Museum of folk musical instruments named after Ykhlas

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One of the unique museums of musical instruments is Museum of folk musical instruments named after Ykhlas in Almaty, it was opened in 1981, and in 1990 the museum was assigned the name of Ykhlas Dukenuly.

There are 9 halls representing the national musical instruments of the Kazakh people, as well as the musical culture of more than 50 countries of the world.

To provide museum visitors with complete information about each exhibit, the museum is equipped with 2 information media tables and projectors for video content. The media tables provide information about each exhibit; voice acting and musical compositions performed on a certain instrument are demonstrated through a video projector.

Also, all halls of the museum are equipped with special devices to provide background music. As a result, in the Introductory Hall, in the Hall of Wind and Percussion Musical Instruments, Memorial Musical Instruments and Kobyz, folk works performed on dombra, kobyz and sybyzgy are played as background music, in the Halls of Musical Instruments of the Peoples of the World, compositions performed on the instruments of those or other peoples, and the concert hall for 120 seats regularly hosts concerts of traditional music.

There are 9 rooms in the museum, presenting national musical instruments of Kazakh folk and culture of more than 50 world countries.

INTRODUCTORY HALL

The famous composer, academician Akhmet Zhubanov said: “The centuries-old wisdom of ancestors is hidden in the strings of folk instruments”.

Many types of Kazakh musical instruments are found in folk poetry, notes by historians and ethnographers. On the basis of these materials, musicologist, collector of Kazakh national musical instruments and performer on them, teacher, candidate of art history Bolat Sarybaev classified musical instruments of the Kazakh people, they are divided into the following categories (here musical instruments are presented according to his classification):

Noisemaker musical instruments;
Percussion musical instruments;
Stringed musical instruments;
Wind musical instruments;
Reed musical instruments.

Musical instruments in the fund of the museum are located in accordance with the classification in separate halls. Full information — manufacturing techniques, methods of playing and purposes of use, you will learn in the following halls.

The next part of the introductory hall is musical archeology. Here are the types and copies of musical instruments found in archaeological excavations.

The objects of musical archeology are visual evidence of the depiction of the history, culture, traditions and customs of our people. Notes on the medieval heritage found in the vastness of the Kazakh steppe can be found in the works of academician A.Kh. Margulan, explorer-traveler A.G. Medoev, writer-scientist A. Seydimbek, archaeologists K. Akishev and Z. Samashev, and others.

Equipment:

HALL OF WIND, PERCUSSION AND NOISEMAKER MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

We can notice that the instruments in the centuries-old history of the nomadic people who lived in the bosom of nature originate through imitation of natural phenomena. The rustle of reeds, a dense forest, the howl of a blizzard, the chirping of birds, the murmur of water, mountain echoes and many other sounds of nature have collected in themselves banal and primitive sound instruments made by human hands. After that they began to be used in various spheres of life.

An abundant group of instruments, formed from the everyday needs of the people, are wind instruments. Wind instruments differ in two important ways. The first is natural origin, the second is unpretentiousness to the material. Unlike some instruments, they are made from simple reeds, reeds, wood, brass, clay, plastic, horn, bone, animal bladder, camel esophagus, skin, etc.

The ancient types of wind instruments did not have sound holes, so they only served to send a signal. After the appearance of sound holes on the tube, playing the wind instruments became technically difficult. If before that one melody was performed on several reeds, now the same melody can be played on one.

Equipment:

HALL OF MEMORIAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Dombra is a favorite instrument of all the people, a widespread instrument with a rich history. In the history of the nation, dombra shared all the grief and sorrows, happiness in half with the people, was a consolation in difficult times. Dombra is the most ancient type of string instruments.

The memorial hall presents authentic instruments of singers-performers and kuishi-composers of the 19th-20th centuries, whose work is called the “Golden Age” in the history of Kazakh music.

