Music
The Twelve Muqam
A vast suite of songs, poetry, instrumental music and dance at the heart of Uyghur musical tradition.
The Uyghur Twelve Muqam is a large collection of songs, instrumental pieces and dances organised into twelve suites. Each muqam combines classical and folk poetry with melodies that move from slow, free-flowing openings to lively dance sections.
Performers accompany the singing on instruments such as the dutar, tambur, rawap, satar and dap. A single muqam can take well over an hour to perform in full, and musicians traditionally learned it by listening to and playing with older masters.
UNESCO recognised the Uyghur Muqam as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity; it was proclaimed in 2005 and inscribed on the Representative List in 2008.