On the occasion of the celebration of the Day of the City of Ashgabat, annually celebrated on the 25th of May, the Orchestra of Turkmen Folk Instruments of the Turkmen State Special Music School named after. D. Ovezov at TNC named after M. Kuliyeva visited with concerts the Engineering and Technology University named after Oguz Han and the International University for the Humanities and Development.
Music students delighted their peers with the performance of the best works of Turkmen composers. The festive program of the concerts included compositions by Aman Agajykov, Chary Nurymov, Hydyr Allanurov, as well as folk melodies and songs glorifying the beauty of the white marble capital of Turkmenistan.
– City Day is a favourite holiday not only for Ashgabat residents. Young people from all velayats of the country, including foreign students, study at the capital's universities. Therefore, the main mission of our team is to acquaint students with folk music and the original sound of national instruments, - says the artistic director and conductor of the «Şirwan» Turkmen folk instruments orchestra, teacher of the special music school named after D. Ovezov Gadam Jumagulyyev.
The musical group of numerous instruments consists of groups of dutars and gyjaks, tuyduks, plector dutars, depa, kanun, chang, ud, baglam. By the way, such instruments as chang, kanun, ud and baglama were introduced into the orchestra relatively recently. This happened thanks to the works of domestic ethnomusicologists, historians and archaeologists, who proved the existence of a number of varieties of stringed, wind and percussion musical instruments among the ancient Turkmens.
Living a rich creative life, the «Şirwan» orchestra takes part in various events and musical competitions. The team had great success at the State competition of performers on ancient Turkmen folk instruments «Gorkut owazlary Altyn asyrda» twice becoming the winner of this competition. In 2011, the orchestra was awarded the Presidential Prize «Türmeniň Altyn asyry».
One of the recent achievements of the team is participation in the International online competition of performers on folk instruments «Music of the Soul», where the team from Turkmenistan became the Laureate of the I degree.
–Such performances contribute to the artistic growth of the team, strengthen its cohesion, develop in young performers the qualities of a soloist, together with the merits of an ensemble player, –says Gadam Jumagulyyev. – We never rest on our laurels. Currently, our team is actively preparing for the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the birth of the great poet and philosopher Magtymguly Pyragy. Our repertoire has already been replenished with compositions based on the motives of the poems of Magtymguly, who is rightfully called the pinnacle of classical poetry of the East.
