The ''bakshy'' (, ) are traditional

Central Asian Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

folk singers.

Origin

Historically, ''bakshy'' referred to two profession: scribes literate in the Uyghur alphabet and

shamans Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of th ...

who doubled as musicians, given the role of music in healing and in celebrating weddings, births, and other important life events. When

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

replaced shamanism as the dominant religion of Central Asia, the spiritual role of the ''bakshy'' was taken over by Muslim mullahs, leaving only music and preservation of national poetry. The ''bakshy'' may sing either

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

or to the accompaniment of traditional instruments (primarily the

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'' (< � ...

). The Turkmen ''bakshy'' tradition is closely related to the larger Turkic ''

Ashik An ashik (; ) or ashugh (; ka, :ka:აშუღი, აშუღი) is traditionally a List of oral repositories, singer-poet and bard who accompanies his song—be it a dastan (traditional epic story, also known as ''Azeri hikaye, hikaye' ...

'' tradition.

Etymology

The term ''bakshy'', meaning "teacher", is of Sanskrit origin and came to the region with the spread of

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

. Buddhism was the religion of the ruling class prior to the arrival of Islam.

References

Turkmen music Oral poets {{Poetry-stub

Origin

Etymology

See also

References