Uzbekistan Today

Uzbek National Music

From afar, over the roofs of the houses, the inviting blaring tones of karnais are resounding - today there is a wedding in the makhalla: a respectable neighbor is marrying off his daughter. Singing the song with the refrain "Yor-Yor!" the women are seeing the bride to the groom's house. Since time immemorial the most important events in the lives of the Uzbeks, from cradle to grave, have always been accompanied by ritual music and songs. On the seventh day of his life a baby is for the first time swaddled and put to beshik -cradle to the accompaniment of the lullaby "Alla" . If a child is ill, he is comforted with the chant "Badik" . The ancient laments "Yigi" and "Yuklov" can still be heard at funerals and commemorative ceremonies. Many Uzbek families cherish and hand down their traditional ritual songs. Full of special meaning, these songs often date back to the age of the pre-Muslim culture

According to historical sources, the hymns of the holy Zoroastrian book Avesta, composed 2500 years ago in Khorezm, were performed in a drawlingly chanting way. In the 5th century B.C., in his description of the lands and peoples conquered by the Persian king Darius, Herodotus, "The Father of History" , mentioned the choral singing of the Massagetae, distant ancestors of the present-day Uzbeks. The famous scientist Narshakhi, who lived in 10th century, in his "History of Bukhara" marked out the Sogdians' art of singing ancient ritual songs.

In some regions of Uzbekistan there have preserved the common practice of starting to plow fields with the ritual of the first furrow and the song "Kush Khaidash" , whereas harvesting is started to the accompaniment of "Oblo Baraka" song. The farmers in Surkhandarya and Kashkadarya regions start their haymaking with the song "Yozi"; whereas during threshing time the ritual tune "Maida" is performed. The celebration of the spring holiday Navruz in Uzbekistan is accompanied by the choral songs "Navruz Ayomi" and " Navruz Muborak "; in winter the first snow is greeted with the chanted rhymes of "Kor Keldi" .

But Uzbek musical folklore is not limited to only ritual songs. Very popular are still the ancient genres kushik, lapar and yalla, when singing of poetic stanzas is accompanied by dancing. It must be noted that interrelation of lyrics, tune and rhythm has always been one of the basic principles of Uzbek national music.

A prominent place in Uzbek musical heritage is assigned to dastan, a genre of a lyric and heroic epic. The unwritten folk music and poetry of the peoples who lived in Central Asia has such deep historical roots that it is impossible to determine the precise date when such masterpieces as the dastan "Gur Ugli" or the heroic epic "Alpomysh" were composed. We only know that as early as a thousand years ago Surkhandarya bakhshi-singers of the Uzbek clan Kungrat would already sing dastans about the feats of the legendary hero Alpomysh. The plot of the dastan "Oysulu" is about the events of the 6th century B.C., those of the fight of Tomyris - the queen of the Massagetae with the Persian king Cyrus. The ancient dastans "Shirin and Shakar" , "Takhir and Zukhra" , "Farkhad and Shirin" are based on the legends of the Sogdians and the Scythians (Saka) who in the distant past lived in Chach (Tashkent).

As time went by there formed a few distinctive schools of dastan singers in Uzbekistan. In Kashkadarya and Surkhandarya regions the dastans are sung to the accompaniment of dombra. In Khorezm bakhshi-singers perform them to the ensemble of dutar, gidjak and bulaman. In Karakalpakstan jyrau-narrators perform dastans to the two-string bow instrument kobuz. Based on folklore poetic style, dastans as well as ritual songs can be regarded as a form of professional folk music.

The professionalism in Uzbek music art developed as early as the beginning of the first millennium AD. Famous for their mastery, there were musicians of a wide variety of genres. Although in a Sogdian manuscript of the 7th century there have been found some accent signs that can be regarded as the prototype of musical notation, all the complex genres of Uzbek professional music used to spread orally; each talented musician would make his contributions to musical composition.

Professional musicians, like artisans, would belong to a mekhterlik, 'an artistic guild' . Each member of the guild would have to follow the bylaw "Risola" . A guild would be headed by the most experienced musician. In order to earn the status of a professional singer or an instrumentalist and become a member of the corporation, an apprentice musician would have to learn from a prominent master for ten years, to memorize scores of compositions with great precision and to pass a stiff examination. The musicians of the Western Land - as Central Asian countries were called in Chinese chronicles of the first centuries AD - were famous along the whole Great Silk Road. Central Asian music, dances, musical instruments and artists as dowries of royal brides, diplomatic presents and in other capacities would reach China, Korea, Japan and other countries. There is historical evidence that Sogdian musicians were very popular in China. An orchestra from Ango (Bukhara), for example, was an unprecedented success at the court of the emperors of the Sui Dynasty in the 6th - 7th centuries.

