10.6092/issn.1973-9494/17360
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1973-9494
17360
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Gulsm Arkabayeva
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Conservation Science in Cultural Heritage
cultural heritage
Nomadic life cycle structured by calendar, representative of lexical-semantic processes and genre systems
Text.Serial.Journal
https://conservation-science.unibo.it/
22
Articles
2023-07-20
2023-06-23
2023-07-20
2023-07-20
383-403
CSCH
Gulsm Arkabayeva
2022
10.6092/issn.1973-9494/17360
383
Faculty of Music Education and Management, Kurmangazy Kazakh National Conservatory, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan
1973-9494
cultural heritage
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403
Nomadic life cycle structured by calendar, representative of lexical-semantic processes and genre systems
https://conservation-science.unibo.it/article/download/17360/16544
22
N    OMADIC LIFE CYCLE STRUCTURED BY CALENDAR,
     REPRESENTATIVE OF LEXICAL-SEMANTIC PROCESSES
     AND GENRE SYSTEMS

   Asiya Mukhambetova*
   Faculty of Musical Art,
   T. Zhurgenov Kazakh National Academy of Arts, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan

   Gulzhan Suleyeva, Ainur Yessetova, Svetlana Janseitova
   Faculty of Music Education and Management,
   Kurmangazy Kazakh National Conservatory, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan

   Aisulu Kaldayakova
   Faculty of Instrumental Performance,
   Kurmangazy Kazakh National Conservatory, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan

   Gulsm Arkabayeva
   Faculty of Music Education and Management, Kurmangazy Kazakh National
   Conservatory, Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan

   Keywords: Tengrianism, Tengrian calendar, oral professional music, kobyz, cultural
   heritage


   1. Introduction

    In search of the structure-forming core of the traditional culture of the Kazakhs, an
appeal was made to the ancient religion of the Central Asian nomads, Tengrianism and its
cyclic animal calendar, called mushel by the Kazakh people. This made it possible to
determine the systemic foundations of the nomadic civilization and provide the key to
understanding the origin of musical culture. Gumilyov calls Tengrianism a complete reli-
gious worldview with ontology, cosmology, ethics and demonology, dating back to ancient
times, no less than Buddhism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism and Christianity.
    The study of the Tengrian calendar, genre system and traditional music in the con-
text of traditional culture is relevant in the light of the discovery of the specificity of the
musical art of Kazakh nomads and the prospects of its further development in the ur-
ban culture of the twenty-first century.
    To date, the existing genres and media of instrumental and song creativity of the
Kazakhs have been researched to varying degrees. However, the factors that deter-
mined the originality and systemic integrity of the musical culture of the Kazakhs have
remained unknown, including the Tengrian worldview and calendar. Being the carrier
of a holistic nomadic world view, the traditional culture of the Kazakhs is one of the
most complete and vivid representations of the culture and mentality of nomads.



   * Corresponding author: mukhambetova21@rambler.ru
                                                                                                                                           The purpose of our study is to give a holistic description of the traditional musical
A. Mukhambetova, G. Suleyeva, A. Yessetova, S. Janseitova, A. Kaldayakova, G. Arkabayeva - Nomadic life cycle structured by calendar



