Celebrating the Kazkh People of Xinjiang (Nowruz in China)
This last weekend I was privileged to attend a late Nowruz celebration put on by the Kazakh Consul here in Urumqi, Xinjiang. It was a beautiful display of traditional Kazakh costume, Kazakh singing, and even some Kazakh wrestling.
My favorite memory, however, was a personal concert given me by a talented young Kazakh Dombra player. I don’t know if I’ve ever witnessed such fast strumming in my life and I think you’ll agree after seeing this video below that it was AMAZING.
Amazing Kazakh Dombra
Check it out and once you’re done, do me a favor by giving it a thumbs up!
The Kazakh of Xinjiang
The Kazakh people are the 3rd most populous ethnic group in Xinjiang behind the Uyghur and Han. While most of them live along the border regions of northern Xinjiang, there are still quite a few who reside here in the Xinjiang capital of Urumqi.
They’ve had a tumultuous history here in Xinjiang, having been at one point expelled from the region in the early 1900’s, but now they’ve managed to integrate themselves into Xinjiang society such that it’s often hard to distinguish them.
My Kazakh friends here swear that I would would fall in love with their special horse meat dishes but until I have a chance to try it for myself, I’ll just have to settle for knowing that this weekend’s smoked lamb meat was absolutely delicious.
These two ladies, dressed in traditional Kazakh dresses, greeted everybody when we first arrived.
Young Kazakh men displayed their athleticism during a fascinating wrestling match that looked more like Judo.
This woman won my respect for wearing this outfit the entire celebration despite the weather getting quite warm!
Traditional Kazakh smoked lamb meat served during a Nowruz celebration.
Even Kazakh people like to celebrate with a little bit of Pepsi and Sprite.
“I want YOU to come to Kazakhstan someday” he says. Oh I will.
Thanks for posting the pics of the Kazakh festival. Love the K people.
Josh Summers on April 29th, 2014 at 3:23 am
My pleasure, Donna! I admit that I’m not intimately familiar with the Kazakh people, but this celebration certainly piqued my interest :)
There are a number of really wonderful strumming techniques I’ve seen for dombra–some of them meant to produce sounds that mimic horses, birds, and the like. Incredible.
Try the horse sausage, seriously! It’s delicious. In general, I am of the mind that 1) being an adventurous eater is part of the highest order of life skills, 2) it doesn’t hurt to try something once, and 3) qiza/qeyza is actually really delicious. Smokiness is the most predominant flavor. If you like sausages in general, you’ll probably enjoy this, promise! (In February I bought a rope of horse sausage and also some gouda from Rendezvous, made for a DELICIOUS snack stacked on various types of nan.)
Why did I not know about this festival and how did you know about it?
Josh Summers on May 12th, 2014 at 9:52 am
It was a last-minute invitation. Wish you could have come along as well!