Turkestan chinois, LE MUQAM DES DOLAN - Document sans titre ...

of them and there are very few studies of
their origins. A myth tells that they are
descended from a Mongol clan that emigrated
to Xinjiang, as the origin of the word
dolan would seem to indicate. They are
farmers and shepherds, with a social system
that is quite different from that of the
Uighurs, and they speak a dialect of the
Uighur language. They claim to have a specific
musical tradition, the muqam dolan,
which they rightly consider very different
from the Uighur muqam. Traditionalists consider
the term muqam too scholarly, and prefer
to use the word bayawan (literally:
desert) which better reflects the entrenchment
of this music in their minority culture
and their environment.
Five major characteristics distinguish the
muqam dolan from the Uighur muqam: they
are entirely danced; the suites are much
shorter than Uighur suites (from 6 to 10 minutes
rather than two hours); the vocal and
instrumental interpretation is very free in that
each musician plays the common melody in
his own way, leading to a heterophony effect
which is the result of a real esthetic choice, a
search for a thickness of sound, and not in
any way a lack of competence of the musicians.
This heterophonic principle, which was
still very lively at the beginning of the 20th
century in many musical cultures of the
Islamic world and which probably changed
due to contact with Western music, is heard
clearly here as the living testimony of a cul-
– 19 –
ture attached to its esthetic values. The onikki
muqam is based on the use of twelve musical
modes, while the muqam dolan uses nine
modes based on scales of five, six or seven
degrees. While Uighur classical music already
displays stunning rhythmic vigor and
dynamism, the Dolan take this energy to a
real paroxysm, leading some local musicologists
to compare the Uighur muqam to classical
music and the muqam dolan to jazz, sometimes
calling it Uighur jazz.
This music is above all for celebration and
festivity. Traditionally, the muqam dolan are
played during mashrap, large festive and ritualized
gatherings held following harvests or
for a wedding, a circumcision or any other
happy occasion, with opportunities for feasting,
music making, dancing and playing various
parlor and oratory games. The party is
held within a large square area, with the
musicians occupying one of the four sides
while the dancers dance in the center.
Musical ensembles are composed of solo
singers (muqamqi) and instrumentalists who
also take part in the singing. The instruments
are the rawap dolan, a long-necked
lute which differs from the Uighur rawap
since it has, along with its three playing
strings, fifteen sympathetic strings; the ghijak
dolan, a spike fiddle with a sounding
board made of hide and with one horse hair
string plus ten to twelve sympathetic
strings; the qalun, a large plucked zither on
a trapezoidal board with sixteen sets of two