                                                                                                                                       culture of nomadic Kazakh society, the systemic nature of which is illustrated in the
                                                                                                                                       structure of the Tengrian calendar, as a result of Tengrianism and its understanding of
                                                                                                                                       time. The objectives of the study include examining:
                                                                                                                                          1) the origin, structure and functions of the Tengrian calendar in a nomadic society;
                                                                                                                                          2) the structure of calendar time as a system of morphological means that internal-
                                                                                                                                              ly bind the language of forms in all cultural spheres;
                                                                                                                                          3) the structure of the Tengrian life cycle and the semantics which determined the
                                                                                                                                              folklore and oral professional genre system of traditional music, as well as pro-
                                                                                                                                              fessional bearers of musical and poetic culture, in particular sal, seri, akyn and
                                                                                                                                              zhyrau (representatives of the Tengrian life cycle);
                                                                                                                                          4) aesthetic and musical-theoretical aspects of the kui (musical composition) in the
                                                                                                                                             context of the religious systems of Tengrianism, and nomadic philosophy and
                                                                                                                                             aesthetics.
                                                                                                                                          The scientific novelty of this study is reported in the points that follow.
                                                                                                                                          1) For the first time in science, the animal calendar was identified as an attribute of
                                                                                                                                             Tengrianism, the original religion of the Turkic-Mongolian peoples.
                                                                                                                                          2) The role of the Tengrian religion and its calendar were shown to be the basic
                                                                                                                                             structures that determined the originality of the culture of the nomads of Central
                                                                                                                                             Asia, in general, and of the Kazakhs in particular.
                                                                                                                                          3) The origin and functions of the calendar, the reflection of the morphology of
                                                                                                                                             Tengrian time in the structure of nomadic Kazakh society, culture, music, and
                                                                                                                                             ornamental and visual arts, were made evident.
                                                                                                                                          4) The role of the calendar in structuring the life cycle and age stratification of the
                                                                                                                                             nomadic society of the Kazakhs was revealed; it was established that the origin
                                                                                                                                             and functions of traditional musicians, including instrumentalists, are associat-
                                                                                                                                             ed with the representation of the vital interests of clans.
                                                                                                                                          5) The structure of the genre system of Kazakh traditional music is substantiated
                                                                                                                                             as a reflection of the content of the age stages in the life cycle.
                                                                                                                                          6) The ontological status of kui and music-making within the framework of non-du-
                                                                                                                                             al culture were analyzed. The semantics of improvisational kui and its axiology
                                                                                                                                             in the context and subtext of ritualized communication are analyzed separately.
                                                                                                                                          7) The historical forms of the religious and philosophical consciousness of the Ka-
                                                                                                                                             zakhs (Tengrianism and Sufism) reflected in kui and the connection between
                                                                                                                                             the structure of time and space of kui with the Tengrian picture of the world, are
                                                                                                                                             brought to light.
                                                                                                                                          8) A description is given of the typological identity of the ontological status, and
                                                                                                                                             structural and logical organization of kui and maqom, as a manifestation of the
                                                                                                                                             unity of ancient musical and spatial ideas, due to the genetic, historical and
                                                                                                                                             cultural commonality of the settled and agricultural cultures of Central Asia.
                                                                                                                                           Ayazbekova defines the highest development of the musical art of nomadic Ka-
                                                                                                                                       zakhs as a “culture of music” [1]. The undoubted value of the cultural heritage of Ka-
                                                                                                                                       zakhstan, and the universal recognition of its contribution to world culture is evidenced
                                                                                                                                       by its inclusion in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage among the genres of
                                                                                                                                       folk art. “The Art of Performing Kazakh kuis” (the art of Dombra Kui refers to a short solo


                                                                                          384
composition performed on a traditional pear-shaped, long-necked, two-stringed,
plucked musical instrument known as a dombra) and “aitys”, were recognised at the
session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee in Windhoek in Namibia, as
unique genres (Figure 1).




                             Figure 1. Kazakh folk art of oratory.




                                                                                                  CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
    In our opinion, the originality of nomadic culture can be understood from the material
of Kazakh musical culture, firstly through the definition of the structure-forming core of
traditional culture, and secondly, through the study of the ancient religion of Central Asian
nomads – Tengrianism, the cyclical calendar of animals, which is the systemic basis of
nomadic civilization, and helps us understand the uniqueness of its musical culture.
    The Tengrian worldview determined a system of images, and Tengrian ideas about
time and space regulated the laws of musical thinking. The basis of the genre system
was the life cycle of nomads, which was determined by the Tengrian calendar. The cre-
ators of the calendar were the nomads of Central Asia. Being an attribute of Tengrian-
ism, it was a reason to use the term ‘Tengrian’ and is based on the identification of cul-
tural coordinates belonging to the culture and religion of Central Asian nomads, which
determined the space-time localization in the history of world culture. Reflecting the
most general cultural universals of the peoples of Central Asia and marking the unity of
the Turko-Mongol peoples on the basis of a common type of economy, the Tengrian
religion and calendar laid the foundations of nomadic civilization. The instrumental kui
of the Kazakhs became a musical object, vividly representing the characteristics of no-
madic culture and Tengrian attitude. Kui is the product of historically changing forms of
religious consciousness, the specifics of music-making and the material practice of no-
madism, and reflects the structure of Tengrian time and space, and the themes and
images of nomadic life, as well as the philosophy of Tengrianism and Sufism.


                                                                                                385
                                                                                                                                           This study, in fact, covers all the spheres of life of nomadic society in which the
A. Mukhambetova, G. Suleyeva, A. Yessetova, S. Janseitova, A. Kaldayakova, G. Arkabayeva - Nomadic life cycle structured by calendar



