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Baqsï
A baqsï is a singer of epic poetry in the Kipchak languages and cultures of Central Asia, in such countries as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Karakalpakstan. In the latter culture two such kinds of singers of ''dastan'' ("tale, narrative") are distinguished: the ''baqsï'' sings lyrical epics containing stories about love and adventure (which Karl Reichl compares to medieval Western romance), accompanied by the dutar; ''zhyrau'' sing heroic epics, accompanied by the kobyz. The baqsï can be accompanied by a second musician, who plays the ghijak. The name itself indicates a connection to an earlier shamanism, since the term in Kazakh still denotes "faith healer", rather than "singer" as it does in other Turkic language The Turkic languages are a language family of more than 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and West Asia. The Turkic langua ...s. References Not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dastan
Dastan () is an ornate form of oral history, an epic, from Central Asia, Iran, Turkey and Azerbaijan. A dastan is generally centered on one individual who protects his tribe or his people from an outside invader or enemy, although only occasionally can this figure be traced back to a historical person. This main character sets an example of how one should act, and the dastan becomes a teaching tool — for example the Sufi master and Turkic poet Ahmed Yesevi said "Let the scholars hear my wisdom, treating my words like a dastan". Alongside the wisdom, each dastan is rich with cultural history of interest to scholars. During the Russian conquest of Central Asia, many new dastans were created to protest the Russian occupation. It is possible that they came into contact and influenced each other. According to Turkish historian Hasan Bülent Paksoy, the Bolsheviks tried to destroy these symbols of culture by only publishing them in insufficiently large quantities and in a distorted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kipchak Language
Cuman or Kuman (also called Kipchak, Qypchaq or Polovtsian, self referred to as Tatar () in Codex Cumanicus) was a West Kipchak Turkic language spoken by the Cumans (Polovtsy, Folban, Vallany, Kun) and Kipchaks; the language was similar to today's various languages of the West Kipchak branch. Cuman is documented in medieval works, including the Codex Cumanicus, and in early modern manuscripts, like the notebook of Benedictine monk Johannes ex Grafing. It was a literary language in Central and Eastern Europe that left a rich literary inheritance. The language became the main language (lingua franca) of the Golden Horde. History The Cumans were nomadic people who lived on the steppes of Eastern Europe, north of the Black Sea, before the Golden Horde. Many Turkic peoples including the Crimean Tatars, Nogais, Karachays, Kumyks, Crimean Karaites, Krymchaks and Balkars, Manavs are descended from the Cumans. Today, the speakers of these various languages belonging to the Kipch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dutar
The ''dutar'' (also ''Dotara, dotar''; ; ; ; ; ; ; ) is a traditional Iranian long-necked two-stringed lute found in Iran and Central Asia. Its name comes from the Persian language, Persian word for "two strings", دوتار ''do tār'' (< دو ''do'' "two",تار ''tār'' "string"), although the Herati dutar of Afghanistan has fourteen strings. Dutar is very popular in Tajikistan and Khorasan province, Khorasan province of Iran. When played, the strings are usually plucked by the Uyghur people, Uyghurs of Western China and strummed and plucked by the Tājik people, Tajiks, Turkmen people, Turkmen, Uzbeks. Related instruments include the Kazakhstan, Kazakh dombra. The dutar is also an important instrument among the Kurds of Khorasan, tork of Khorasan amongst whom Haj Qorban Soleimani, Haj Ghorban Soleimani of Quchan was a noted virtuoso. In Kurdish languages, tork one who plays the dutar is known as a (bakhshi) similar to Turkmen language, Turkmen , while in Azerbaijani lan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhyrau
A zhyrau (also, jïraw) is a singer of epic poetry in the Kipchak languages and cultures of Central Asia, in such countries as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Karakalpakstan. In the latter culture two such kinds of singers of ''dastan'' ("tale, narrative") are distinguished: the '' baqsï'' sings lyrical epics containing stories about love and adventure (which Karl Reichl compares to medieval Western romance), accompanied by the dutar; ''zhyrau'' sing heroic epics, accompanied by the kobyz The kobyz or qobyz, also known as the kylkobyz, is an ancient Turkic bowed string instrument, spread among Kazakhs, Karakalpaks, Bashkirs, and Tatars. The Kyrgyz variant is called the ). The kobyz has two strings made of horsehair. The resonat .... References Bibliography * Notes {{reflist Culture of Central Asia Oral history ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kobyz
