From time immemorial, storytellers and poet-musicians bakhshi have been held in special esteem among the Turkmen people. No less revered, however, are the talented craftsmen who make traditional musical instruments—the dutar and the gyjak.

Among the many exhibits at the Bakhshi Museum in Dashoguz is a set of tools used to make a dutar. They were donated by one of the well-known contemporary masters, Atamyrat Hekimov, who works as a teacher at the regional children’s school of arts.

The enchanting sound of the dutar captivated Atamyrat in his youth. His desire to uncover the secrets behind the magical tone of this national musical instrument determined his choice of future profession. Back in 1989, he enrolled in the M. Garlyev Specialized School of Arts in Dashoguz velayat, where he devoted his years of study to learning the dutar, mastering performance skills, and studying the process of its manufacture. His first mentor was the renowned craftsman Minever, who taught the talented young man the fundamentals of the craft. Interestingly, Atamyrat did not rest on the achievements he had attained in making musical instruments and decided to further develop his skills under the guidance of the master Gara, who lives in the village of Garadamak near Ashgabat. In 1997, he asked him to evaluate the first dutar he had made. The mentor, having assessed the instrument’s sound and his student’s talent, gave Atamyrat his blessing. Since then, A. Hekimov has been making his own dutars and gyjaks, which are now in demand among many bakhshi and musicians.

Today, Atamyrat himself acts as a mentor for those wishing to learn to play the dutar and shares with them the secrets of its manufacture. He was awarded this year the title “Çeper döredijiligiň halk ussasy” for his fruitful work in this field.

It should be noted that in this velayat—known throughout the country for its bakhshi, including performers of destans—the craft of making traditional national musical instruments enjoys great popularity, especially among young people. This means that the art, carefully passed down from generation to generation, has a bright future and new stages of development ahead.