Equipment:

HALL OF KOBYZ

KOBYZ is an ancient stringed bowed musical instrument of the Kazakh people. They make the instrument from a single piece of birch, juniper. It consists of three parts: head, neck, body. A leather membrane is pulled onto the bottom and a stand is inserted. Strings are from the horsehair. The instrument has extensive capabilities, multifaceted sound, perfectly conveys the sounds of nature.

It has long been believed that kobyz is the main attribute of shamanism. A.Zataevich writes that because of this misunderstanding, the kobyz was considered a relic of the past, could not keep up with the times and almost disappeared. Therefore, at the beginning of the twentieth century works for kobyz were not composed and gradually the instrument was forgotten. The last master of classical kobyz music is Ykhlas Dukenuly, born in the middle of the 19th century.

Equipment:

MASTERS’ HALL

This hall presents the best creations of famous masters of the last century and the present.

Equipment:

TURKIC HALL

The music of the Turkic-speaking world is a unique phenomenon with a long history and rich traditions. Many outstanding masterpieces of lasting value have been created here. Suffice it to recall the instrumental compositions for the Bashkir kurai, mukamas for the Turkmen dutar, or kui for the Kyrgyz komuz. How much poetry is contained in the songs of Kyrgyz akyns, Azerbaijani ashugs and khanende. An unforgettable impression is left by the epic tunes of the Karakalpak zhyrau and Turkmen bakhshi, sounding in a special throaty manner with the use of instrumental accompaniment.

Equipment:

HALL OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE PEOPLES OF ASIA AND AFRICA

Far Asia has always attracted with mystery and sophisticated grace. Asian composers are famous for their captivating fluidity of musical lines, slightly tart coloring and artistic thinking aimed at laconic forms of expression. A deliberate synthesis of eastern and western musical thought is often traced in their works.

African music is a tradition that is played mainly at gatherings on special occasions. Traditional African music, considering the vastness of the continent, is historically ancient, rich and varied, with different regions and countries in Africa having many different musical traditions. Music in Africa is very important when it comes to religion. Songs and music are used in rituals and religious ceremonies to transmit stories from generation to generation, and to sing and dance to them.

Equipment:

HALL OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE PEOPLES OF ASIA

Asian music covers numerous musical styles that occur from many Asian countries. The holders of these countries carried their musical culture through the centuries. The rich and peculiar legacy of the peoples of Asia has developed many centuries as art transmitted from mouth to mouth by generations of folk musicians, singers, obstellers. In this case, the melodies were somewhat modified, varied, while maintaining their basis.

Equipment:

HALL OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE PEOPLES OF EUROPE

European musical culture acquired its characteristic features in the Middle Ages. Then professional musical traditions were formed within the framework of the Christian church, in the castles of aristocrats, in the knightly environment, and in the practice of urban musicians. For many centuries, these traditions were monophonic, and only in the period of the mature Middle Ages polyphony and musical writing appeared, European musical instruments reached perfection.

Equipment:

Visit a virtual tour by all expositions of our museums

The museum’s structure

Baurdzhan Dzhanibek Uzbekalievich

Director of the museum

Zhansaya Kozhakhan Nurkhankyzy

Head of the Science department

Balzhan Kenesbek Maratkyzy

Research worker

Raushan Sovetkhan Aibolkyzy

Research worker

Elenara Aidarkhanova Erikovna

Keeper of funds

For Visitors

Working Hours:

Tuesday - Sunday: Working hours are from 10:00 to 19:00
Monday: Closed for cleaning day

Price list:

Adults (Foreigners) – 1500 KZT
Adults (Citizen of Republic of Kazakhstan) - 1000 KZT
Students – 300 KZT
School pupils – FREE
Pensioners – 300 KZT
Guided Tour – 2000 KZT (Per group), tour in foreign (english) language – 3000 KZT

Contact Us:

+ 7 (727) 291-69-17
+ 7 (727) 248-40-71

E-mail:

imeniykhlasa@mail.ru

Online ticketing

You can visit all museums buying tickets at the site ticketon.kz