Nourishing Kazakhstan’s Melodic Folk Art History

The famous Kazakh proverb goes “Songs and horses are the two wings of the Kazakh people.” If such is the case, recognized Kazakh master Zholaushi Turdugulov is certainly providing the wind beneath such wings. Specializing in the dombyra and kobyz, two of Kazakhstan’s most common instruments in the earlier nomadic periods, Turdugulov wishes to renew and improve traditional Kazakh national musical instruments.

The dombra is a long-necked, two string fret instrument that creates velvety melodies, it is one of the most popular instruments in Kazakhstan. The kobyz is a bowed string instrument that has traditionally been used by shamans and bakses (traditional spiritual healers), as a sacred instrument able to commune with the spirits and banish ill will. Folk musicians have often gravitated to the kobyz for its dramatic and intense sounds that often mimic sounds found in nature.

Born in Alekseevka village in the East Kazakhstan region, Zholaushi Turdugulov graduated from the Almaty Art College with honors in folk art and theater studies, he would go on to attend the Kazakh State Pedagogical University before becoming a professor in the Department of Arts and Crafts at the Abai Kazakh National pedagogical University. Turdugulov has received numerous awards beginning in the early 1980s. Today, his son, Bergentayev Yeraslan, a master of decorative arts and national musical instruments, is following in his father’s footsteps.