Intimate Heritage: Creating Uyghur Muqam Song in XinjiangOver the past fifty years a project of culturally reflexive ethnic self-definition has transformed the Sufi poetry of the Uyghur muqam song tradition into a cultural canon used to represent the Uyghur ethnic group within China and on world stages. This book compares the cultural materials, skills, and contexts of traditional muqam performance with those of the `modern' repertoire. Uyghur editors - politicians, scholars, and musicians - have revised this repertoire and created historical discourses around it that reflect new concepts of nationhood and ethnicity. In the muqams they have created a public representation used to promote Uyghur claims to an original, autochthonous piece of world cultural history and a dignified, shared identity. Light's ethnographic study of cultural reflexivity breaks new ground in understanding how the editing project relates to the ethnic politics of cultural intimacy around Sufism, gender, love, oral performance, language, and poetry. |
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appear Arabic Ärshidinov 1970 asked audiences authority Barat become begins beloved called canon Central century changes China Chinese classical collection common connections consists continue couplets court created cultural dance dastan described developed discuss distinctive editing ethnic explained expression felt four ghazal give ideas identity images important included interpretations Islamic Kashgar Khan known language learned lines literary manuscript Mashrab mäšräp meanings mentioned Mū‘jiz muqam songs musicians narrative Navā'ī Ömär Akhun oral original particularly past performers Persian play poems poetic poetry poets pointed political popular practices present published quatrains recordings reflect religious remain revised rhythm sang scholars seems similar sing social songs sources style Sufi suggests täzä texts tion tradition tunes Turdi Akhun Turkic Twelve Muqams understand Uššaq Uyghur verse versions writing written Xinjiang