwuerzumaixirefu · Xinjiang Weiwuerzumaixirefu.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Meshrep is a distinctive form of folk entertainment of the Xinjiang Uyghurs, and also an ancient folk cultural activity with a long history and uninterrupted transmission. At present, many people in Aksu city proper and the countryside can dance the Querikumu meshrep, and more than seventy folk artists can play its music, but those who understand the humorous folk games are very few. Today the content and form of the Querikumu meshrep are being progressively enriched and improved, and it has become a well-preserved precious cultural heritage of an ethnic minority. Eli Ibrayin (from the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, Uyghur ethnicity, born in April 1928, from Aksu City, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. He was born into a peasant family of Karatal Town, Aksu City; in his teens he began studying the Querikumu meshrep and has practiced for more than seventy years. He has attained a certain artistic level and is deeply respected and loved by his peers and the local people. He has mastered the hand-drum playing, singing, dancing and game items of the Querikumu meshrep; he is especially skilled at dance and has strong organizational ability in performance. In the early years of this century he joined the local folk art troupe and actively took part in exhibition and performance activities at the regional and autonomous-region levels. He has taught more than twenty apprentices and has made unremitting efforts to pass on the Querikumu meshrep. Representative inheritor of Xinjiang Uyghur Meshrep (Querikumu Meshrep of the Uyghurs), a national-level intangible cultural heritage item of the fourth batch. He was named an outstanding folk artist of the autonomous region.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Aili Yibulayin 04-1966
- Talipu Kuwan 05-2989
- Ailiyasi Gayiti 05-2990
- Kazimuhadeer
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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