Probably, there is not a single Turkmen citizen who does not know the name of the sazandar musician Shukur bakhshi. This year, the legendary native of the city of Dushak would have turned 190 years old, but his fame will survive not a single century.

“Shukur was not allowed to live peacefully at home. As soon as he appeared in his aul, people always came from somewhere, “begged” him from his relatives and took him with them “for a day”. He did not return for a month, or even two. Relatives were waiting for him, scolding those who took Shukur away, but what was the point. This was repeated many times. The glorified bakhshi is unable to enjoy his home peace. His destiny is to wander around the auls, from wagon to wagon, from one festival to another. That's why he and Shukur bakhshi, "- this is how Nurmurat Sarykhanov's story" Shukur bakhshi "begins.

“Tall, dark-skinned, with a thin, expressive face and lively eyes, hardly more than 30 years old - such was the famous bakhshi at that time,” the writer describes his appearance and immediately gives a characterization of the musician's personality. - Glory did not spoil it. No one could reproach him for the arrogance characteristic of artists spoiled by success. He devoted himself to his art with all the passion of an ardent nature, was tireless in search of new melodies, loved to show his art. "

“Wherever he appeared, people would immediately gather,” the writer wrote about him. -Shukur took dutar, and he was immediately seized by inspiration. It was passed on to him from the people, from the young men sitting next to him, from the girls and women who looked at him, not taking their eyes off through the lattice frame of the wagon. His hands were strong, his fingers were long, flexible, whatever he wants, he does with the dutar. Shukur will want - and the listener's soul will laugh, a warlike motive will play - and the soul of the horseman is transferred to the battlefield.

Shukur was, in fact, a sazandar musician. He gained popularity by playing the dutar, but they called him "bakhshi", which means a singer. During his life, he sang only two or three times in public, and then in his early youth, almost as a child. Since then, the name Shukur bakhshi has been established for him. It spread widely among the people. He could sing now, as he had a good voice. But he was convinced that with music it is possible to influence the human soul more strongly than words. More than once he spoke about this to his friends.

Shukur was the complete ruler of the dutar. His music was not an imitation of other people's samples. Using the experience of old dutarchi, he was constantly looking for new techniques, or even created his own melodies. "

In 1963, the feature film "Competition" by Bulat Mansurov was released. This film glorified the Turkmen cinema and its main character all over the world.

The memorial evening, organized in honor of the 190th anniversary of the legendary Shukur bakhshi, was held in the Small Hall of the Turkmen National Conservatory. It was opened by a quartet of wind instrumentalists who performed two works by Nury Khalmamedov from the film "Competition" - "On the Theme of Shukur" and "Pomegranate Tree".

A fragment from the film "Competition" was broadcast on the stage on the monitor, in which Shukur bakhshi competed for the title of the best musician with Gulam, the court dutarist of the Iranian shah. Artist Aman Khandurdyev fully corresponded to the description of the hero of the story Nurmurat Sarykhanov - thin, with lively burning eyes, with long flexible fingers that worked wonders with the strings of the dutar.

The place of music in the life of the people and the place of Shukur bakhshi in Turkmen music were discussed by the teachers of the Conservatory, Recep Annamuradov and Guncha Mukhammetberdyeva, who, by the way, is a graduate of the Dushak music school named after Shukur bakhshi, as well as fellow countryman Shukura bakhshi, a teacher of secondary school № 12 in the city of Dushak, Nurnazar Jumanazarov. In addition to teaching at school, Nurnazar is engaged in writing. Among the author's books, with which he introduced those present, there is a book about Shukur bakhshi. He presented it with a dedication to the conservatory.

And then the dutar sounded in the skillful hands of the people's artists of Turkmenistan, Aganazar Ovezgeldyev, Orazmurat Annapesov and Mukhammetdurdy Mukhammetniyazov, who convincingly confirmed by their playing that the music of Shukur bakhshi is alive in the talented Turkmen people.