London Uyghur Ensemble performs for the Forde Festival 2010 in Norway

[Aziz Isa Elkun]

The London Uyghur Ensemble performs for the Forde Festival 2010. Concerts on 8 July and 9 July 2010 in Forde, Norway.

London Uyghur Ensemble plays traditional Uyghur music from Central Asia. The group is based in London and composed of musicians from East Turkistan (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China) and Kyrgyzstan, as well as Uyghur music enthusiasts from Britain.

The music of Uyghurs is closely related to other Central Asian musical traditions, but also to music across the Muslim world. The song style is highly ornamented, and often uses asymmetrical rhythms and ecstatic prose, as is often found in Sufi-influenced music. The various Uyghur regions have their own distinctive style and repertoire that extends from pure pentatonic melodies in the east to the more modal and complex repertoire of Kashgar.

Uyghur is a little known, but numerous minority that inhabits the great desert and mountain region of China’s Xinjiang region, also called East Turkistan.

Despite continuous economic, social and cultural discrimination, the music and culture of the Uyghurs flourishes. Some of the musicians in London Uyghur Ensemble came to Britain as refugees, but they have tried to preserve their cultural heritage by starting this ensemble.

London Uyghur Ensemble: Rahima Mahmut vocals, dance | Nizamidin Sametov tambur | Rachel Harris dutar | Rustam Saliev dap | Kamil Abbas rawap | Yalckun Abdurehim dance


For further information, please visit :

http://www.uyghurensemble.co.uk/en-html/events.html