The ornament adorns all the objects surrounding the Kyrgyz from the moment of birth to the end of life. Nowadays, ornaments are very popular and used not only for decorating yurts and utensils but also for festive attires, jewelry, and souvenirs. Kyrgyz gave the patterns their own names identifying them with elements of their own and surroundings in the world around them. The shape of the symbols has reached us through the ages, almost unchanged. Kyrgyz ornaments include simple geometrical symbols, floral patterns, images of animals (both living and fantastic), nature, and stylized images of people. One of the most popular patterns are: ram’s horns, which repeats the image of this animal and represents prosperity or Umai ene, winged woman with a child, a spirit that represents fertility and protects mothers and babies. There are several types of Kyrgyz ornamental patterns: 1.\tPatterns symbolizing landscapes and other natural objects and processes such as Earth, a spring, eternal movement, Sun, Venus, star constellations, day and night, equinox; 2.\tPatterns symbolizing elements of animal kingdom such as raven claw, goose foot, ram horns, goat horns, a bird wing, a dog tail; 3.\tPatterns symbolizing elements of flora such as almond, clover, pomegranate, tulip; 4.\tPatterns symbolizing household objects as a comb, a lock, tip of a knife, köökör, a vessel for fermented milk; 5.\tPatterns with anthropomorphic elements.

Folk tuned melodies (kuu) of different sizes are classical musical heritage of the Kyrgyz, which are performed on national musical instruments. Each of them is exceptional and unique in its own way. The main musical instrument used in solo performance of kuu is a three-stringed plucked instrument – komuz. Well-known folk tuned melodies as Kambarkan, Botoi, Kerbez, Tolgoo and Kairyk have become the basis for emergence of separate genres of kuu and have had their own impact on development of the Kyrgyz instrumental music as a whole. Performance of each kuu is distinguished by the diversity of methods of artistic expressiveness and playing technique. Kuu are divided into program and non- program musical pieces. The bases of program folk tunes are folk life, epical, and historical plots, historical geneses of which are presented before each kuu performance. Non-program kuu reflect certain life circumstances and have their own titles. They reflect deep human experiences about the meaning of life, images of the human. In general, kuu have laid the foundations for development of the Kyrgyz instrumental music. The Kyrgyz instrumental music performed by folklore groups is very popular now. No cultural event is organized without it today, whether it is a festive or a national event. Depending on the complexity of compositions, sounds of typical musical instruments of the Kyrgyz such as komuz, kyl kiyak, temir komuz, chopo-choor, dobulbas and sybyzgy are present in the instrumental music. National musical instruments of the Kyrgyz can be functionally divided into instruments bearing artistic and esthetic function, instruments bearing application purpose, and the ritual ones that combine the first two features. Along with concert and orchestral practice, some instruments of applied and ritual character continue to be used in ceremonial songs up today.

Today, piled weaving is vividly demonstrated in the patterned piled carpets that are distinguished by their quality and durability. Sheep, caprine or camel hair is used for base of the carpets. Piled carpets are original and colorful as are other items of the applied and decorative arts of the Kyrgyz. Kyrgyz piled carpets, are weaved on a simple horizontal machine – ‘dyukoun’. Instruments of masters also include wooden comb – ‘tokmok’, which is used to nail picks and piles, a knife – to cut piled threads, and scissors – to trim the piles. Geometrical shapes are prevailing in the Kyrgyz piled carpets. These are: squares with jogged edges or elongated endings – ‘omurtka’, triangles – ‘tumarcha’, cross shaped figures – ‘chaidosh’, simple or stepped rhombs – ‘it taman’, star shaped forms – ‘jyldyz’ as well as various octangulars and etc. Plant and horn shaped motifs are also present in the ornaments such as ‘toguz doubou’ (nine hills), ‘alma kouchout’ (apple pattern) and etc.

