The Evolution of Tradition of Baghshi in Turkmen-Sahra: A Special Case of Musical Change

The musical tradition of Turkmen bagshy (bagshychylyk) is the core of Turkmen culture in Turkmen-Sahra (Iran) and Turkmenistan. Since the last decades of the 19th century, this tradition has faced various degrees of transformation due to the Socio-political evolutions. In this paper, we focus on the musical culture in Turkmen-Sahra and explore the changes by juxtaposing its past with its present. Our study is based on several fieldworks in Turkmen-Sahra including hours of interviews with informants from Turkmen-Sahra and Turkmenistan from 2010 to 2015. Moreover, monographs, travelogues, and audio-visual materials are considered as well. To provide a basis for comparison we cast light on the Turkmen-Sahra case according to the concept of musical change. Taking various aspects of musical change into account the Turkmen-Sahra case seems to be a special one mostly through a particular type of acculturation which we refer to as indirect acculturation. While various cultural policies were followed in Turkmenistan since the Russian revolution to manipulate music, in Turkmen-Sahra, by contrast, the musical culture has been almost free from such governmental pressures. It is worth mentioning that the musical change in Turkmen-Sahra is not the result of the bagshys’ individual preferences and the changes in Turkmenistan play a major role here. In this process, the change does not occur simply by borrowing and modifying what bagshy receives from the other side of the border, but a complicated set of divergent and convergent responses should be considered in analyzing the process of musical change. The above-mentioned responses become significant in the duality of professional and non-professional bagshy. Non-professionals belong to the new social class of educated Turkmens emerged in the 1940s following the social changes in Turkmen-Sahra caused by the settlement of nomad Turkmens. They adopt a distinct approach to Turkmen musical tradition as a problem of identity, while the professionals consider it just a profession. Despite the professionals' tendency to maintain continuity and the non-professionals keen interest in change as the prevailing aspects of musical change in Turkmen-Sahra, the two group adopt either convergent or divergent responses depending on the situations. We study the duality of responses within the parameters of education, drawing distinctions with Turkmenistan, utilizing new musical instruments, individual/group performances, and reterritorialization. In conclusion, the musical change in Turkmen-Sahra grounded in the processes of imitation and adaptation while the continuity is based on rejecting the musical products of Turkmenistan. This demonstrates how the musical change in Turkmen-Sahra is defined as indirect acculturation rather than a model in which the changes in Turkmenistan are imported and accepted by bagshys of Turkmen-Sahra in a passive manner