Uzbek Aixilaiyelai
01 · Historical Records
The Uzbek people have an excellent music-and-dance tradition; as early as the historical period from the Wei, Jin and the Northern and Southern dynasties to the Sui and Tang, the “Kangguo music” from what is now Samarkand, the “Anguo music” from Bukhara and the “Shiguo music and dance” from Tashkent travelled east together with other music and dance of the Western Regions such as “Kucha music”, “Shule music” and “Gaochang music”, exerting a major influence on the development of the music-and-dance culture of the Han people of the Central Plains and of East and South-East Asia.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Uzbek eshira and yele are current mainly in Kashgar city, Shache city and Yecheng county of Kashgar prefecture, and in Yining city of the Ili Kazakh autonomous prefecture, in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Uzbek folk songs are the foundation of its folk music and even of its classical music and primitive religious ritual music, while eshira and yele are in turn important representatives of Uzbek folk song. Eshira is of great length, strictly structured and wide in range, and its melody combines depth with impassioned uplift. It is sung mainly at mass entertainments such as the “odurush”, and individual pieces may also be used to accompany dancing. Yele is comparatively short, its metre and rhythm rich in variation and its tune light and lively; it is sung and played mainly to accompany the popular self-amusement dancing at festive occasions of the seasonal calendar and of the rites of life.
Eshira
One of the important representatives of Uzbek folk song, of great length, strictly structured and wide in range, its melody combining depth with impassioned uplift.
Yele
One of the important representatives of Uzbek folk song, comparatively short, its metre and rhythm rich in variation and its tune light and lively.
Odurush gathering performance
Eshira is sung mainly at mass entertainments such as the “odurush”; individual pieces may also be used to accompany dancing.
Seasonal and life-cycle accompaniment
Yele is sung and played mainly to accompany the popular self-amusement dancing at festive occasions of the seasonal calendar and of the rites of life.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Uzbek eshira and yele are current mainly in Kashgar city, Shache city and Yecheng county of Kashgar prefecture, and in Yining city of the Ili Kazakh autonomous prefecture, in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, and are handed down mostly within families and from master to apprentice. Eshira is sung mainly at mass entertainments such as the “odurush”, individual pieces may also accompany dancing, and in performance several singers take turns to start the song while all join in the response; it is of great length and strictly structured.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Uzbek Aixilaiyelai · Uzbek Aixilaiyelai.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Eshira and yele complement one another and enhance each other; together they enrich the spiritual world of the people where they circulate, refine their sensibilities and form an important part of the social life of the Uzbeks, expressing the cultural identity of the Uzbek people and thus becoming one of the cultural marks distinguishing this people from others; they are of extremely high reference value for the study of the history of the music-and-dance development of the Chinese nation, the history of cultural exchange between Eastern and Western music, and the social and historical situation of the Uzbek people. For various reasons eshira and yele are now on the verge of being lost, and measures for their protection are urgently needed.
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)
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