The bağlama or saz is a family of plucked string instruments and long-necked lutes used in Ottoman classical music, Turkish folk music, Turkish Arabesque music, Azerbaijani music, Bosnian music (Sevdalinka), Kurdish music, and Armenian music. It is played in several regions in the world such as Europe, Asia, Black Sea, Caucasus regions and many countries including Syria, Iraq, Iran and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is commonly used by the ashiks.
The music of the nomadic and rural Turkmen people is closely related to Kyrgyz and Kazakh folk forms. Important musical traditions in Turkmen music include traveling singers and shamans called bakshy, who act as healers and magicians and sing either a cappella or with instruments such as the two-stringed lute called dutar.
Tajik music is closely related to other Central Asian forms of music. The classical music is shashmaqam, which is also distinctive in Uzbekistan. Southern Tajikistan has a distinctive form of folk music called falak, which is played at celebrations for weddings, circumcisions and other occasions.
Turkmens are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, northern and northeastern regions of Iran and north-western Afghanistan. Sizeable groups of Turkmens are found also in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and the North Caucasus. They speak the Turkmen language, which is classified as a part of the Eastern Oghuz branch of the Turkic languages.
The musical traditions of Central Asia mirror the immense diversity found in the cultures and populations residing in the region. Principal instrument types are two- or three-stringed lutes, the necks either fretted or fretless; fiddles made of horsehair; flutes, mostly sige at both ends and either end-blown or side-blown; and jew harps, mostly metal. Percussion instruments include frame drums, Tam origin of the bowed string Use of the bowed string is thought to originate with nomads who mainly used the snake-skin, covered horsetail-bowed lute. In Mongolia instruments like the morin khuur or horse-head fiddle survive today.
Mukamlar is a term for bodies of musical repertoire for the Turkmen dutar or tüÿdük. Mukumlar represents the most important repertoires in the Turkmen classical tradition after the baksy songs. There are several mukamlar for each instrument; instrumentalists may disagree on the number. There are, however, five dutar pieces acknowledged to form the repertoire: Goñurbaş mukamy, Gökdepe mukamy, Erkeklik mukamy, Aÿralyk mukamy and Mukamlarbaşy. The latter two may be compared to that of a level for virtuosos.
A tubeteika is a Russian word for many varieties of traditional Central Asian caps. Tubeteikas are today worn in Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, as well as in Muslim-populated regions of Russia and Azerbaijan. The skullcap worn by Uzbeks and Uyghurs is called a doppa and has a square base. It was a popular headgear among children throughout the USSR during the 1940s and 1950s.
An ashik or ashugh is traditionally a singer-poet and bard who accompanies his song—be it a dastan or a shorter original composition—with a long-necked lute in Azerbaijani culture, including Turkish and South Azerbaijani and non-Turkic cultures of South Caucasus. In Azerbaijan, the modern ashik is a professional musician who usually serves an apprenticeship, masters playing the bağlama, and builds up a varied but individual repertoire of Turkic folk songs.
The Epic of Koroghlu is a heroic legend prominent in the oral traditions of the Turkic peoples, mainly the Oghuz Turks. The legend typically describes a hero who seeks to avenge a wrong. It was often put to music and played at sporting events as an inspiration to the competing athletes. Koroghlu is the main hero of an epic with the same name in Azerbaijani, Turkmen and Turkish as well as some other Turkic languages. The epic tells about the life and heroic deeds of Koroghlu as a hero of the people who struggled against unjust rulers. The epic combines the occasional romance with Robin Hood-like chivalry.
Ari Babakhanov is an Uzbekistani musician who performs the long-necked lutes tanbur, qashqari rubab and dutar.
Shashmaqom is a Central Asian musical genre which may have developed in the city of Bukhara. Shashmaqam means the six Maqams (modes) in the Persian language, dastgah being the name for Persian modes, and maqams being the name for modes more generally.
Turgun Alimatov was a leading Uzbek classic music and shashmaqam player and composer of 20th century folk and classic music. He was a master performer of tanbur, dutar, and sato. He was recognized as People's artist of Uzbekistan.
Haj Qorban Soleimani was an Iranian celebrated dotar player and vocalist. Dotar or Dutar is a form of Central Asian lute.
Azerbaijani folklore is the folk tradition of Azerbaijani people.
Nurmammet Halmammedovich Halmammedov, also known as Nury Halmammedov or Nury Halmammet, was a prominent Turkmen composer described as one of Turkmenistan's "Greatest Sons". His legacy has been commemorated with anniversary events in Turkmenistan and Russia.
The dutar is a traditional Iranian long-necked two-stringed lute found in Iran and Central Asia. Its name comes from the Persian word for "two strings", دوتار do tār, although the Herati dutar of Afghanistan has fourteen strings. Dutar is very popular in Tajikistan and Khorasan province of Iran. When played, the strings are usually plucked by the Uyghurs of Western China and strummed and plucked by the Tajiks, Turkmen, Uzbeks. Related instruments include the Kazakh dombra. The Dutar is also an important instrument among the Kurds of Khorasan amongst whom Haj Ghorban Soleimani of Quchan was a noted virtuoso. In Kurdish one who plays the dutar is known as a bakci (bakhshi) similar to Turkmen bagşy, while in Azeri the term is ashiq. Khorasan bakhshi music is recognized on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Abdurahim Hamidov was an Uzbekistani lutenist. He was a master musician of the long-necked lutes tanbur, qashqari rubab and dutar. He was particularly known for playing lively, modern virtuosic melodies.
Jeren Gurbangylyjova is a Turkmen composer who holds the official title of The First Woman Composer of Turkmenistan.
The Military Band Service of the Armed Forces of Turkmenistan is the primary military band organization of the Armed Forces of Turkmenistan. Many of the members of bands have attended the Turkmen National Conservatory. It is organized under the command of the Ministry of Defense of Turkmenistan.
A bagshy is a professional Turkmen bard who devotes his or her life to memorizing and reciting historical epics, typically accompanied by the traditional two-stringed instrument known as the dutar. Bagshys have enjoyed great respect in Turkmen society as guardians of the culture, and since independence in 1991, they have received greater support from the government.
