“Uchrashqanda (The Meeting)” Hayrunisa Yenilmes and Amir Kilich | Uyghur Music Traditions

Abdurehim Heyit, “Uchrashqanda (The Meeting)”
Performed by Hayrunisa Yenilmes with Amir Kilich on dutar.

2024 Virginia Folklife Program Apprenticeship
Uyghur Traditional Music (Dutar and Folk Singing)
Mentor artists: Hayrunisa Yenilmes and Amir Kilich (Alexandria)
Apprentices: Ajinur Setiwaldi and Subhinur Elemin (Arlington)

Lyrics performed in excerpt:

سەھەر كۆرگەن چېغىم كۆزۈم سۇلتانىنى،
دېدىم سۇلتانمۇ سەن؟ ئۇ دېدى ياق – ياق.
كۆزلىرى يالقۇنلۇق، قوللىرى خېنىلىق،
دېدىم چولپانمۇ سەن؟ ئۇ دېدى ياق – ياق.

دېدىم ئىسمىڭ نېمە؟ دېدى ئايخاندۇر،
دېدىم يۇرتۇڭ قەيەر؟ دېدى تۇرپاندۇر،
دىدىم باشىڭدىكى؟ دېدى ھىجراندۇر.
دېدىم ھەيرانمۇسەن؟ ئۇ دېدى ياق – ياق.

ىم ئايغا ئوخشار، دېدى يۈزۈممۇ؟
دېدىم يۇلتۇز كەبى، دېدى كۆزۈممۇ؟
دېدىم يالقۇن ساچار، دېدى سۆزۈممۇ؟
دېدىم ۋولقانمۇ سەن؟ ئۇ دېدى ياق – ياق.

دېدىم قىياق نەدۇر؟ دېدى قاشىمدۇر،
دېدىم قۇندۇز نەدۇر؟ دېدى ساچىمدۇر.
دېدىم ئون بەش نەدۇر؟ دېدى ياشىمدۇر،
دېدىم جانانمۇ سەن؟ ئۇ دېدى ياق – ياق.

At sunrise, I saw the Sultan of my eyes
I said: “Are you the Sultan?” She said: “No, no.”

Her eyes are blazing, her hands are hennaed;
I said: “Are you Venus?” She said: “No, no.”
I said: “What’s your name?” She said: “It is Ayhan.”
I said: “Where’s your home?” She said: “Turfan.”
I said: “[What’s] On your head?” She said: “A sad farewell.”
I said: “Are you in love?” She said: “No, no”.

I said: “It looks like the moon.” She said: “My face?”
I said: “It’s like a star.” She said: “My eye?”
I said: “It blazes fire.” She said: “My word?”
I said: “Are you a volcano?” She said: “No, no.”

I said: “What is furrowed?” She said: “It’s my eyebrow.”
I said: “What is a black wave?” She said: “It’s my hair.”
I said: “What is fifteen?” She said: “It is my age.”
I said: “Are you the beloved?” She said: “No, no.”

Hayrunisa Yenilmes was born into a Sufi family in Kashgar, a 2000-year-old city in the Uyghur homeland, and was trained in Quran recitation from a very young age. One of her teachers was Abdurehim Heyt, a renowned Uyghur singer.

Amir Kilich grew up south of Kashgar and studied music at the Xinjiang Arts Institute. He performed with the guitar and dutar, and caught the attention of Uyghur pop star Erkin Abdullah who invited him to play in his band in Beijing. Now Amir teaches the dutar to young children at the Uyghur Culture Center in Fairfax.

Hayrunisa and Amir will teach their apprentices, Ajinur Setiwaldi and Subhinur Elemin, how to play the dutar, the two-stringed, long-neck lute quintessential to Uyghur traditional music as well as folk songs focused on “Uyghur lifeways, struggles, and the homeland.”

Since 2017, more than one million Uyghurs and other mostly Turkic Muslims in the occupied East Turkestan, officially known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, have been detained by the Chinese government and forced to work or enter re-education camps. Heyrunisa’s former teacher, Abdurehim Heyt, was among many Uyghur artists and musicians detained for their “religious expression and ethnoreligious identity.” Fairfax is home to over 5,000 Uyghurs, the country’s largest Uyghur diaspora.

“Our hope is to contribute to the preservation of our culture and the resilience of our community by ensuring the transmission of our traditional musical heritage in the diaspora,” Amir said.

Video produced by the Virginia Folklife Program with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and Virginia Commission for the Arts.

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