Uyghur Twelve Muqam

The Twelve Muqam is the central classical-music tradition of the Uyghur people of Xinjiang, China. Each of the twelve muqam is a multi-section suite organized around a single mode and divided into three large parts: chong nagma (instrumental and vocal pieces in measured rhythm), dastan (narrative songs) and mashrap (dance songs in fast rhythms). A complete muqam can last between one and two hours; a full performance of all twelve is a multi-day undertaking. Instruments include the tembor and dutar (long-necked plucked lutes), the satar (bowed lute), the rebap, hammered dulcimer (chang), and various frame drums. Microtonal intervals between Western half-steps are essential.

The Uyghur muqam tradition synthesizes Persian-Arabic modal theory with Central Asian Turkic and local Tarim-basin elements. The twelve-muqam canon was reportedly assembled in the 16th century under Amannisa Khan, a noblewoman musician at the Yarkand court who is credited with compiling the system. The tradition survived in oral transmission and ritual practice into the 20th century. Turdi Akhun (1881-1956) was the most famous transmitter of the modern era; his 1956 recordings, made by Chinese music researchers shortly before his death, are the canonical source for current performance practice. UNESCO inscribed the Uyghur muqam in 2008. Since the late 2010s, mass detentions and cultural restrictions in Xinjiang have placed the tradition under severe pressure.

Listen to the opening of each muqam — a slow, freely measured instrumental introduction (muqaddime) lays out the modal territory before the rhythmic sections enter. The microtonal inflections on the tembor's frets are essential; Western tempered tuning won't produce the same sound. As a muqam progresses, the rhythmic density increases and the dance sections at the end can become fast and propulsive.

Turdi Akhun's 1956 recording of the first muqam (Rak) is the historical reference. Modern performances by the Xinjiang Muqam Ensemble are more widely available and offer fuller orchestration; Abdulla Mejnun's recordings show solo and small-ensemble performance.

Turdi Akhun (1881-1956) reportedly knew the entire twelve-muqam cycle by heart at a time when written transmission was minimal. The 1956 transcription project sent musicologists to record him in the final years of his life; without those tapes, the modern reconstructed performance practice would not exist.