Collected & Researched by: Mansureh Sabetzadeh
Turkmen Dance and Festivity Music
The people belong to the southwestern branch of the Turkic linguistic group. The majority live in Turkmenistan and in neighboring parts of Central Asia and numbered more than 2,700,000 in the late 20th century. A large group lives in Iran, especially in the north, and northeastern and northwestern Afghanistan. These groups are called Transcaspian Turkmen. The territory of the Turkmen is generally arid. They moved at about the time Islam rose from the Altai mountain area of Inner Asia. They were by tradition a nomadic pastoral people, living in tent villages and raising sheep, goats, horses, camels, asses, and cattle. With the help of irrigation they took up agriculture and their stock breeding is no longer nomadic. For the Transcaspian Turkmen, government control began in Iran in 1925 at the order of Reza Shah. Light into the Soviet Union was in vain, and hey fled back. Turkmen social organization is based on descent in the paternal line. Although most of the Central Asian Turkic peoples were divided into a noble and a common stratum, the Turkmen had a division according to economic function, herding carrying more prestige than farming. At the head of each division was a Khan. This mode of organization exists partly among those Turkmen who live in Iran.
The Turkmen are Muslims and they have given way to more structured societies. Their old dance forms have gradually developed into what are now called folk dances. Turkmen are not essentially a dance-loving nation, and they prefer to celebrate the hours by sitting and singing.
Types of Turkmen Dances
The most important is a kind of a weapon dance which is called Zekr Khanjar, formerly played by a saber. Koshtibidi in all respects respects resembles Zekr Khanjar but is played without a dagger and is characterized by clapping, playing to dotar and kamanche accompaniment.
Another dance is Ekhembel, current among women. It is characterized by shoulder and hand movements. Ekhembel is seldom played among those Turkmen who live in Iran but is quite frequent in Turkmenistan. ...
Published [06/09/2004]