CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
Spiritual Sounds of Central Asia

Zankel Hall
Saturday, October 27th, 2007 at 8:30 PM

Alim and Fargana Qasimov

The Badakhshan Ensemble
Bardic Divas

Music of an ancient past comes to life in performances by 18 of Central Asia’s finest artists, including the legendary Azerbaijani singer Alim Qasimov; Tajikistan’s Badakhshan Ensemble, with its trance-inducing mystical songs; and “bardic divas” from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Kalmykia.

Program Notes:

THE BADAKHSHAN ENSEMBLE

Falak-i Badakhshani
Music and Text: Unattributed
This powerful a cappella performance illustrates the drawn-out, forcefully delivered, intricately ornamented melodic style typical of the falak genre.

Beparvo Falak
Music: Unattributed
Text: Anonymous, Rumi (1207–1273); Hafiz (1325–1389)
Ghijak player Jonboz Dushanbiev describes this piece as an example of falak-e sûzi: a falak of spiritual suffering. The text is a composite of three poems: the first a folk rubai (quatrain) whose author is unknown; the second, a ghazal attributed to Rumi; and the third, a ghazal of Hafiz. A ghazal is a poem composed according to a metrical scheme of long and short syllables whose form consists of rhymed couplets that share a refrain). The Rumi text describes an experience of mystical ecstasy, in which the poet loses awareness of his own being. The juxtaposition of the straightforwardly secular and nationalistic rubai with the mystical language of the ghazals exemplifies the diverse social forces that shape contemporary expressive culture in Badakhshan.

Maddoh (Praise)
Music: Traditional, arr. Aqnazar Alovatov
Text: Anonymous, Hafiz, Nasir Khusraw, Ghiyâsî (d. 1767–68), Rumi
This maddoh is an abridged version of what would typically be a much longer performance. The maddoh begins with a ghazal sung softly in free rhythm to the spare accompaniment of a Pamiri rubab. This introduction sets a contemplative mood and draws listeners into the text. Next comes a ghazal attributed to Hafiz, also set in free rhythm and accompanied only by rubab. The following ghazal is attributed to Nasir Khusraw, the great Persian pir, or saint, of the Badakhshani Ismailis. The solo rubab is joined by a second rubab and a setâr, creating a thicker texture in the instrumental accompaniment. The fourth ghazal is by Ghiyâsî (d. 1767-68), a Badakhshani poet whose verse is still popular among local performers and listeners. The beginning of the fifth ghazal, attributed to Rumi, accelerates in tempo. The sixth poem is a rubai attributed to Hafiz, sung in the melodic style of a falak, in free rhythm. It is typical for a falak to be sung in the middle of a maddoh. The concluding ghazal is by Nasir Khusraw.

Sabzak
Music: Nawrozshah Kulbanhusainov (“Sabzak”)
Unattributed (“Masti Khumoram Boshi,” “Jonum, Ikhtiyor Dorî,” and “Yori Man”)
Text: Unattributed
A medley consisting of four songs in contrasting meters that build toward a climax at the end. The third and fourth songs, “Jonum, Ikhtiyor Dorî” and “Yori Man” are call and response duets consisting of a romantic dialogue between a man and a woman. “Such songs were traditionally performed at weddings,” Soheba Davlatshoeva recounts. “One of the women would dress up in a man’s costume and sing the man’s lines, or a man dressed up as a woman would sing the woman’s lines.”



BARDIC DIVAS

Bastau (Introduction)
Music and Text: Zhienbai Zhyrau (1864–1929)
“Bastau” is from the repertory of Kazakh bards, called zhyrau. Zhyraus have traditionally been men, and Ulzhan Baibussynova is one of a small number of Kazakh women to publicly perform the zhyrau’s repertory of both short and long epic poems. Every zhyrau has a bastau, or introductory poem, that is sung before the performance of longer poems to summon inspiration and build a rapport with listeners.

