Xinhe, Xinjiang, April 4 (Zhongxin Net) -- The "boom" and "bang" sounds of planers and chisels, the noise of children, and the gentle music of string auditions have gathered together and echoed over Gayi Village, Yiqi Arik Town, Xinhe County, Aksu Prefecture in southern Xinjiang. It is known as the "First Village of Folk Handmade Musical Instruments in Xinjiang, China", and almost every family is engaged in musical instrument making.
Recently, the reporter walked into the studio of Ayiti Yiming, a musical instrument maker in Gayi Village, as if he was in a musical instrument museum. Plapples, Dotar, Revav, Sattar, Aycze, tambourine ... A variety of Xinjiang ethnic musical instruments hang on the walls. Ayiti Imin casually picked up a dutar tune and played, the strings slipped through his fingertips, and the melodious music flowed out like a clear spring.
Ayiti Imin casually picked up a dutar tune and played. Photo by Guo Andong
Ayiti Imin, who is nearly seventy, has been engaged in handmade musical instrument making for more than 50 years, and five generations of his family have been musical instrument makers. "I grew up in piles of materials for making musical instruments, a craft that my father passed on to me. Our village has been making musical instruments for more than 300 years, and I started making piano when I was 15 years old, when there were only two or three people in the village, and now almost every family makes musical instruments. Ayiti Imin said.
"You see this piano, it took me seven months to make, and it took more than two months just to inlay and decorate." Ayiti Imin holds Dutar in his hand and says that although he repeats the process every day, he enjoys it. "Mulberry wood is a good material for making musical instruments, from digging mulberry wood, baking it into shape, splicing and carving, placing string codes, polishing and lacquering, every step of making a piano requires peace of mind. Mulberry and camel bones are used to make a sattar, which usually takes about 7 months to complete. "When it comes to instrument making, Ayiti Imin always gushes.
Tao Li does not speak, the next is its own. Today, most of the musical instrument makers in Gayi village study under Ayiti Yimin. "I make more than 10 instruments, and if anyone wants to learn it, I'm willing to pass them on." Ayiti Yiming said that over the years, he has taken in more than 200 apprentices.
"Master not only taught me the craft of making musical instruments, but also taught me the principles of doing things that I must adhere to in everything, and now, I have also begun to take apprentices, and I want to pass on the craft of making musical instruments with Master." Villager Tursun Mamati said.
A piano belt "fires" a village, which everyone did not expect in the past. In recent years, with the development of tourism in Xinjiang, the art of making ethnic musical instruments has made Jiayi Village widely known, and has made it one of China's national 3A-level tourist scenic spots and Xinjiang tourist characteristic blocks. In June 2008, the art of making ethnic musical instruments in Jiayi Village was included in the second batch of China's national intangible cultural heritage list. Ayiti Yiming was also listed as a representative inheritor of China's national intangible cultural heritage in 6.
"The former village of Gai is not as thriving as it is now." Baihetiar Amuti, secretary of the party branch of Gayi Village, said that in the past, the village was made and sold by retail households, which was not large-scale, and the benefits were not very good. In recent years, Xinhe County has given full play to the brand effect of intangible cultural heritage, taken the road of professional and cooperative characteristic development, and relied on the production of musical instruments to drive local people to increase income and become rich.
According to Baihetiar Amuti, Gayi village sells an average of more than 2,3 musical instruments every year, and the average household income is about 15,2022 yuan (RMB, the same below), and the more can reach 1800,<> yuan. In <>, the sales of musical instruments in the village will be <> million yuan, and the products will sell well in Xinjiang, Henan, Beijing and other provinces and regions, and are also exported to Germany, France, South Korea, Japan and other countries. (End)