In the fall of 2024, I had the exceptional opportunity to participate in the Central Asian Music Ensemble in dialogue with the seminar Entangled Sounding Objects. The ensemble featured the Kazakh qyl-qobyz (bowed lute), dombyra (plucked lute), jetygen (plucked zither), saz-syrnai (clay ocarina), asatayaq (wand with bells), danghyra (frame drum), and the Kyrgyz temir ooz komuz (jaw harp). The course, offering practical instruction in musical traditions from post-Soviet Central Asia, was created by Professor Saida Daukeyeva to examine how instrument making and performance are shaped by and entangled with social systems of value and cosmology, political ideology, ecology, and economy.
The Central Asian Music Ensemble’s development was a collaborative endeavor supported by the Music Department, Academic Affairs, the Center for the Arts, and the Fries Center for Global Studies. The project was also supported by renowned artisans in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan who specially crafted the diverse collection of instruments utilized by our ensemble.
