https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4407-180X
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Abstract
This article reveals the transformation of Kazakh music through the tamada in Bayan-Ölgii Province in Mongolia in the post-socialist period. The tamada (master of ceremonies) is an office common across Central Asia, the Caucasus and Russia. In Bayan-Ölgii, where 90% of the population is Kazakh, weddings have been held in a large hall in the town since the 2000s. The tamada has played a central role in these events, in the playing of music. This article focuses on the history of activities of the tamada and shows that they not only have a role in advancing programmes in wedding ceremonies but also form the contents of these events. In addition, tamada play popular songs using new technology, which has prompted the transformation of music in weddings.
Acknowledgement
I thank the three anonymous peer reviewers of Central Asian Survey, whose invaluable comments greatly contributed to improving the overall quality of this article. I also thank the many Kazakh tamada for my research in Bayan-Ölgii Province and Dr S. Chuluun, former director of the Institute of History and Ethnology at the Mongolian Academy of Science, for making it possible for me to study in Mongolia for a few years.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 In research on rituals in Central Asia, this term is used to refer to a feast or a ceremony. In the study area, toi were held at major events of a person’s life, such as a wedding (uilenu toiy), alphabet party (alippe toiy, which celebrates children who have finished learning the Cyrillic alphabet), and retirement party (pensiya toiy). The tamada mainly works at toi held in banquet halls.
2 A business has developed in Kazakhstan that pays huge amounts of money to tamada and singers during toi. This business is called the toi business, and the people criticize the high rewards paid to performers (Toda Citation2015, 223).
3 The role is traditionally called asaba by Kazakhs. The word combines ‘food’ (as) and ‘brother’ (aba) (Khabidina Citation1993, 609). Currently, tamada and asaba have the same meaning. In this article, I use tamada.
4 When Kazakhstan gained independence from the Soviet Union in December 1991, then-President Nazarbayev emphasized friendly relations between the 147 ethnic groups in Kazakhstan and promoted nation-building on behalf of the Kazakh people. At the beginning of independence, Kazakhs were in a minority in Kazakhstan, so the growth of the Kazakh population was an urgent task for the government. The government implemented a policy of return for Kazakhs living outside Kazakhstan (Bonnenfant Citation2012). This policy also provided a basis for political and economic support for Kazakhs living outside Kazakhstan, in the Kazakh diaspora. It has contributed to the establishment of an imagined community that includes Kazakhs living abroad by politically constructing Kazakhstan as the ‘historical homeland’ of their ancestors.
5 The total number of banquet halls in Bayan-Ölgii was not determined for this study. However, as of the 2010s, more banquet halls are constantly being built in local district centres. For example, by the summer of 2018, there were one large and one small banquet hall in the Tolbo District.
6 Mongol, Orosin irged khariltsan bizgüi zorchij ekhelne [Mongolia and Russian citizens will start to visit without visa], https://news.mn/r/676442/
7 Kos-aghash is a town in the Altai Republic of the Russian Federation, 170 km north-west of Bayan-Ölgii Province. The town is also inhabited by Kazakhs, and they engage in cultural exchange with Kazakhs in Mongolia. In recent years, the exchange of goods and people has increased under the Great Altai project, which has strengthened administrative ties between the towns around the Altai Mountains (Kos-aghash, Ölgii, Öskemen and Altay City in China).
8 An electric piano is called a yamaha by the performers in Ölgii. Yamaha is a Japanese musical instrument company, but it became the generic word for an electric piano in the 1990s, when there was an influx of pianos from China.
9 The Kazakh words for minusovka have not been identified. Minsovka is Russian. Fonogramma (written in Russian Cyrillic) is supposed to be originally a German word, and bichleg is Mongolian.
10 Young Kazakhs use smartphones to access the internet and download minusovka free of charge. A popular website about minusovka is X-minus (http://x-minus.pro/).
11 This tradition, called shashu, means to share joy with others. At a toi, when the host throws sweets at the guests, people must accept them. Aqbapiülï’s narrative indicates that the food thrown in shashu has changed.
12 The Duman was named by Aqbapiülï at the request of the hall’s manager. This name means ‘joy’ and ‘celebration’. The manager resisted this name, but Aqbapiülï explained that it was auspicious. This event is also evidence that the establishment of the banquet hall is linked to the tamada.
13 Three of them currently work regularly in Ölgii. One of the others, Kadkhan, moved to Kazakhstan and now works in Kazakh theatre in East Kazakhstan. He sometimes comes back to Ölgii and for a concert and emceeing. Bazarkhanülï (Dale) studied in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and then returned to Mongolia. The other tamada don’t stay long in Kazakhstan; they mentioned only short trips there.
14 Although the tamada played a central role in setting the content of the toi, the involvement of the banquet hall manager remains unclear.
15 The dombyra is a two-string long-necked lute used by Kazakhs. There are regional differences in the number of frets and shape (Kunanbayeva and Elemanova Citation2001, 434). The pear-shaped dombyra is mainly used in western Kazakhstan, and the spade-shaped dombyra in eastern Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia (Slobin Citation2001). Daukeyeva (Citation2016, 309–311) reveals that the shape of the dombyra used in the theatre changed through the activities of conductors and performers who came to Bayan-Ölgii from the Kazakh Republic. At present, a dombyra with 19 frets and an egg-shaped torso is most common. Kazakhs use this instrument to sing in everyday life.
16 Many of the tamada mentioned in this article also have other jobs, such as school teacher and musician. Among tamada, there is a tacit understanding that they can work until the age of 40. One told me, ‘No one is interested in a toi in which the tamada is over 40.’ He added that he also earned salaries in other occupations to secure his financial income after retiring from being a tamada. This suggests that being a tamada is mainly for young people. Some of the tamada who appeared in the province in the 2000s will retire in about five years.
17 Calculated using Mongolian Bank Rate Calculation by Age (National bank of Mongolia, Official Daily Foreign Exchange Rates, https://www.mongolbank.mn/eng/dblistofficialdailyrate.aspx) in August, 2001. One dollar then was about 1098 tögrög.
18 Calculated using Mongolian Bank Rate Calculation by Age in August, 2019. One dollar was then about 2715 tögrög.
19 The Kazakh folk song in Mongolia is a song whose author is unknown, but the lyrics and melody were handed down from generation to generation. In the socialist period, these folk songs were collected, and the score book was published in Bayan-Ölgii (Akhmerülï Citation1984). Sipos (Citation2001), gives information on specific melody lines, and Post (Citation2007, Citation2014) discusses meanings and performances.
20 The Soviet Union implemented policies that classified its citizens into national groups (natsiya: ündesten) and ethnic groups (narodnost’: yastan) based on four aspects: language, region, psychological status and economic life (Bulag Citation1998; Martin Citation2001). Although Kazakhs in Kazakhstan were natsiya, the Kazakhs in Mongolia were narodnast’ (yastan in Mongolian). This meant that Kazakhs in Mongolia were thought of as culturally inferior to Kazakhs in Kazakhstan.
21 2020 jyldan bastap Ózbekistanda ánshiler toılarda kelisimsart arqyly ǵana óner kórsetedi [In 2020 musicians in Uzbekistan will have to show their performance with making a contract with organizer of toi feast]. https://www.inform.kz/kz/2020-zhyldan-bastap-ozbekstanda-anshiler-toylarda-kelisimshart-arkyly-gana-oner-korsetedi_a3573295?fbclid=IwAR2qRB6RDct1DQxONDqdSpC_xh464BroqYlBM_BtPllUrLKly1CXOEu5JEc.