Kurak is a Kyrgyz craft of quilting. Quilting is a process of sewing pieces of fabric together, which at the end create a common pattern. Pieces of fabric, leather and felt of various size and color are used for quilting. Kyrgyz people say that kurak is a renewal of the old, creation of something big from something small. Nowadays, kurak is still very popular craft in the Kyrgyz Republic. Quilted items are always included into a bride’s dowry. Many household items such as blankets, pillow cases, wedding curtains, table cloths, spoon bags, tea bags and other items are quilted. The quilting techniques can be divided into two categories: 1.\tquilting that uses triangular and rectangular pieces of fabric of different color arranged in a way that creates sophisticated patterns; 2.\tquilting done with thin strips of fabric of different color. One of the most wide-spread patterns is black triangle on a white background called tumracha (small amulet) or turna (crane). Another ancient ornament used in quilting is a black square put on one of the inside angles of a white square. This ornament is called boto köz (baby camel’s eye). There are more sophisticated patterns. For example, kattama kurak (layered quilting) is a square with triangles going around it. A red square and white triangles make a pattern called alma kurak (apple quilting). A square with diagonals made out of lozenges and triangles is called scissor quilting. It is used to decorate various pillows and cushions.

Tekemet is the Kazakh felt carpet with inserted color pattern on the top of each other before rolling. Different tribes in Kazakhstan each have their designs. Tekemets similar to syrmak (another type of felt carpet), but has a vague and soft forms in connection with the peculiarities of production technology. Tekemets decorated by double horns ("qos muyіz") - horn curls arranged in a cruciform shape, usually within a rhombus and oval. White or grey ornaments were selected, which bursted on the brown main background of felt. In West Kazakhstan can be found "eki tekemets" (“ekі tekemet"), which are decorated on both sides. Patterned felting is one of the oldest types of Kazakh ornamentation. It is handmade from one color of felt (light or dark), combined with the natural color of camel's wool. Masters of Central Kazakhstan felt ornaments in different colors.

The World Nomad Games are the biggest international project held in the Kyrgyz Republic, a project initiated by the government in 2012 for the revival and preservation of the culture of nomadic civilization. The mission of the World Nomad Games covers the revival, development and preservation of the ethnosport and ethnoculture movement in the world, diversity and originality of the people of the world in order to foster a more tolerant and open relationship between people. The World Nomad Games consist of three main parts: •\tEthnoculture •\tEthnosport •\tScience The First World Nomad Games were held in Kyrgyzstan in 2014. 583 athletes from 19 countries participated in competitions held in 10 types of sports, plus an additional 1,200 participants in the cultural program. The Second World Nomad Games were held in Kyrgyzstan in 2016. 1,200 athletes from 62 countries participated in competitions in 26 types of ethnosports. The Third World Nomad Games were held in Kyrgyzstan in 2018. 1,500 athletes from 66 countries participated in competitions in 37 types of ethnosports.

Kyrgyzstan 2021

Needle grass (called chiy in Kyrgyz) is used for traditional handicrafts. Needle grass grows in all regions of Kyrgyzstan. Needle grass is harvested when it is ripe between 15 of August and 15 of September. If harvested too early, needle grass become fragile, if harvested too late, it becomes too stiff at the bottom. Needle grass is harvested with roots because the bottom part is the most durable and looks like a knot that prevents chiy from falling apart. Making such mats requires mastery and patience because a craftswoman needs to wrap every stem of thatch with different woolen thread. The threads must make a pattern at the end. This makes needle grass mat making especially challenging. •\tWhen harvested, needle grass is cleared of leafs and outer layer and then dried on a sun. Depending on a size of a future mat, needle grass is cut accordingly. •\tMats can be prepared manually or by using a special machine. Self-made weaving machine consist of two vertical poles with a hanger at the top. One perpendicular pole is put on top of those hangers. •\tThe perpendicular pole has notches to hang threads. Then, weaving threads are wrapped around two equally heavy stones. •\tStones are hang in such a way that they are located on a different side in relation to a perpendicular pole. •\tNeedle grass stems are a placed in such a way that top of one stem lies next to the bottom of another stem. A craftswomen takes stones and moves them back and forth in such a way that threads wrap each stem creating a pattern. •\tWhen weaving is done, the fluffy edges of needle grass are cut even. The bottom part of the mat is not cut. The edges of mats are strengthened by a zigzag weaving. There are needle grass mats both with and without ornament.

