Uyghur Wind and Percussion Ensemble
01 · Historical Records
The combination of the sunay and the naghara has long been in use at weddings and festival processions in the oasis towns of Xinjiang. Bands are mostly built on a family basis, taught from master to apprentice and handed down orally from heart to heart, and the players often add ornaments and variations on the spot according to the atmosphere of the occasion. Since the twentieth century, influential drum-and-wind bands have appeared one after another in Yining, Kashgar, Turpan, Shache and elsewhere; their repertories borrow from one another and from the muqam and song-and-dance tunes, forming a pattern of scattered points, each with its own school.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Uyghur drum-and-wind music has a long history; it is a genre of instrumental music peculiar to the Uyghur nation and is widely distributed in the various Uyghur settlements of Xinjiang. Uyghur drum-and-wind music usually has one sunay playing the melody, with three pairs of naghara and one dongbaku marking the beat. It can play relatively fixed suites of drum-and-wind music such as the Twelve Suites of Ili Uyghur Drum-and-Wind Music, and can also play fragments of the Uyghur muqam and Uyghur song-and-dance music current in various localities. Drum-and-wind music is rich and varied in kind, and the repertories current in different Uyghur settlements often differ from one another; suites such as the Ili Uyghur Drum-and-Wind Suite and the Turpan Uyghur Wedding Drum-and-Wind Suite each have their own distinct repertory. Uyghur drum-and-wind music has many sources: some pieces derive from folk songs, some from folk song-and-dance tunes, and others from folk storytelling and singing and from classical muqam music. The drum-and-wind combinations of the different regions share some features but also differ; for instance the drum-and-wind music of Luopu County in Hotan Prefecture forms one group with three naghara, whose beat is quite distinctive and markedly different from elsewhere. Uyghur drum-and-wind music is used chiefly to accompany the recreational dancing of the masses, playing a very important part in the various Uyghur festivals, celebrations and rites of passage; it has extremely high technical and cultural research value. Its melody is flowing and undulating, its metre complex and changeable, and it is good at creating a warm, joyous festive atmosphere. Drum-and-wind music in the Turpan region can play the melodies of each suite of the Turpan Muqam from beginning to end, and enjoys a fine reputation in the Xinjiang region.
Ili Uyghur Drum-and-Wind Suite
Drum-and-wind music is rich and varied in kind, and the repertories current in different Uyghur settlements often differ from one another; suites such as the Ili Uyghur Drum-and-Wind Suite and the Turpan Uyghur Wedding Drum-and-Wind Suite each have their own distinct repertory.
Turpan Uyghur Wedding Drum-and-Wind Suite
Drum-and-wind music is rich and varied in kind, and the repertories current in different Uyghur settlements often differ from one another; suites such as the Ili Uyghur Drum-and-Wind Suite and the Turpan Uyghur Wedding Drum-and-Wind Suite each have their own distinct repertory.
Luopu three-naghara grouping
The drum-and-wind music of Luopu County in Hotan Prefecture forms one group with three naghara, whose beat is quite distinctive and markedly different from elsewhere.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Uyghur drum-and-wind music serves chiefly the recreational dancing of the masses; at festivals, celebrations and rites of passage it is played by bands in the street or in courtyards, and the players are mostly hereditary families who are also able to add ornaments and variations on the spot. Because it has not yet been systematically and comprehensively collected and sorted out, with the death of the older generation of players some bands have ceased to operate; the surviving bands of Yining, Shache, Turpan, Luopu and elsewhere each still follow their own line in their instrumental combinations and repertories.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present Uyghur drum-and-wind music in Xinjiang has not yet been systematically and comprehensively collected and sorted out, and with the death of the older generation of players some bands have already ceased to operate. Under these circumstances it is necessary to plan comprehensively and to take effective measures to guarantee the smooth transmission of this ancient form of ethnic music. Yusupjan Yaqup (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, Uyghur, born in January 1936, a native of Yining City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. From 1954 onwards he has carried on all kinds of transmission and demonstration activities in Yining City, Dushanzi and Urumqi City. In 1994 he published and released a cassette album of his own performances, The Art of the Ili Naghara. Representative inheritor of the second national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage project Uyghur drum-and-wind music.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yusufujiang Yakupu 03-0885
- Abolizisadike
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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