Arzu: Songs of the Uyghurs

Sanubar Tursun comes from a family of musicians and has performed since childhood. The Uyghur people live in north-west China and their varied music can be heard as a unique intersection of central Asian Islamic influences and the Chinese soundworld. These recordings made in 1999 and 2000 represent the nowadays predominant northern Ili valley style that Tursun popularised, becoming the pre-eminent Uyghur female singer-songwriter and a national icon.

Her powerful, expansive voice sings of love, ancient homelands, wandering Sufi saints and hard-working boys. On ‘Nisagul’ she deftly accompanies herself on the soft-toned dutar, a two-stringed long-necked fretted lute found in various forms across central Asia. Many of the tracks features Tursun's late brother, Nur Muhemmet Tursun who remarkably multi-tracks an ensemble of dutar, tambur, a long-necked plucked lute with raised frets, and satar, a long-necked bowed lute. The sprightly effect of these three distinct timbres playing in unison along with the limping asymmetrical rhythm beautifully propels Sanubar's evocative voice, and it all comes together in ‘Waderitha’, a 22-minute tour de force. The tambur and emotive voice weave together in an unmetered opening section to the evocative lyrics ‘on the streets where my darling walked, I'll sprinkle my tears’. Afterwards the whole ensemble joins in, spinning out progressive variations with nuances of phrase, pitch, speed and intensity showing Sanubar Tursun's vocal mastery.