O'TOV (yurta-marquee) - mobile home, residence; the main residence of nomadic, semi-nomadic peoples. It is made of light raw materials (mainly wood) in a conical shape: a circular grill consists of a wall and a top part, covered with felt; therefore it is called "house", "felt house". A hearth is placed in the middle of the fire, and the interior is divided into parts (women's part, men's part, etc.) in a unique way. O'tov, which is the same in terms of structure, differs in appearance (decoration), height, and size. The word "Otov" was used to refer to houses built for brides, often covered with new white felt; white cloth is covered over new felt, decorated with white ropes. More luxurious O'tov is called "white house". Ordinary Otovs, often restored Otovs for household needs, are called "black houses". In historical written sources, it is noted that O'tov existed in the peoples living in Central Asia and South Siberia since ancient times, and even in the Middle Ages, O'tov was used to sew large four-wheeled carts. Until the beginning of the 20th century, Otov was present in several peoples of Central Asia and Central Asia, South Siberia, as well as Mongols and others. As a result of the settlement of peoples, O'tov partially lost its importance; mainly shepherds use it as a comfortable shelter.

Uzbekistan

There are many musical instruments in Kyrgyzstan. The most iconic is the komuz, a three-stringed instrument resembling a small guitar. The body of the komuz is made of a whole piece of apricot or juniper wood, and sometimes of walnut or redwood. The tool head of the instrument has three wooden hitch-pins to which ends of strings are attached. The other ends of strings go to a bridge located on the table (deque) right in front of the tone-hole. Mutton guts were used as strings until recent times. The length of komuz is no longer than 85- 90 sm. Alternatives of the tuning of komuz is one its unique features, which are, in their turn, linked with a chosen type of musical composition. It is played by hands. Kyl-kiyak (or kiyak) is a stringed instrument with a bow. It is made of the same woods as the komuz. The instrument has two strings. It is a ladle-shaped instrument with an open upper half; its lower part is covered with camel leather. The length of kiyak is no longer than 70 sm. Untwisted horsehair is used for strings and bow. The fiddle for the bow is made of a specific plant, meadowsweet. Temir komuz is a mouth plucking instrument made of the metal only (temir - metallic). It is U-shaped and 6-7 centimeters long. Materials used to make it are brass, bronze or copper. The metal reed is fixed in the middle of a “plug” of the instrument, which is held by fingers of the right hand. When played, temir komuz is held near the mouth, which is a natural resonator. The whole performing apparatus, including lips, voice box, hands, and even lungs of the musician, is used in each tone. Chopo-choor (clay chor) is an ancient wind instrument. At present, it is spread in a ceramic form and has a regular oblong shape of 20 centimeters in length and 8 centimeters in width. Performer holds it with lips and fingers holes that are arranged along the length of the instrument. Dobulbash is a national percussion instrument, representing one-sided drum, which is covered by the leather. Height of its corpus, which is cut out of a juniper, is no longer than 60 centimeters; diameter of the membrane, which is covered by camel’s leather, is 25-30 centimeters. Notes from the drum are elicited by the tail point of the Kyrgyz whip (kamchy) or palms. The instrument sounds loudly, resonantly, and lastingly.