Ören Zhierek (The Best Racehorse)
Music and Text: Zhienbai-Zhyrau
This short song draws analogies between horses and humans to instruct listeners on the nature of good and evil, right and wrong. Performer Ulzhan Baibussynova says of the poem, “In traditional Kazakh culture, people liked to listen to this type of didactic verse, because it helped them deal with their own inner questions. Such songs show the strong connection of music to moral philosophy and popular religion in Central Asia.”

Talim (Didactic Song)
Music: Zhienbai Zhyrau
Text: Turmagambet (1882–1939)
When the Kazakh epic singer Zhienbai Zhyrau taught this piece to his son, Rustembek, from whom Ulzhan Baibussynova learned it, he called it naqpa-naq: to sing precisely and loudly, a performance style exemplified in Ulzhan’s rendition of Turmagambet’s lyrics.

Aq Qum (White Sand)
Music and Text: Unattributed
This poignant melody, sung in a refined bel canto style and accompanied by a dombra that is both strummed and plucked, exemplifies the Kazakh lyrical song (änshilik). The lyrical song genre reached its fullest development among the historically nomadic Kazakhs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its performers were itinerant bards—typically men—who were highly respected and honored guests in any Kazakh settlement. Female performers were not unknown, however, and during the Soviet period became increasingly common. These days it is more typical to hear lyrical songs performed by women than men.

Zhonyp Aldy (Carved, Polished)
Music and Text: Birzhan-sal Qozhagululy (1834–1897)
Birzhan-sal was one of the best-known figures of 19th-century Kazakh music. Sal is an honorific title bestowed on bardic singer-songwriters who were not only masters of their art, but chivalrous and charismatic celebrities, analogous, perhaps, to the troubadours of medieval Europe. An explanation of the title “Zhonyp Aldy” unfolds in the text and conveys the idea that as unique, fully formed works of art, lyrical songs must be carefully carved, or polished.

Enjoo Marjan (My Jewel)
Music and Text: Aset Naimanbaev (1867–1923)
A composition by another well-known singer-songwriter from the golden age of lyrical song.

Sen Yor Gedeli (Since You’ve Been Gone)
Music: Unattributed
Text: Excerpt from the epic tale “Ashiq Gharib”
In this romantic epic, Ashiq Gharib, a bard from a poor family falls in love with a princess, the daughter of the Khorezm Shah, and joins a crowd of better-heeled pretenders vying for the princess’s favor. Gharib, who can offer only his poetry, expresses his passion in song.

Sarbinoz (Cypress)
Music: Unattributed
Text: Khalila Davlatnazarov (b. 1952)
These lyrics by contemporary Qaraqalpak poet and bard Khalila Davlatnazarov are set to a traditional melody, “Cypress.” The tree’s tall and slender form serves as a common metaphor for beauty, both human and divine.

Jekke Basly (Loneliness)
Music: Unattributed
Text: Excerpt from the Turkmen epic “Ashiq Najib”
A somber meditation on the elusive causes and meanings of loneliness.



ALIM AND FARGANA QASIMOV

Chargah or Bayat-i Shiraz (Selection will be announced from the stage.)
Music: Traditional, arr. Alim Qasimov
Text: Seyyid Azim Shirvani (1835–1888) [“Chargah”]
Muhammad Füzüli (d. 1556) [“Bayat-i Shiraz”]
“Chargah” and “Bayat-i Shiraz” comprise two of the seven principal suite forms of Azerbaijani classical music. Each suite consists of a conventional sequence of pieces that take listeners on a journey through varied musical and emotional terrain. Throughout each suite, high dramatic tension contrasts with moments of repose and détente. Lively, dance-like intermezzos (reng) link the longer vocal pieces, in which both singers and instrumentalists seamlessly fuse memorized and extemporized sections of music. Throughout the suite, melodies modulate through different tonalities or modes, and at the end of this modal journey, the melody finally returns to the initial pitch, bringing the suite to a close.


The instruments

The balaban is a cylindrical wooden oboe played with a large double reed.

The daf, a frame drum made in many different sizes, is the principal percussion instrument of Badakhshan, and is also played in Azerbaijan and Iran.

Dombra are various types of pear-shaped long-necked lutes typically strung with two gut or silk strings.