History knows the names of several outstanding musicians of the medieval Uzbekistan. Not only a virtuoso performer of musical compositions but also the author of the treatise "The Big Book on Music" was Abu Nasr al Farabi , a philosopher and a scientist, a man of encyclopaedic knowledge, who lived in the 9th - 10th centuries. His contemporary, the legendary medical man Abu Ali ibn Sino (Avitsenna) and the eminent mathematician Al-Khorezmi also wrote on the theory of music.

Uzbek professional music reached its fullest flower in the times of the Temurids Dynasty. In the 15th century centers of education and art in Samarkand, Bukhara and Herat became homes to the famous performing musicians Usto Kul-Muhammad , Sheikhi-Na'i and the poet Abdurakhman Jami . The great medieval poet Alisher Navoi was not only a performing musician but also a composer of melodious pieces of music. Uzbek professional music of folk oral tradition has a wide variety of genres and forms: songs and instrumental pieces, solo and ensemble cycles of vocal and instrumental compositions.

Formed in the Middle Ages, the classical traditional vocal and instrumental genre makom is deservedly believed to stand at the top of Uzbek professional music of folk oral tradition. Some researchers find that makoms evolved from the ancient Zoroastrian sacred songs. Long before Islam became dominant in Central Asia, those songs had been connected with the astrological beliefs of the Zoroastrians. It is supposed that at certain hours when guards were relieved it was prescriptive to perform special ritual song over a fortress's or a town's gates. The song was called makom, the literal Arabian for 'position'.

Makoms are instrumental and vocal musical pieces performed together as a cycle. The lyrics of makoms come from ancient folk poetry and the classical oriental poetry by such authors as Khafiz , Bedil , Navoiy , Jami . Makoms stylistically fall into Bukhara cycle and Khorezm cycle. Bukhara cycle " Shashmakom " consists of six makoms: Buzruk , Rost , Navo , Dugokh , Segokh and Irok . Each of the makoms consists of instrumental and vocal parts. Each instrumental part in its turn should embrace several complete musical pieces: Tasnif , Tarji , Gardun , Mukhammas and Sakil , all of which differ in tune and rhythm. The vocal parts of Bukhara makoms consist of several compositions shu'be to be performed in strict order. The main musical instruments of makoms are the tanbur and the doira. Makom cycles also include usuls, rhythmical fill-ins beaten on the doira or the nagora-drum. Usuls are very important for making makom cycles sound as an integral dinamic piece.

Khorezm makoms, just as Bukhara's ones, consist of six parts containing several original tunes. Though makoms are strictly standardized, it is allowed to change their tempo, interpret usuls and melodic intonations to personal taste of performers.

The highly artistic and perfectly mastered genre of makom cycles is extremely popular in Uzbekistan.

The pervasion of European music in Uzbekistan consequent to Russia's annexation of Turkestan stimulated the formation of a new phase of Uzbek national music. In the 1880s the tanbur-player Pakhlavan Niyaz-Mirzabashi from Khorezm invented written tabulation for Uzbek national musical instruments; a little later the modern musical notation was brought into practice. Early in the 20th century the first national opera "Leyli and Medjnun" by U.Gajibekov was staged in Tashkent.

The fact that such prominent Uzbek musicians as Tokhtasyn Djalilov , Mukhitdin Kari-Yakubov and Yunus Radjabiy were able to master the techniques of musical composition and apply them to the traditional makoms and folk songs resulted in development of new forms of Uzbek national music for ensembles of national musical instruments and philharmonic orchestras.

In the mid-20th century there appeared a galaxy of Uzbek composers. Among them are Tolib Sadykov and Ikram Akbarov . The former was one of the most talented players on tanbur, dutar, and nai-flute; he was a connoisseur of Bukhara, Tashkent and Fergana makoms, of Uzbek folk melodies and songs which he used as the basis for his makom-like arias for the opera "Leyli and Mejnun". The latter composed a suite on themes of Uzbek folk songs for piano, oboe and stringed quartette; in his sonatas for the violin and the piano the vocals originally mix with the rapid rhythm of the folk music.