The kobyz or qobyz, also known as the kylkobyz, is an ancient Turkic bowed string instrument, spread among Kazakhs, Karakalpaks, Bashkirs, and Tatars. The Kyrgyz variant is called the ). The kobyz has two strings made of horsehair. The resonating cavity is usually covered with goat leather. Traditionally kobyzes were sacred instruments, owned by shamans and baksıs (traditional spiritual medics). According to legends, the kobyz and its music could banish evil spirits, sickness and death. In Kazakh music In the 1930s, when the first folk instrument orchestras were established in the Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, a new kind of kobyz came into existence. It now had four metallic strings and thus became closer to a violin. Such a modernized kobyz can be used to play both Kazakh music and the most complicated works of violin literature. One of the few western musicians to use the kobyz is Trefor Goronwy. While many Kazakh ''kobyz'' players and scholars theorize that bards acco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ghijak
The ''ghijak'' (also spelled ''ghidjak'', ''ghichak'', ''gidzhak'', ''gijak'', ''g'ijjak'', ', or ''ghijek'' (, or occasionally ; Chinese: 艾捷克 ''aijieke'' or 吉孜哈克 ''jizihake''; ), is a group of related spike fiddles, used by Afghans, Uzbeks, Uyghurs, Tajiks, Turkmens, Qaraqalpaks and in the Xinjiang province of western China. Despite the similarity of the name, it is more closely related to the Persian kamancheh than the ghaychak. History The instrument name appears in 10th-century manuscripts, which indicate that the bridge (''harrak'') was made of almond shells. The ghidjak as depicted in 15th-century Persian miniatures resembles the modern instrument in its construction. Xinjiang The ghijek as it is used in Xinjiang has four strings, either with a bowl soundbox (similar to the ''kamancheh''), or with a box soundbox often made from a tin can. One of Xinjiang's most prominent ''ghijek'' players is Akram Omar (艾克热木·吾买尔 / ئەكرەم ئۆمەر ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kazakh Language
Kazakh is a Turkic language of the Kipchak branch spoken in Central Asia by Kazakhs. It is closely related to Nogai, Kyrgyz and Karakalpak. It is the official language of Kazakhstan, and has official status in the Altai Republic of Russia. It is also a significant minority language in the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang, China, and in the Bayan-Ölgii Province of western Mongolia. The language is also spoken by many ethnic Kazakhs throughout the former Soviet Union (some 472,000 in Russia according to the 2010 Russian census), Germany, and Turkey. Like other Turkic languages, Kazakh is an agglutinative language and employs vowel harmony. Kazakh builds words by adding suffixes one after another to the word stem, with each suffix expressing only one unique meaning and following a fixed sequence. ''Ethnologue'' recognizes three mutually intelligible dialect groups: Northeastern Kazakh—the most widely spoken variety, which also serves as the basis for the o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turkic Language
The Turkic languages are a language family of more than 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and West Asia. The Turkic languages originated in a region of East Asia spanning from Mongolia to Northwest China, where Proto-Turkic is thought to have been spoken, from where they expanded to Central Asia and farther west during the first millennium. They are characterized as a dialect continuum. Turkic languages are spoken by some 200 million people. The Turkic language with the greatest number of speakers is Turkish, spoken mainly in Anatolia and the Balkans; its native speakers account for about 38% of all Turkic speakers, followed by Uzbek. Characteristic features such as vowel harmony, agglutination, subject-object-verb order, and lack of grammatical gender, are almost universal within the Turkic family. There is a high degree of mutual intelligibility, up ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Culture Of Central Asia
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, attitudes, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tylor, Edward. (1871). ''Primitive Culture''. Vol 1. New York: J. P. Putnam's Son Culture often originates from or is attributed to a specific region or location. Humans acquire culture through the learning processes of enculturation and socialization, which is shown by the diversity of cultures across societies. A cultural norm codifies acceptable conduct in society; it serves as a guideline for behavior, dress, language, and demeanor in a situation, which serves as a template for expectations in a social group. Accepting only a monoculture in a social group can bear risks, just as a single species can wither in the face of environmental change, for lack of functional responses to the change. Thus in military culture, valor is counted a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
