Uyghur Muqam of Xinjiang

Ⅱ-70Traditional MusicShanshan, XinjiangBatch 1 (2006)Newly Added ItemFeatured

01 · Historical Records

Uyghur muqam art began in folk culture and developed in the courts and official residences of the oasis city-states; through integration and development it formed an artistic style that is diverse, comprehensive, complete, improvisatory and popular, and became a distinguished form of expression of the Uyghur people.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The sung texts of Uyghur muqam art of Xinjiang include the maxims of sages, the admonitions of prophets, village ditties, folk tales and the like, comprising both folk songs and the poetry of men of letters; they are a vivid expression of the mind of the Uyghur people. Uyghur muqam art is rich and varied in musical form, with many kinds of tonal system, elaborate modes, and accompanying instruments of many different metres, rhythms and combinations of formation; it displays a distinctive national character and a strong power of appeal. The Turpan Muqam is an important component of Uyghur muqam art of Xinjiang, current mainly in Lukqin town of Shanshan county in the Turpan area and in the surrounding parts of Turpan city and Toksun county. The Turpan Muqam has eleven sections, among them the Rak Muqam and the Chebiyat Muqam, and a complete performance takes about ten hours. Each muqam suite consists of eight parts, among them the Muqaddim, the Chekte, the Baste Chekte, the Yarang Chekte, the Jula, the Sanam and the coda. Besides the accompanied form, there is also a form performed with drums and wind instruments. The artistic character of the Turpan Muqam, that there is no singing without drums and no music without dancing, is the musical legacy of ancient Gaochang and the Gaochang Uyghur Khaganate. As the crystallisation of cultural exchange between the music and dance of East and West, the Turpan Muqam records and corroborates the history of the mutual spread, collision and blending of different musical and dance cultures. In the Turpan Muqam one can see both elements of the music of the Central Plains of China and of the grasslands north of the desert, and the influence of the music of countries and regions of Central Asia, South Asia, West Asia and North Africa. Its distinctive musical rhythm, metre and system of pitch is an important foundation for the formation of the theoretical system of Uyghur music.

Rak Muqam

One of the eleven sections of the Turpan Muqam.

Chebiyat Muqam

One of the eleven sections of the Turpan Muqam.

Eight-section suite structure

Each muqam suite consists of eight parts, among them the Muqaddim, the Chekte, the Baste Chekte, the Yarang Chekte, the Jula, the Sanam and the coda; a complete performance takes about ten hours; besides the accompanied form there is also a form performed with drums and wind instruments.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

Uyghur muqam art of Xinjiang is a large comprehensive art form that combines singing, dancing and instrumental music; it is distributed mainly in the Uyghur settlements of southern, northern and eastern Xinjiang, and is also current in large, medium and small towns such as Urumqi. In the course of its development within its cultural space, Uyghur muqam art of Xinjiang formed the schools of the Twelve Muqam, the Turpan Muqam, the Hami Muqam and the Dolan Muqam, which are the most representative of them.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Uyghur Muqam of Xinjiang · Uyghur Muqam of Xinjiang · Uyghur Muqam of Xinjiang.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The sung texts of the Turpan Muqam are mostly folk ditties, but they also include the poetry of medieval men of letters; they gather the essence of the oral literature of the Uyghur people of Turpan and of the classical poetry of the Chagatai historical period, and have become invaluable living material for the study of such cultural expressions as the life philosophy, ethics and morals, folk customs and manners, and literature and art of the ancient Gaochang people and their neighbouring peoples and of the modern Uyghur nation. Because some of the lyrics and poems in the Turpan Muqam are written in the ancient Chagatai language, contemporary listeners can hardly make out their meaning, and its transmission therefore faces a predicament. Maimaiti Wulayin (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): male, Uyghur, born in 1949, died in 2008, a native of Shanshan, Xinjiang. Representative inheritor of Uyghur muqam art of Xinjiang (Turpan Muqam), a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the second national-level batch. In his youth he studied from Simayi Mayiz, Awuti Rouzmailiti, Yiming Panjia and other sixth-generation transmitters of the Turpan Muqam the playing of the rawap, the dombra and the ghijak and the muqam sung texts, and mastered the singing and playing of the Turpan Muqam, being especially renowned for his rawap playing; he took part many times in national and autonomous-region cultural performances and won prizes. Tuerxun Simayi (as recorded in the official dossier of an associated inheritor): male, Uyghur, born in 1949, a native of Shanshan, Xinjiang. Representative inheritor of Uyghur muqam art of Xinjiang (Turpan Muqam), a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the second national-level batch, and director of the cultural station of Lukqin town, Shanshan county, Xinjiang. He took part in the compilation of the Turpan Muqam and the Collection of Turpan Folk Songs, and was honoured with the title “Outstanding Folk Artist” of the autonomous region.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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