The Traditional Coaxing ritual expresses the peculiar relationship between a man and animal. The ritual comes under the domain of “social practices, rituals and festive events” and in cases where there is participation in the ritual by a singer and musician, or by a few musicians, it might also come under the domain of “performing art”. While elsewhere spring is a pleasant season for peasants, it isn’t convenient for Mongolian herdsmen. The mother animals give birth to their young in a harsh and dusty spring, so there is a big risk of losing a mother or a baby animal. Mongols have a variety of rituals relating to husbandry in traditional Mongolian society. One of them is a chanting ritual for a new-born baby animal and its mother. To chant is to stimulate, through the use of special words and melody, the adopting of a baby animal to a mother. There are different gestures, melodies and chanting techniques for the five types of livestock in Mongolia. Coaxing (khuuslukh) a camel is a ritual for a mother who rejects her baby; or for adopting an orphan baby to another female who has lost her baby, because only a suckling mother will have milk in harsh spring time. For the nomadic Mongols the camel milk has been not only the source of food and drinks in the severe Gobi Desert conditions, but also the basic means of preventing illness or for healing diseases. Therefore, the coaxing rituals originated from the everyday occurrence of the herdsmen and became one of the important elements of Mongolian folk knowledge and ritual. The performance of the ritual continues for a few hours at early morning or at twilight and requires a high skill of handling camels and a singing talent or skill for playing on a musical instrument such as the horse head fiddle or flute. Most herdswomen engage in techniques and methods of coaxing, but these techniques and methods aren’t enough sometimes, for performing the ritual successfully. If there isn’t a singer or musician in the family, the owner of the camels will invite a coaxer or a few masters in coaxing and players of a musical instrument, from another place. In this case, the coaxing ritual will compose of a small performance by several actors: a singer along with a horse head fiddle, flute or mouth-orlgan players. A mother is tied close to the calf, nearby to a yurt. A singer will begin gently their monotone song ""khuus"", ""khuus"" with a horse head fiddle or without any musical instrument. A mother will bite, savage or spit and show her ignorance to a calf at the beginning of the ritual. The coaxer can change their melody, depending on the mother’s behavioural reaction. Most musicians will perform the ritual traditional Mongolian -sad stories about camels- songs such as “Unchin tsagaan botgo”, “Goviin undur” etc. The musician performs his play with different sounds of walking, running and bellowing of a camel and absorbs words into poems, songs and epochs. When a mother camel is being coaxed into accepting a rejected or an orphan calf, it is said to break into tears at the gentle sound of ""khuus"" and the enchanting melody of the horse head fiddle sung and played by someone skilled in the art of casting spells on animals. In some cases, to perform the ritual more effectively herdsmen use additional techniques such as skinning a dead calf and covering the orphan camel calf with the hide, tying a mother together with a baby quite a far distance from the ger camp for the whole night, or soaking the calf in salt, saltpetre or in the mother’s milk. Also it was common to place the ankle bone of a wild sheep (there is a myth that wild ewes never reject their babies) around the neck of a mother or a calf. But nowadays it is very hard to find these anklebones, as wild sheep are enlisted to the endangered-species list. There is also an exotic remedy in the coaxing ritual where the mother is led to a ger at twilight and shown the fire inside. (A camel can’t enter a ger, because of its size.) All participants in the ritual wear good clothes, remain attentive and focused, using their own psychic vision and imagination in the coaxing process, because the participants express their gratitude to gods of the camels, mountains and waters within the ritual. After finishing the ritual a coaxer or small group of masters will be honoured guests of the family. A person, who had performed coaxing rituals prosperously, will be invited again and again by the families in need of the ritual. When, where, how many times they have been invited - is the main criteria for evaluating the talent of a cultural bearer of this ritual. The evaluation is a prerequisite to their popularity in a society. The coaxing ritual has been transmitted from generations to generations and been enriched by the exchange of camel herding knowledge between the herders of Umnugovi, Bayankhongor, Dundgovi provinces, which are the main territories of Mongolia’s Bactrian camel population. “We should not forget this ritual while we are herding camels, because in both the animal and the human - it transcends genre to become a deeply affecting allegory about the importance of patience and acceptance in so many relationships” that is the conception of elders, the cultural bearers’ communities and camel herders. The knowledge and skills relating to the ritual’s transmission occurs from parents and elders to youth, in home tutoring: Elders with long experience of herding, herdswomen with singing talent and the talented musicians, who can influence the camel’s behaviour, are the main actors of the coaxing ritual. The ritual acts as a symbolic medium for creating and maintaining the social ties of individual nomadic families and dependencies to the community, because it is one part of the traditional intangible cultural heritage of the relationship between man and livestock.

