Dutar Music of Turkmenistan _ Graham Flett

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Graham Flett, 2001

The Republic of Turkmenistan is found in Central Asia, it is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran to the South, the Caspian Sea to the west,

and Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan to the north. Historically, Turkmenistan has been a place of great ethnic and cultural mixing; beginning

in the 7th century there were numerous invasions followed by migrations of Macedonians, Persians, and Arabs. A major result of these

early cultural exchanges was the introduction of Islam during the 7th and 8th centuries an influence which is still very visible today, with72% of the population of Turkmenistan attaching their faith to the Sunni muslim heritage (Engelmann). Although predominantly unified

under Islam, the ancient people in this region were already part of a very diverse culture. This reality became even more complicated after

the Turkic invasions in the 10th and 13th centuries which introduced the Seljuq and Oghuz people from Central Asia. Due to their success

at unifying many of the Turkic tribes, their impact had a seminal influence on the ethnicity and culture characterizing the region, and today

the Oghuz people are now viewed as the most direct source for the proper and original Turkmen tradition (Zeranska-Kominek 91).

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to Turkmen dutar music which for instance is clearly different from the two-stringed lute music found in neighbouring areas such as

Uzbekistan.

Turkmen folk music, uses the dutar for the purpose of adapting and accompanying Turkmen folk tunes. The repertoire in this genre

consists mainly of ephemeral songs which reflect on the pastoral and agricultural pursuits of the Turkmen people (Beliaew 129). In this

context the dutar operates homophonically, often just simply underlining the basic rhythm and modal tonic of the melody. Subtle

harmonic motion is sometimes produced by parallel movement of perfect 4ths and 5ths this is a general feature which characterizes

most dutar music (see Appendix #1). According to the work of ethnomusicologist Victor Beliaev, dutar accompaniment is usually

reserved for more melodically developed Turkmen folk melodies, the more simplistic folk tunes are often accompanied by other

instruments, such as the bowed ghidjak. This folk genre seems to account for the smallest portion of dutar repertoire, the bulk of which

can be found in the professional performance practice of the bakhshy (or baxshi, bagshy).

Although Turkmenistan is predominantly Islamic, the bakhshy is a cultural tradition which is strongly aligned with Central Asian bardic

practices found in the culture of the oriental Turks.

The bakhshy tradition which has its roots in the ancient animist and shaminst traditions practiced in Central Asia before any of the

salvationist religions, such as Zorroastrian, Christian, and Islam were introduced (During 15).

The meaning of the word bakhshy has been heavily debated, some believe it derives from the Chinese boshi (teacher), while others have

suggested that it is linked to the old Turkish verb meaning to look carefully, to watch, to investigate, or to read the future from the

water surface. (T.C.J.T.M.T. Zeranska-Kominek 267). In Turkmenistan the term bakhshy refers to a performer who is well respected for

their ability to sing, play, and tell stories the later usually occurs in the form of reciting long narrative songs known as destans. Despite

the inability to align Turkmen music with the Radif or Turkish modal theory, bakhshy music can be compared to similar bardic traditionsseen in Kurdistan and Turkey, in particular bektashi music whose practice of setting poetry to music is directly related to many of the


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the same manner as bakhshy repertoire is and instead it is played mainly in soiree settings in the urban centre of Ashkhabad. In addition to

this there is also references within this genre to larger cycles of compositions which are sometimes identified by the word mukam (T.T.M.

Zeranska-Kominek 94).

The first transcriptions of this instrumental music for the dutar was made by the Russian composer and musicologist, Victor Uspiensky,

during his four field expeditions to Turkmenistan during in the late 1920s. Uspiensky made a very thorough study of all the main genres of

Turkmen music and these transcriptions demonstrate the differences between the three main genres found in Turkmen music making it

very apparent that the most sophisticated dutar playing is found in this solo repertoire.

One aspect which demonstrates the heightened complexity in this genre, is the relatively frequent use of additive time signatures and time

signature changes often happening within the same piece of music (appendix # 3). The occurrence of either of these musical elements is

not found in vocal bakhshy songs:

bakhshy songs are generally confined to being in metres like 3/8, 3/4, 6/8, 9/8. (T.M.B. Zarnanska-Kominek 14).

Within the instrumental genre the dutar no longer has to follow a textual reference, and this movement away from prosody also allows for

more freedom to explore more complicated formal and motivic development. Although there are still similarities to vocal bakhshy music,

the form, and the handling of scalar material is different on the instrumental pieces.

The basic structure of dutar pieces is a three part recapitulation form with the following sections 1) exposition of the main theme in the

lower register. 2) middle section in the register a fifth higher; and 3) recapitulation in the original register. The tonal relations of parts of

the piece arising from this form are the same as those found in professional vocal works, but with a different type of alteration of scalar

levels: in vocal works they descend, while in instrumental works they ascend and descend. (Beliaew 162)


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Although both genres appear to employ frequent melodic harmonization often using perfect 4ths and 5ths, it does appear that there is

much faster diad-based harmonic motion within the instrumental genre than the bakhshy tradition and judging from the available

information researched for this discussion it appears that the instrumental music is often played at much faster tempos than the bakhshy

repertoire, or Turkmen folk songs.

At this point in history there has been no major theoretical study of Turkmen music. This lack of extensive ethnomusicological research

makes it difficult to make sweeping conclusions about any of the three genres and how each might relate to each other in terms of

modality or employed melodic devices.

Despite some affinities of the solo dutar repertoire to that of other makam based traditions found in Central Asia and the Middle East, it

is easier to group the vast majority of Turkmen music to bardic musical traditions. Indeed much of the solo dutar music is most likely an

extension and a refinement of this tradition rather than one that has been nurtured in a classical context. Perhaps with a more in depth

analysis of Turkmen music, a greater theoretical understanding of the music may reveal more similarities with maqam based music of the

Middle East however until that time the complex history and ethnic origins of Turkmenistan will be expressed in a musical language

which is strongly characterized by its more obvious Central Asian origins.

Works Cited

Auvidis. Turkey, Bektashi Music. Music and Musicians of the World. Copyright Auvidis 1996.

Beliaev, Victor. Central Asian Music. Essays in the History of Music of the People of the U.S.S.R. Wesleyan University Press, Copyright

1975.

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During, Jean. Turkestan. Komuz kirghize et dombra kazakh. Audio cd. Ocora, Radio France. Copyright 1997.

During, Jean. Central Asia. Masters of the Dotar. Audio cd.

Englemann, Kurt E. Encarta: Turkmenistan. Copyright 1994 Microsoft Corporation.

New Groove Encyclopedia: Union of Socialist Republics, Central Asia, Turkmens. Volume XI, 7:

Uspiensky, Victor. Turkmenistan Music 115 Pieces from Turkmenistan. Transcriptions. Copyright 1928, Moscow.

Zeranska-Kominek, Slawomira. Turkmenistan, La Musique des Bakhshy. Audio cd. Archives Internationales de Musiques Populaire.

Copyright 1988-90.

Zeranska-Kominek, Slawomira. Asian Music: The Classification of Repertoire in Turkmen Traditional Music. Volume XXI, number 2.Spring/Summer 1990.

Zernaska-Kominek, Slawomira. Ethnomusicology: The Concept of Journey (Yol) in Turkmen Music Tradition. Vol. 42, No.2.

Spring/Summer 1998.

uta us c o u e sta | G a a ett ttp://www.g a a ett.co /duta us c o tu e sta /

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Dutar Music of Turkmenistan _ Graham Flett