57
Grandfather Yunus the composer
Textbook: Part 4, pp. 17–19
GoalGive general information on Abdulla Po‘latov’s poem about Yunus Rajabiy; know Shashmaqom and its maqoms; reflect on preserving musical heritage using our own text.
New words
composer · bastakormaqom (a classical musical mode) · maqommusical instrument · cholg‘uheritage · meros
Explanation
The textbook poem “Bastakor Yunus bobo” (Composer Grandfather Yunus) is by Abdulla Po‘latov and is devoted to the composer Yunus Rajabiy. Yunus Rajabiy was a People’s Artist of Uzbekistan, composer and musician; he collected more than 1500 folk songs and tunes and saved them from being lost. We do not quote the poem; we read our own text. “Shashmaqom” means “six maqoms” in Persian: Buzruk, Rost, Navo, Dugoh, Segoh, Iroq. It was added to the UNESCO list in 2003. Maqoms passed from generation to generation by the “teacher–pupil” method. Reading the text, we write the instruments mentioned.
Worked examples
Text “The sound of the dutar”. In Ustoz Sobir’s club children learned to play the dutar, nay and doira. One day the teacher said: “To remember old tunes we must record them.” The children asked old performers to sing tunes and recorded them on a phone. Then they copied them into a notebook. At the concert young performers played those tunes in front of listeners.
Instruments: dutar, nay, doira. Idea: heritage kept will not be lost.
Class activity
“Instrument table”: children write three instrument names and how each is played (blowing, plucking, striking).
Practice
1
Which instruments did the children learn?
Dutar, nay and doira
2
What did the teacher say?
Old tunes must be recorded.
3
How did the children preserve the tunes?
Recorded and copied them into a notebook.
4
How many maqoms are in Shashmaqom?
Six
5
What did Yunus Rajabiy do?
Collected folk songs and tunes and saved them.