Tien Shan Culture - Ancient and Modern Music and Dance with a Long History - Akan Duet Singing of the Kazakhs

Tien Shan culture-ancient and modern music and dance with a long history-Kazakh Akan antiphonal singing

Antiphonal singing refers to the singing of questions and answers. The duet singing of the Kazakh people is very characteristic, it combines eloquence and singing together, which is rich in life flavor and lively. It is an ancient and still prevalent art form favored by the Kazakh people, and has a broad mass base in Kazakh folklore. Kazakh people, young and old, whether they are folk singers or not, each is an enthusiastic participant and appreciator of the duet. Kazakh duets are roughly divided into two categories, one is the traditional duets, also known as customary duets, is in the wedding, birth and other joyous ceremonies and folk festivals in the duets; the other is the Akan duets.

Akon is the Kazakh people's honorary name for good singers. They are folk singers and poets, must be able to improvise both poetry, export, and can play and sing, both poets, singers of artistic talent, mostly not detached from the production of herdsmen. Akan has considerable prestige in Kazakh folklore. They can Kazakh a long poem, a historical story, with the dongbura sung by themselves. Each dongbura reflects the real life of the Kazakh people at that time. In the period when the Kazakh people had no writing, the fruits of the cultural creation of the working people were mainly preserved, circulated, and summarized and developed by them. The Kazakh people have always regarded Akan as their spokesman. From the second half of the 18th century, duet singing in the Kazakh folk has a great development, has appeared a number of famous Akan, such as: Biljiang, Sarah, Sufangbay, Kulimamu Bait, Jambul, Zheshijiang, Tubet, Kiziulek, Yeliantai and so on.

Akan duets are duets between people who are recognized as Akan in traditional duets. Talented young singers can become famous through successful participation in such duets, thus obtaining the status and qualification of Akan; the famous Akan can also continue to increase their prestige through the success and victory of this duet. Akon duets are sometimes spontaneous, for example: the famous Akon Bill Jiang on the very prestigious Akon Sara very much in love, once "rode down six horses, running for fifteen days," and finally found Sara, together with each other to learn the skills, and duets, leaving behind a popular phrase.

In Xinjiang, the Kazakhs inhabited areas, every year to the summer, people often specialize in organizing the significance of the competition Akan duet singing activities. Such duets are usually held once a year and attract a large audience. The picturesque summer pastures are bustling with activity and joy. The Akan who participate in the duet are selected from all over the world. Although it is the individual Akan who appears on the stage, they always represent their region, their nation, and their tribe to sing in duet. They sing the success, victory or not both personal, but also related to the region, the nation, the tribe's honor, so the audience is always tied to their own side of the Akon, for them to shout, Dun feet cheer. Akon singing, generally each playing stringed instruments such as winter Bula, accompanied by their own, mutual cross-examination in response to singing. There are four singers and two singers. Four people singing is the main two people, two people singing; two people singing most of a man and a woman. Akan duet singing about winning and losing, on the high and low. Singing began, both sides of a question and answer, a party after singing, the other side must be in one to two minutes to sing back. Akon is often a storm of singing to each other launched a fierce attack, managed to make each other difficult to fight, and strive to overwhelm each other from the momentum, until the other side sang no song as a stop. The surrounding audience is both the appreciation of the Akan duet, but also the duet of the collective notary. We immediately assessed the winner, the negative to give the winner a gift. This kind of duet is generally recreational in nature, the winner and the loser always end up treating each other with gifts. If both sides are masters, it is difficult to distinguish between the winner and the loser, they will shake hands, or make an appointment to sing again.

Akan duet lyrics content has no fixed scope, the other side sings what, we have to answer what, such as customs, love, genealogy, religion, etiquette, and so on can be. Can take historical subjects, can also sing the reality; can guess riddles, test intelligence; can also tease each other and make fun of children. In short, the singing can be sarcastic, can complain, can be praised or criticized, and ultimately to the answer to the question, accurate and accurate, the export of eloquent, subtle and interesting for the win. Please see the following witty male-female duet. The man sings: "You're not singing, you're screaming, no strict melody, no moving words. If you don't know how to sing, it's better for me to put my arm around you and teach you." The woman sings, "Your singing voice, like an old man sighing. If you can't sing, still let my horse teach you." The lyrics and tunes of the Akan duet are a valuable treasure of Kazakh oral literature and music.