A significant contribution to the development of the modern Uzbek national music was made by the outstanding composer and conductor Mukhtar Ashrafi . He was born in Bukhara, in a family of a famous singer, where he got his musical education based on the standards of the classical Bukhara makoms. In his youth, when he heard a philharmonic orchestra, he was deeply impressed by the rich sounds of European musical instruments. Later, having studied the theory of musical composition at Moscow Conservatory, he returned to Uzbekistan and became for many years the head of the philharmonic orchestra of the Alisher Navoi State Opera and Ballet Theatre. Mukhtar Ashrafi is the author of the highly praised by professional musicians as well as music-lovers national operas "Buran" , " Ulugbek ", " Dilorom ", and " Heroic " symphony, not to mention many musical compositions for ensembles of stringed and wind instruments. Many of his compositions are based on Uzbek and Tajik folk songs, or evoked by the rhythms of usuls.

One of the most renowned Uzbek composers of the late 20th century is U.Musaev . He is the author of the ballet " Tomyris ", which is based on the ancient legend about the fight of the Massagetian queen against the Persian invaders. Among the most avant-garde philharmonic composers stands out Uzbek composer Rustam Abdullaev .

Today the traditions of Uzbek national music, folk melodies and rhythms are taught at musical colleges and at the State Tashkent Conservatory. The graduates of these establishment play at the Alisher Navoi State Opera and Ballet Theatre and at the musical and drama theatres in all the cities of Uzbekistan. In numerous concert halls throughout Uzbekistan music lovers can enjoy musical compositions played by philharmonic and chamber orchestras, ensembles and orchestras of Uzbek national instruments.

Uzbek Musical Instruments

Overriding the street noise, the blaring inviting karnay sounds are being heard above the city. People are in a hurry having heard this invitation for celebrations: for wedding ceremony in mahalla, or may be for the opening of a new exebition.

Everybody knows that karnay is one of the most ancient Uzbek musical instruments, but just a few are aware that in the Middle Ages it was a military signal instrument. One of the miniatures dating back to 1430 and decorating the manuscript " Shakhname " by Firdousi depicts a battle scene where together with warriors in front line there are drum-players and musicians trumpeting the long karnays. The length of this mouthpiece wind instrument without valves and holes can reach up to three meters; its cylindrical body with a funnel-shaped opening at the end is made of brass or copper.

Getting closer we start to distinguish doira rhythmic sounds and intricate melody of surnay . The body of surnay with wide funnel-shaped opening is artfully cut of one piece of apricot or mulberry wood and its metal pin is made of silver. The musicians are dressed in national kaftans - chapans , belted with kerchiefs - belbogs , and on the heads of the musicians there are Chust scull caps.

The history of Uzbek musical instruments is extraordinary rich and diversified. The most ancient musical instruments that has remained almost unchanged up to present time are the simple percussion instruments, which were used by the ancestors of modern Uzbeks to accompany songs and dances. And this is not surprising because one of the composing elements of Uzbek musical culture is rhythm.

Among the ancient instruments we can name kayrok , which is a device consisting of two pairs of polished stones. Ancient Khiva men's dances are performed to the accompaniment of these peculiar castanets. Another percussion instrument which is almost out of use now is koshik , which was made of wood of a mulberry, apricot or juniper tree and resembled two pairs of spoons. It is interesting that even nowadays in the valleys of Surkhandarya province women accompany their dances by tapping painted wooden spoons.

Another ethnographical musical instrument is zang made in the form of bracelets with small brass or copper bells. Such bracelets are put on the wrists and ankles of a dancing girl performing ancient Sogdian dance-pantomime "zang".

Undoubtedly, the most favorite percussion instrument of the Uzbeks is doira. One side of the wooden rim with diameter up to fifty centimetres is covered with tight leather membrane, whereas sixty metal rings are fixed on the other side. With fingers of both hands a musician beats out a tattoo on the tightly stretched leather and at the same time he shakes doira thus accompanying the rhythmic sound strikes with melodical chime of the rings. In the hands of a virtuoso doira-player performing usul - a rhythmic accompaniment of dances and singing, doira can produce tender sounds resembling rustling of the wind, or loud drumming, like a spring thunder. At the parties for lack of doira the girls accompany their dancing with improvised musical instruments: a metal plate liagan or a tray which help them produce rhythm similar to that of a doira.

Cymbals , the most ancient string musical instrument ever known, probably became the prototype of ancient Uzbek chang as far back as Middle Ages. On wooden trapezium body there are drawn forty-two steel strings, and musicians produce stirring clinking sounds by striking the strings with two cane or bamboo sticks.

