Xinjiang Uyghur Muqam (Twelve Muqam)

The Twelve Muqam is the most celebrated large-scale classical suite tradition of the Uyghurs, transmitted chiefly through Kashgar, Shache (Yarkant), Hotan, Aksu and Ili, sharing one root yet differing by place. Shache county is hailed as the "capital of the Twelve Muqam," and as a crystallisation of East-West musical exchange it records the spread and mingling of dance and music cultures. It entered the first national ICH list in May 2006 and had already been inscribed by UNESCO among its Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2005.

The Twelve Muqam consists of twelve great suites, each in three parts—the grand "jong naghma," the narrative "dastan," and the dancing "mashrap"—weaving literature, music, dance, chant and even theatre together. Performances are accompanied by traditional instruments such as the dutar, tambur and the dap hand-drum, and in the mashrap section singers and dancers often improvise, the scene growing wild and joyful.

The Twelve Muqam is the mother of Uyghur music, carrying the collective memory, feeling and identity of the Uyghur people and standing as a living witness to the meeting of East and West along the Silk Road, with irreplaceable value for the study of Central Asian music history and folk art.

The Shache County Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo Park is one of the key places to hear the Twelve Muqam performed live.