Saturday, June 11, 2011

Friday Photo - Zhetygen - a Kazakh instrument and its legend




The Legend (source)

"Many, many years ago, there lived an old man who had seven sons. It so happened that during the famine all his sons died. After the death of the first son, the old man single-stringed a gouged piece of wood and played the kyui-requiem (kyui - a piece of instrumental music). After the second son's death, he stringed another cord and played the kyui Broken Wings. He dedicated the following kyui to the sons who died in succession, each time adding another string to his instrument: The fire's Cone Out; Joy Has Left Me; The Sun Has Darkened; The Moon Has Disappeared. After the death of his last son the old man stringed the seventh cord and played the requiem After Losing My Seven Sons, I've Gone Blind for all his dead sons.'

The preceding legend is about the ancient musical instrument zhetygen (Zhety means seven in Kazakh).

More about the traditional culture and arts of the Kazakh people to come.

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