The archeological findings of wall paintings and terracotta statuettes on ancient Afrosiab site not far from Samarkand, as well as in ancient Khorezm and on archeological sites of Surkhandarya province testify to the fact that in Hellenistic epoch in Sogdiana and Bactria such musical instruments as lute , double flute - avlos , and kefara were coomonly used. On the famous antique (1st - 2nd century) frieze from Airtam site, which is within twenty kilometers from Termez, an unknown artist from the court of a Kushan grandee depicted musicians playing harp, flute, four-string lute, kimvala and double-sided drum resembling Uzbek national drum rez-nagora .

The Great Silk Road, the main routes of which ran through the territory of modern Uzbekistan, served more than just trade purpose. For centuries these routes were used for spreading cultural achievements of peoples from the East and the West. At the beginning of our era musical culture and musical instruments from the Western Territories, as Central Asia was called at that time, became very popular in China. The Chinese studied Sogdian notation, invited musicians with their unusual instruments. From historical sources it is known that in the 7th century at the court of Tang dynasty the Sogdians were noted for their skillful reed-pipe and lute playing.

Obviously in the early Middle Ages from Persia there was brought to Sogd the wind musical instrument with seven holes - zurna , known in Uzbekistan as surnay . From Chach the same instrument was brought to China where it was called sona . In Khiva since ancient times there existed instrument bulamon which resembled surnay. But bulamon differs from surnay: as distict from conical air channel of surnay bulamon has a cylindrical air channel and in the upper part of it the cane tubule with a cut reed is inserted. Yet the most popular folk wind musical instrument is flute - nay . Its sound, mysterious and tender, can be compared with gentle murmur of a mountain stream.

In the miniatures to "Bobur-name", which dates back to the beginning of the 16th century and is the poetic biography of Uzbek state figure, poet and scientist Zakhiriddin Babur, one can find the pictures of a doira and harp, surnai and nai, three-stringed Bukhara tanbour and double drum kosh-nagora , which consists of two baked clay pots-resonators with their wide open mouths being covered with tight leather membrane.

In the 10th - 11th centuries the ancient Arab musical pinch instrument ud (a modified lute) gained wide popularity in Uzbekistan. The detailed description of this instrument can be found in the medieval manuscripts devoted to the issues of music theory: it possessed rather big deep resonator covered with thin sounding board containing small holes, and a short finger-board.

Along with ud one of the most favoured instruments in Uzbekistan for more than thousand years is rubab , which has two duplex strings and one additional string. Its compact dome-like resonator with leather membrane is crowned with graceful long finger-board. Rubab is played by striking the strings with special mediator. In the times of Abu Ali Ibn Sino (Avicenna) rubab was considered to be the instrument of those in love.

Another musical instrument known from the ancient times is tanbour , which has three metal strings and a long neck. Deep captivating sound is produced with the help of a mediator, which musician puts on his index finger. The most popular pinch musical instrument is probably dutar with big pear-like body, two strings and a neck on which there are placed fourteen frets which make it possible to produce polyphonic melodies. In the middle of the thirties of the 20th century in Uzbekistan there was created a big family of orchestra dutars.

Many scientists believe that Central Asia is the motherland of stringed musical instruments. Among these instruments we can name sato and kabus, which hold much favour of the peoples of Asia. Yet the most ancient stringed instrument created on the Uzbek land was ghijak , whose round body covered with tight leather was traditionally made of coconut. The sound of ghijak resembles that of a violin. It is played being placed vertically on the knee and the sound is produced with the help of special bow-kamon .

One of the most talented ghijak-player was famous twenty-century musician and composer Tokhtasin Djalilov - a collector of musical folklore, who created many orchestral works on the basis of folk melodies. The Uzbek State Orchestra of folk instruments is named after T.Djalilov and it has more than fifteen types of folk instruments known since ancient times.

Since olden times the biggest towns of Uzbekistan such as Bukhara , Samarkand , and Khiva were famous for masters who made musical instruments. The names of such masters of the 19th - 20th centuries as usto Umarali and Tashbay Sultanov from Tashkent and his student Usman Zufarov , usto Muminbek and usto Khauidar from Kokand went down in history of national music. Instruments created by their hands can be found in museum exhibitions and private collections. The traditions of old masters are maintained by modern masters - B.Alimov , brothers Mirzaiev. The unique instruments made by famous masters can be identified not only by the exclusive tone quality of sound but also by elegant form of the body and exquisite carving along the wooden part of the instrument as well as intricate ivory and nacre inlay decoration.

The sounds of ancient Uzbek instruments give birth to the stirring mysterious music of the East