Articles tagged with: Turkmen music scene
The cover art for Zumer Chas' latest album, featuring RuDe. Image courtesy of the Darkroom Posse FaceBook fan club.
Editor’s note: Turkmenistan may be second only to North Korea in its self-imposed isolation, but this hasn’t stopped the global phenomenon of “urban culture”, especially in the form of Hip Hop. neweurasia’s Annasoltan explores how Hip Hop can thrive — or die — in a totalitarian police state. Read her previous entries in this post series, including exclusive remarks from Zumer Chas of Darkroom Posse, here. Also, read Chris Schuepp’s 2008 guest post on underground pop music in Turkmenistan here.
Given the meteoric rise in popularity of Hip Hop in Turkmenistan, what approach are the Turkmen authorities taking toward the music form and the restive youth subculture it represents?
Image from Darkroom Posse's Facebook fan club.
Editor’s note: Turkmenistan may be second only to North Korea in its self-imposed isolation, but this hasn’t stopped the global phenomenon of “urban culture”, especially in the form of Hip Hop. neweurasia’s Annasoltan has some exclusive comments from the biggest name in Turkmen rapping — Zumer Chas of Darkroom Posse. Read her previous entry in this post series here and here. Also, read Chris Schuepp’s 2008 guest post on underground pop music in Turkmenistan here.
Okay, for those of you who don’t know, the music form “Hip Hop” or “Rap” originated in 1970s Bronx, New York City, and has since spread across the world. That’s a lot because it’s more than music, but a whole lifestyle. Some (American) names you’ve probably definitely heard of: Eminem, Queen Latifah, Sugar Hill Gang, Salt’n'Pepper, 2Pac, Snoop Dog, NWA, etc. etc. But unless you’re in Turkey or Turkmenistan, I bet you’ve never heard of Zumer Chas.
Zumer is the biggest name from the Turkmen Hip Hop group Darkroom Posse, the most popular Turkmen Hip Hop operation of our time to reach stardom. For example, in 2008 when Zumer gave a concert together with RuDe, 1600 people came — a remarkable number. I caught up with him recently to ask him his thoughts about why the music form is spreading in Turkmenistan, and what it means to be a rapper in this country.
Editor’s note: Turkmenistan may be second only to North Korea in its self-imposed isolation, but this hasn’t stopped the global phenomenon of “urban culture”, especially in the form of Hip Hop, from arriving there, writes neweurasia’s Annasoltan. Read her previous entry in this post series here.
Due to its sexually explicit lyrics, tendency to glorify violence, and promote radical political views, Hip Hop has long been a subject of controversy in the West. However, precisely because of its gangland origins and lo-tech requirements, Hip Hop has also long been indefatigably grass roots.
So, it’s initially hard to imagine its sudden bloom in such a closed and strictly controlled country as Turkmenistan. After all, this a country where, as part of an extensive personality cult, the official state media broadcasts only songs in praise of the country’s leadership.
But the rigidities of Turkmen media culture are precisely why Hip Hop is suddenly popular: Turkmenistan’s youth are finding refuge in their own subculture and seeking new forms of expression.
Turkmen rap songs are gaining speedy popularity among the Turkmen youth. New rap websites are popping up left and right.
“Palestine”, a song about Palestinian children killed by Israeli security forces by Zumerchas of the rap group Darkroom Posse, has been rapidly making the rounds among listeners. Darkroom Posse has toured in Turkey and includes rappers from Turkmenistan, Russia, Canada, and the United States.
[inspic=8,left,,150]Youth culture, pop videos and cutting-edge technology in Turkmenistan – what sounds like a joke or a science-fiction trip into the year 2100 is actually a reality. When you watch Turkmen TV, you will still think it is a joke. But when you go ‘underground’ on a market in Ashgabat, the capital of this Central Asian country, you will soon come across thousands of CDs and DVDs to choose from with the latest songs and videos of young Turkmen artists. Berdi (26) is the Turkmen equivalent of Robbie Williams. S.T. is a Turkmen rap band and could be called the Beastie Boys of Ashgabat if their lyrics were not only about love. And Mahri (20) is Ashgabat’s answer to Britney Spears, only without the scandals. They all are celebrities in Turkmenistan because of their music, and also because of their high-quality music videos.
The man behind many of the videos is 22-year old Begench Hangeldiogly. Begench studies to become a film director at the Institute of Culture. “I have always wanted to become a video editor. When I was a child, I took four old VHS recorders and connected them so I could edit a film. But I really only started more professional editing with my first computer about six years ago.” Since then, Begench has made a great leap forward. He owns his own small production company ‘Elwan’ now and has a staff of five co-workers including his younger brother who all work out of a rented basement of an old Soviet apartment block in the Eastern outskirts of Ashgabat.“I work hard. I don’t have any days off in the week and I hardly ever sleep more than six hours” says Begench, who is constantly answering calls on his mobile phone while showing me around in his studio. There are different themes of decoration in every single room of the basement he rents for his ‘underground work’. “I am soon going to install a blue box here so I can experiment more with artificial backgrounds. That will enable me to be more creative in the videos”, he says while he shows me the latest videos he edited for Berdi and other stars of the Turkmen pop scene. Read the full story »
Former Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov was not known for his love of external foreign influences, and his reign saw the republic isolated not only politically but also increasingly culturally, as Turkmenbashi sought to distill the essence of Turkmen-ness.