Mongolia 2015

The exact origin of the Khöömei art is unknown, but researchers suppose that it could have been developed in connection with argil (a throat timbre) epic telling vocal technique, shamanic calling and the play of the wooden tsuur flute. The history of Mongolian Khöömei dates back hundreds of years. The popularity of Khöömei among Mongolians has arisen as a result of close interaction between natural environment and human culture. Ethnomusicologists studying Khöömei mark it as an integral part in the ancient pastoralism that is still practiced today. This art has developed to mimic and imitate the sounds of animals, nature, wind and water. The wonder of the Khöömei art is its simultaneous melodies-overtone. In this way the Khöömei is a phenomenon which differentiates from other traditional arts based on human vocal organs. This is the reason of calling the Khöömei performer as “Human-Music” (Khun khugjim) which highlights its specificity from a “normal singer”. The meaning of Khöömei for its community is enormous. As the traditional art form, Khöömei is in close cohesion with the daily life of the Mongolian nomads. They perform Khöömei in the variety of social occasions ranged widely, from grand state ceremonies to the household festive events, associated with respective rituals, and customs. Khöömei is not only performed in social events, because Khöömei performance is often found during the herding, and even when lulling the baby, as well as in the evenings in the ger (Mongolian traditional yurt) in domestic context. Hence, Khöömei is an essential part of the identity, pride and continuity of Mongolian society. Therefore, it provides the concerned community with sense of unity and harmony, as well as continuous creativity. One of Khöömei’s social functions is that, it is used as a traditional pedagogic instrument in the social and art education and upbringing. This is because during the Khöömei transmission, a comprehensive knowledge, philosophy and wisdom on the correlation of human life and nature are transmitted at the same time. As an art form created and developed by the Mongolians, Tuvinians and other ethnic groups, and regarded as the classic art of nomadic civilization, Khöömei is one of the core performing arts that shape the Mongolian national arts in today’s Mongolia. Thus, it shows great influence on ensuring the visibility and enhancement of the living art of Mongolia. Khöömei is born by variety of ethnic groups as Khalkh, Bayad, Dörvöd, Uriankhai, Zakhchin, Tuva, Tsaatan in different locations, therefore there are a number of sub-classifications of Khöömei style, reflecting the special features and local flavors. This diversity is what constitutes the richness of Khöömei composition, and thus, each communities concerned are proud of their own unique styles and techniques while expressing themselves with such diversity. The governments of Mongolia, Russian Federation and PR China have been undertaking variety of measures for the effective enhancement and spread of Khöömei tradition, such as holding international meetings, workshops, competitions and performances on Khöömei. This shows the significance of Khöömei for the bearers and their will to safeguard, transmit and develop it in multinational level, which also promotes international interaction, mutual respect and intercultural dialogue. Researchers classify Khöömei’s vocalization into 2 styles: -The Kharkhiraa (deep Khöömei) vocal emission: The singer sings a drone in a normal voice, then he inhales deeply and, simultaneously pressing on his pharynx and abdomen, he produces a deep harmonic sound which vibrates one octave lower than the fundamental note produced. What you hear is in a very low-pitched register. The singer actually vibrates not only his vocal cords but also his arytenoid cartilage. It is this deep harmonic sound that is heard in the foreground and that characterizes the kharkhiraa style, although in some variants a melody of high-pitched harmonics can be heard above the fundamental sound. -The Isgeree Khöömei (whistled Khöömei) emission: Also called Nariin Khöömei, Uyangiin Khöömei, Altain shingen Khöömei. The singer sings a drone in a normal voice, then he inhales deeply and, still pressing simultaneously on his pharynx and abdomen he produces a harmonic sound, which vibrates several octaves above the fundamental sound. A melody of harmonics with a very high-pitched whistle can then be heard. In both cases, the harmonic melody is sung in the same fashion. The singer modulates his mouth cavity by opening and closing his lips or by moving his tongue backwards, sticking its tip on his palate, or else by moving the central part of his tongue from front to back, its tip against his bottom teeth. To this are added techniques aiming to enrich the tone colour and others of ornamental character. Moreover, all these techniques can be combined. Inside more than 20 techniques, we can find the Bagalzuuriin Khöömei (throat Khöömei) Tsuurai Khöömei (echo Khöömei) Khamriin Khöömei (nasal Khöömei) or Dangildakh Khöömei (syllabial Khöömei). The singers use the Shakhaa vocal emission to sing the magtaal praise songs with a throat timbre as well. It is necessary to intensifying and deepening the Khöömei research and studies particularly on the originality and authenticity of the heritage in order to identify and reveal the deeper form, techniques and specifications furthermore.

Mongolia 2010

Syrmakh (syru means “stitch”) is another iconic wall and floor carpet made in traditional nomadic technique. There are around 20 syrmakh making techniques. To name but a few: akh syrmakh (white rug), oyuly syrmakh (colourful inlay pattern rug), oyistyrylghan/tyor syrmakh (solid color fabric appliqué on a white felt), syru (stitched pattern on felt), zhyiek syrmak (stitched felt rug with borders), kestelyi syrmakh (a felt rug embroidered with satin stitch). A pattern can be stitched to the background using bitpes (hand twisted cord), or zhyiek (hand weaved cord). An artisan can make syrmakh using a combination of techniques. The size of syrmakhs can vary from 1 to 6 meters and consist of 5 parts stitched together (1 bas or central part and 4 khol or borders). An artisan will spend from several weeks up to one year to make one syrmak. Traditional felt making is practiced by the artisans of southern and western Kazakhstan. The Union of Artisans of Kazakhstan revitalises the tradition by conducting trainings and master-classes on felting and its popularisation. Tekemets and syrmakhs are widely used in official celebrations, during holidays, for yurt decorations and in rituals. As well, modern interior and fashion designers use traditional techniques and materials in their work.