Urumqi (CNS)--A crowd of Uyghur gathered in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region's Awat County, located at the intersection of the Yarkant, Hotan, and Kashgar Rivers. They call themselves the Dolan people. Among them, there are some lively folk artists in plain clothes, with kalong zithers, rewapu stringed instruments, and tabor drums in hand, singing the rough, straightforward, and passionate style of a Dolan Muqam (a melody type used in Uyghur music). The audience is clearly enjoying these ancient rhythms.
Dolan Muqam is a traditional Uyghur performance art, combining singing, dancing, and instruments. Every Dolan Muqam is composed of five parts: Mukaidiman, Qieketuoman, Sainaimu, Sailekaise, and Seli'erma. It contains 12 chapters, including 160 songs, 75 melodies, and 648 sentences. Compared with "Twelve Muqam," Dolan Muqam is much shorter, around 6-9 minutes for each song and 2.5 hours for the total 12 chapters.
73-year-old Tuniyazi Tu'erdi is a local farmer. Like several generations of his family, he learned Muqam from his father at the age of 14 while they were sheepherding. "The elders teach us how to sing and play the instrument during breaks of sheepherding," said Tuniyazi. Muqam has become the most enjoyable thing in his life.
He would like to continue practicing Muqam for the rest of his life, teach other people, and pass this ancient tradition on to the later generations. At present, he has three prentices, two studying tabor drum and one learning rewapu. They gather at his place when they are free.
Awat County is the birthplace of the Dolan culture. Muqam is an essential way to present the Dolan culture. Currently, there are eight "inheritors" of Dolan Muqam at the autonomous regional level and two "inheritors" at the national level. Each of them cultivates one to three prentices. Tests of these inheritors are carried out every December by relative departments. Moreover, an annual budget of 100,000 RMB ($15,470) is planned by the county government to label the Dolan cultural brand. By now, over a thousand people have received training from their seniors and the county programs.
One prentice of Tuniyazi, Yasen Aishan, told his story. He was deeply impressed by his master's performance during a training program in 2010. Later on he decided to follow Tuniyazi in playing the tabor drums and has made up his mind to learn all the skills of his master to help spread this marvelous tradition. In the last two years, Tuniyazi has exhibited his highly skilled talents in many cities like Hong Kong, Taipei, Beijing, and Shanghai.