Dutar are different kinds of two-stringed, long-necked fretted lutes among Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmen, Qaraqalpaks, Uyghurs, and other groups.

The ghijak (also ghirjek) is a spike fiddle strung with two, three, or four metal strings. In Badakhshan, a tin can is often used for the resonating chamber.

The kamancha is a spherical spike fiddle with a cylindrical neck fitted with four steel strings.

The naghara is a cylindrical, double-sided frame drum played with hands rather than sticks.

Pamiri rubab is an unfretted long-necked lute with a skin-covered resonating chamber strung with six gut or nylon strings.

Pamiri tanbur is a long-necked, partially fretted lute with animal skin covering the lower part of the resonating chamber, three melody strings, and four or six sympathetic strings.

The setâr is a long-necked, fretted lute with wood-covered deck, three steel melody strings, and a variable number of sympathetic strings that provide a drone background to the melody strings.

The tar is a double-chested, skin-faced plucked lute used in urban music from the Caucasus and Iran. In Azerbaijan, the tar is widely considered the national instrument.

More Information:

The Spiritual Sounds of Central Asia tour is sponsored by the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia, a program of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.

Alim and Fargana Qasimov
Alim Qasimov is Azerbaijan’s best known and most beloved singer, a virtuoso who was awarded the prestigious IMC/UNESCO Music Prize in 1999 and later participated in Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project. Qasimov (b. 1957) and his daughter Fargana (b. 1979) exemplify the explosive artistic energy that results when a powerful musical model ignites the spark of young talent. “To be a musician, there has to be a fire burning in you,” explained the elder Qasimov. “It’s either there or it isn’t. I’m convinced that if young people have this spark—call it inspiration, call it spiritual fire—they can perform any kind of music. It could be pop, folk, or classical, but whatever it is, they’ll stand out.”

Fargana Qasimova’s talent gravitated naturally toward the music she heard from her father: Azerbaijani classical music, known as mugham, and the repertory of popular bardic songs sung by ashiqs—singer-songwriters who might be considered modern-day troubadours. Mugham may be performed in a purely instrumental form, but the performance medium most favored among Azerbaijanis is the voice. Vocalists typically perform the lead role in a trio that also includes tar and kamancha as well as a frame drum (daf) played by the vocalist. This trio style of performance provided the starting point for Alim Qasimov’s innovative treatment of mugham.

“It was never our aim to sing mugham as a duet in order to reform the tradition,” said Alim Qasimov of the sinuous vocal arrangements he performs with Fargana. “Rather, what we do happens spontaneously. We can sing one way in a rehearsal, and then in a concert, it will turn out completely differently. When I meet with the musicians in my ensemble, there’s an atmosphere that starts to nourish us that comes from beyond our own will, and that’s the source of the unpredictability in our music. It’s almost a feeling of ecstasy that leads to a kind of meditation.”

“Mugham is an elite art,” says Alim Qasimov. “It’s for a select group—for people who have some kind of inner spirituality, who have their own inner world. These days ‘elite’ refers to something more commercial than spiritual, but that’s not what I have in mind. An elite person is one who knows how to experience, how to endure, how to feel, how to listen to mugham and begin to cry. This ability doesn’t depend on education or upbringing, or on one’s roots. It’s something else. It’s an elite of feeling, an elite of inspiration. I think there will always be an attraction to this music until the end of humanity.”

The Badakhshan Ensemble
The Badakhshan Ensemble takes its name from the mountainous region that comprises the sparsely populated eastern half of Tajikistan and northeast of Afghanistan. There, nestled in a series of riverine valleys that descend from the Pamir Mountains to the Panj River, are scores of small settlements whose inhabitants have cultivated a vibrant tradition of devotional song, dance, and contemplative instrumental music. The ensemble was the brainchild of Soheba Davlatshoeva (b. 1970), a vivacious singer and dancer, who grew up in a Pamiri village and learned local music and dance from a young age. Soheba filled out the group with some of Badakhshan’s finest young musicians, as well as the charismatic ghijak (spike fiddle) player Jonboz Dushanbiev, a generation older than Soheba and her peers.