As part of this process, in April 2001 Niyazov banned foreign opera and ballet. He justified his decision on the grounds that such cultural forms were “alien” to Turkmen culture, rhetorically asking on Turkmen state television
How is it possible to inculcate a Turkmen is a love of ballet if there is no ballet in his blood? … One must not attempt to establish an art form here that is from another place; one must develop one’s own national art form. I do not understand ballet, what do I need it for?
Niyazov’s sudden death on December 21, 2006, and the subsequent ascent of Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov to power inevitably brought hope that Turkmenistan might become a more open country. Berdymukhammedov has made some changes, but arguably he has continued to avoid major changes such as allowing an independent media to develop or political opposition. Nevertheless, even piecemeal changes should not be dismissed out of hand, particularly given Turkmenbashi’s legacy.
So, in mid-January the Turkmen State Information Agency reported that Berdymukhammedov had met with “representatives of the creative intelligentsia of the country”. Whilst the President’s complaints about journalists not recognising that Turkmenistan has entered a “new stage of development” and assertion that “the media should reflect the stability that reigns in all spheres of state and civic life” seemed to suggest that major change is still not on the cards, the was some good news:
“It is disappointing,” continued the Head of State, “that there are no good cinemas in Ashgabat. Today the cinemas Vatan, Gurbansoltan Edje, and others are not being used for their direct purpose and are in need of major repairs.” In connection with this the Nation’s Leader proposed repairing and modernising the existing buildings, as well as building a new cinema in the capital that would meet all contemporary standards.
The President of Turkmenistan also spoke in favour of the rejuvenation of national opera and attracting well-known national specialists to work in this area of musical art. “Of course, it will require a certain amount of time, but I believe,” said Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, “that as rapidly as in the next few months Turkmen audiences will see the first opera production”.
Good news in theory, but at this stage no more than words. The news, therefore, on January 30, that Berdymukhammedov had gone ahead and lifted the ban on opera and theatre in the republic, was very welcome, as Bruce Pannier of RFE/RL reports, quoting the reactions of Turkmen artists:
Mommak Kuly, a Turkmen artist who now lives in Germany, tells RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service he hopes Berdymukhammedov’s decision will bring performing artists back to Turkmenistan.
“We are so glad about the news that the ban on opera, ballet, and circus has been lifted,” Kuly says. “I hope that former theater performers will come back to the theater. It was not good to say that our people didn’t understand opera or ballet and ban these arts. It is very important to let the people understand [these things.] This is an art and a culture that help the world understand the nation.”
The announcement of the return of the performing arts was also good news to Akmukhammet Saparov, a well-known singer and composer, who stayed in Turkmenistan despite the fact he was officially unable to perform.
“Like other artistic workers, I continued my work as a singer and composer, without ’turning either to the right or to the left,’” Saparov says. “I have been giving concerts to the people, creating songs, and composing music; helping the [young] singers and musicians who need my assistance.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, I’m tempted to sound a note of caution, or to least wait and see what happens before letting myself feel too optimistic. On the other hand, Laszlo Tenke’s initial comment on Steve LeVine’s somewhat irreverent post on the news, entitled “Turkmenistan Starts to De-Bizarre: Libraries Legalized” is well worth considering:
Berdymukhamedov has just announced that Turkmenistan needs a new ideology. He suggested the new one should be “the state is for the people”. Implicit is the statement that it’s shouldn’t be the other way around. The West now has the choice: it can either be a perfectionist and doubt that call for a change. Or give the Turkmen president the benefit of the doubt and support him. If you are willing to bet on the late Bhutto or even Musharraf, you should definitely bet on Berdymukhamedov.
As the subsequent debate in the comments on the post show, attitudes to the news are ambivalent, with people unsure of its significance and how much weight it should be given in light of more negative reporting on the republic. Commentator Per, or example, points readers to a gazeta.kz article about gas politics and a Eurasianet piece on restrictions on personal satellite dishes (also covered at the start of December by Abdul on the Russian blog) as evidence that one should not read much into it overall, while Natalia Antelava’s BBC article “Fresh Optimism in Turkmenistan” suggests a more upbeat assessment may be in order.
My verdict? Wait and see; actions speak louder than words, as they say.
Following the Central Asian film and music festival in Prague, I spoke to Murad Rakhimov (on the photo), a Turkmen dutar (national two string instrument) musician and member of “Silk Road Band” comprised of Central Asian and Afghani musicians in Prague. Listen to two passages of dutar and read the story of Murad, who mastered the traditional style of playing it.
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Murad grew up in Turkmenistan, and, after getting his first dutar from a shop, he and his brother started practicing. “I became interested in playing dutar at the age of 8 or 9”, says Murad. “Back home, I studied the dutar with a traditional teacher. His name was Sapar Ishan, who himself was a student of famous Turkmen destanchi bahshi Gurt Yakubov, a classical singer and musician who tells the epic poems and novels. Traditionally Turkmen bahshi study without notes, and music is transmitted orally from person to person. Each region in Turkmenistan is famous for its own style of music and traditional teachers try to stick to theirs and thus preserve local traditions of playing. Formalized music schools teach dutar by notes and mix the styles.”
In addition to music, Murad is fond of poetry – he was writing himself and volunteered as a leader of a local regional Union for young writers. He was a student of philology at Turkmen State University and a journalist. When he became active in opposition movement Agzybirlik – organized meetings, distributed leaflets – he was being called in and questioned by the KGB. Read the full story »
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