Uyghur Folk Songs

01 · Historical Records

Kuqa belonged in antiquity to Kucha in the Western Regions; in the Han and Tang periods it was already a major centre of music and dance in the Western Regions, and Kucha music spread eastward to the Central Plains, exerting an important influence on the court music and dance of the Sui and Tang dynasties. The Uyghur folk songs of Kuqa developed precisely on the foundation of this music-and-dance tradition: among the local people they have been sung from generation to generation at Maixirefu gatherings, Baiziman gatherings, weddings and festivals, producing a landscape in which three types coexist, namely customary songs, recitative songs and song-and-dance songs.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Uyghur folk songs of Kuqa circulate in the towns and villages of Kuqa County (now Kuqa City) in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, such as the old city quarter of the county seat, Yixihala Town, Qiman Town, Hanikatan Township, Alahage Town and Yaha Town, and they are also transmitted in the neighbouring counties of Shaya, Xinhe and Baicheng. Kuqa was the place where the ancient kingdom of Kucha built its capital; local culture, Central Plains culture and Central Asian culture met and intermingled here, giving rise to the distinctive Kucha culture. The Uyghur folk songs of Kuqa are an important part of Uyghur folk song. They belong to the song-and-dance type and are a form of traditional folk art formed by inheriting the artistic tradition of Kucha music and dance in the Western Regions of antiquity while also being influenced by the Uyghur Muqam art. Customary songs are short in length, have a narrow range, and a free rhythm. Recitative songs include love songs, labour songs, historical songs, narrative songs and the like. Love songs and labour songs are mostly in free metre, with no fixed beat, a free rhythm and long-drawn breath; historical songs have a regular sentence structure, a marked rhythm and a bright melody; narrative songs have deep and beautiful melodies. Song-and-dance folk songs mostly accompany dancing, with varied beat forms, a rich rhythm and a lively, joyous character. Uyghur folk songs are normally sung at Maixirefu gatherings, Baiziman gatherings, weddings and festivals, and constitute an important cultural activity of the Uyghur people. In terms of musical form, the Uyghur folk songs of Kuqa belong to the multi-section form. Several rhythmic systems are used together; the beat forms are varied, the rhythm rich and clear, the music lively and joyous with a marked individuality; the melodies rise and fall, surging and dipping, and a 'basic rhythmic pattern' runs through the piece and determines its character. Scales and modes mostly employ the seven-tone scale or scales of more than seven tones; there is a great variety of modes, with subtle and natural changes, making them well suited to dancing. The lyrics are largely improvised by the singer at the moment of performance, using rhetorical devices such as analogy, contrast, exaggeration and metaphor, and making extensive use of particles to colour the atmosphere. Uyghur folk songs are normally accompanied by the dutar, the rawap and the hand drum. At present there are more than a hundred singers and instrumentalists, mostly farmers, herdsmen and artisans.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

According to their lyrics, mode of performance and occasion of use, the Uyghur folk songs of Kuqa fall into three types: customary songs, recitative songs and song-and-dance songs.

Other submitting regions for the same item: Uyghur Folk Songs · Uyghur Folk Songs.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The Uyghur folk songs of Kuqa are transmitted mainly through the master-disciple system. In recent years the local authorities have collected more than 200 Uyghur folk songs of Kuqa circulating among the people, of which 63 have now been collated, compiled and published. The traditional folk songs of Kuqa still circulating today reflect the social life of the Uyghur people and their ancestors in the Kuqa region since the eighteenth century. Their emergence, transmission and development went through a long historical process and are closely bound up with the local economy and the lives of the people; they embody the cultural character and aesthetic tastes of the local population, display the singing and dancing talent of the Uyghur nation, and carry high scholarly research value in the fields of anthropology, ethnology and folklore as well as social and cultural value in building harmonious communities and handing on culture. Halikemu Timur (official archive record of the associated inheritor): A woman of the Uyghur people, born in April 1965 in Kuqa County, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. She has loved singing since childhood, and at various gatherings such as Maixirefu she studied the folk songs of Kuqa and the Twelve Muqam under folk artists of Qiman Town, Kuqa County, including Ayitila Ella and Kayum Moyiding. Representative inheritor of the Uyghur folk songs in the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. As an inheritor of the Kuqa folk songs she has mastered a large number of them and has handed on the skill, current in the Kuqa area, of one person playing the hand drum and the dutar at the same time. She has received many honours at the performances and other events held in the prefecture, the counties and the city, and she has led the women around her in studying the folk songs of Kuqa and carrying on excellent traditional culture.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

• Tudi Niyazi 05-2124
• Abudouwali Dawuti 05-2125
• Hailiqiemu Tiemuer 05-2126

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Uyghur Folk Songs (Kuche, Xinjiang) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Hailiqiemu Tiemuer · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