The Badakhshan Ensemble’s repertoire encompasses a variety of musical styles and genres, and each corresponds to one of the distinct social roles that the ensemble fills in its own community. The most typical of these roles is to provide music for weddings. Another is to perform devotional songs at community events and celebrations. These include weekly prayer meetings, all-night gatherings following the death of a community member, and festivities linked to Nawruz (the traditional New Year) and Ramadan. Many, if not most, Badakhshanis are Shia Ismaili Muslims, and the Ismaili spiritual and devotional tradition has had a strong and abiding influence on Pamiri expressive culture. Ismaili communities have existed in the Pamir Mountains for close to a millennium. Ismaili religious thought emphasizes a balance between the exterior, literal meaning of sacred scriptures and religious commandments (zâhir) and their esoteric or inner meaning (bâtin), which illuminates eternal spiritual truths (haqâ’iq). Such a vision of Islam, common to other esoteric traditions such as Sufism, finds expression in broader cultural forms that are often located in the vernacular and draw on local musical genres and styles. Among the Badakhshani Ismailis, spiritual concerts featuring sung poetry austerely accompanied on stringed instruments and a frame drum (daf) serve as one route toward the inner—toward the soul—and the illumination of spiritual truths. This performance genre is called maddoh (also transliterated as maddâh, madâh, madh)—literally, “praise”—and the Badakhshan Ensemble’s Aqnazar Alovatov is one of the young maddoh singers most in demand. Other performance genres central to the ensemble’s repertoire include falak—sober, lament-like songs that many Badakhshanis believe to possess healing qualities, and whose texts typically address philosophical themes. Finally, the ensemble’s repertory includes a rich variety of instrumental music, sometimes accompanied by dance. Badakhshani dance focuses on graceful movements of the arms and hands that are believed to symbolize the flight of birds—an atavistic reference to Badakhshan’s animistic, pre-Islamic past.

Bardic Divas
Kazakh musicians Ulzhan Baibussynova and Ardak Issataeva, and the Qaraqalpak vocal-instrumental duo of Ziyada Sheripova and Injegul Saburova, represent a larger group of soloists and small ensembles that performs together as Bardic Divas. Collectively, these exceptional performers illuminate the diverse traditions of Central Asian bards: lyrical song, storytelling, the performance of epic and didactic poetry, and instrumental music with a strong narrative dimension. Some of these traditions are specific to female performers and have typically been performed within a social milieu restricted to women. Others represent genres or idioms that were once overwhelmingly the province of men. The Kazakh and Qaraqalpak music in the present program exemplifies this latter type.

The appropriation of male-dominated musical traditions by female musicians was spurred by the social policies of the Soviet era. Yet even before the establishment of Soviet power, maverick women challenged gender taboos in musical performance. Kazakh folklore has preserved the details of a famous singing contest (aitys) that took place around 1870 between Birzhan-sal, a renowned male bard, and a talented young female bard named Sara Tastanbekova. Birzhan-sal won the contest, but in taking on the famous singer and composer, Sara gained her own honored place in Kazakh music history. Her courageous example encouraged younger generations of Kazakh women to perform lyrical songs, and among these musical descendants is Ardak Issataeva, whose warm and willowy alto voice is featured in this concert.

Ulzhan Baibussynova’s evocative renditions of Kazakh poetry represent another example of a traditionally male bardic genre, called zhyraulik. Performers of zhyraulik, called zhyrau, sing in a raspy, guttural vocal timbre often considered to have magical powers, and accompany themselves on the dombra, a two-stringed, long-necked lute.

Ziyada Sheripova and Injegul Saburova are from Qaraqalpakstan, a culturally distinct region in the northwest of Uzbekistan bordering on the Aral Sea. Injegul is one of the few Qaraqalpak women who play the ghijak (spike fiddle). She learned the fiddle from her uncle who, having no sons, broke with tradition and took her as his pupil. Singer and dutar player Ziyada Sheripova has created a personal and distinctive style of performing epic and lyrical songs—now emulated by younger women in Qaraqalpakstan—within a performance genre that was once the purview of men.