                                                                                                                                       musical component is clearly dominant. The integrating method, in which extroverted
                                                                                                                                       and introverted vectors are equally active, is relevant now, and the processes of glo-
                                                                                                                                       balization have an intense impact on national culture, identity, and self-identification.
                                                                                                                                           The analysis of the Tengrian worldview and calendar, as factors that determined
                                                                                                                                       artistic and imaginative systems and ideas about time and space, and the formation of
                                                                                                                                       the kui genre, is aimed at revealing the nature of the non-duality of traditional Kazakh
                                                                                                                                       culture, the indivisible bond between art and life, and the dominance of poetry and
                                                                                                                                       music in nomadic culture.
                                                                                                                                           Considering kui as a specific genre of Kazakh culture, questions of status, context,
                                                                                                                                       subtext, text itself, semantics, axiology, form, the role of individual semantic significant
                                                                                                                                       elements – triton, circling, etc., we focused on the significance of the law of similarity
                                                                                                                                       as one of most important mythological principles of thinking of the Kazakhs. The study
                                                                                                                                       of the Tengrian basis of nomadic culture allowed us to reach a qualitatively new level
                                                                                                                                       of study of the traditional musical art, not only of the Kazakhs, but also other peoples.
                                                                                                                                           A specific characteristic of the culture of livestock breeders is the development of
                                                                                                                                       instrumental music, which includes a wealth of instrumentation, the sacred status of
                                                                                                                                       musicians, the highest professionalism and the presence of complex forms of instrumen-
                                                                                                                                       tal music. The centuries-old practice of instrumental performance in the culture of pro-
                                                                                                                                       to-Kazakhs and Kazakhs led to the formation of the kui genre and was polished to clas-
                                                                                                                                       sical perfection during its historical development. It reached its heyday in the 18th and
                                                                                                                                       early 20th centuries, due to the extensive spread of instrumental music at that time.
                                                                                                                                           Many kuishi (musicians, kui players), such as Korkut, Ketbuga, Sarmalai, Abyl,
                                                                                                                                       Dauletkerei, Alikey and others were extremely talented and brilliant composers. Their
                                                                                                                                       works, with a pronounced musical and stylistic individuality, strike us with their fresh-
                                                                                                                                       ness and richness of timbre colors. The art of the Kazakh kui revealed the calendar basis
                                                                                                                                       of culture in the typology and practice of the kuishi in a peculiar genre system, having
                                                                                                                                       captured the historically changing forms of music-making, and the figurative-emotional
                                                                                                                                       sphere in its syncretic musical-verbal nature.
                                                                                                                                           In this research, we applied an integrated interdisciplinary approach, which in-
                                                                                                                                       volved accessing data on astronomy, religious studies, history, ethnography and no-
                                                                                                                                       mad studies, folklore studies, oriental studies, aesthetics and age psychology, theoret-
                                                                                                                                       ical musicology, philosophy, aesthetics, cultural studies, musical performance,
                                                                                                                                       psychology, semiotics, musical historical comparative studies, art history. The diversity
                                                                                                                                       of the interdisciplinary approach was combined with the methodology of building con-
                                                                                                                                       structive theoretical models and idealizations.
                                                                                                                                           A new paradigm for the study of art, in particular, music, and namely, the depen-
                                                                                                                                       dence of artistic creativity on the whole system of people’s life, the study of traditional
                                                                                                                                       Kazakh culture and music in its multidimensional, spatial-temporal, multi-level, multi-val-
                                                                                                                                       ued semantic and multifunctional dimension, made it possible to study traditional no-
                                                                                                                                       madic music in the context of culture.


                                                                                                                                          2. Literature review

                                                                                                                                           The methodological approach of this work involved the study of the Tengrian calen-
                                                                                                                                       dar (Figure 2), which first emerged among the nomads of Central Asia as a peculiar time
                                                                                                                                       counting system, and is described in the works of pre-revolutionary Russian research-
                                                                                                                                       ers [2-5], and Soviet and post-Soviet scientists [6-11]. The calendar is described by


                                                                                          386
                                                        Shakhmatov [12] as a cultural phe-
                                                        nomenon that arose from the spe-
                                                        cifics of economic management in
                                                        the particular climatic conditions
                                                        of the arid zone and as an ethno-
                                                        graphic phenomenon in the works
                                                        of Zakharova [13] and Senigova.
                                                        According to Tsybul’skiy, the calen-
                                                        dar “became widespread relative-
                                                        ly quickly among different peoples
                                                        in almost all of Asia” [14]. He also
                                                        studied astronomical and mathe-
                                                        matical parameters and compared
                                                        them with the chronology of differ-
                                                        ent peoples around the world. It
                                                        was studied as a historical and cul-
                                                        tural phenomenon of the peoples
                                                        of countries in South-East Asia by
                                                        Il’in [15] and Startsev [16]. Starting
              Figure 2. Tengrian calendar.              from the eighteenth century some
                                                        episodic information about the mu-
sical culture of the Kazakhs is found in the works of Russian scientists and travelers,
as well as the Kazakh researchers, Valikhanov, Divaev, Levshin, Pallas, Potanin, fon
Khornbostel’, Eykhgorn and others [2-3,17-21].
     The analysis of the scientific approach of Kazakh language research to the study of
Kazakh music in the 1920s-1930s is characterized by an insider’s view, knowledge of the
realities of nomadic culture, an artistic and poetic type of description, organically con-
nected with syncretically mythologized oral knowledge and the richest figurative and




                                                                                                   CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
expressive possibilities of the Kazakh language. The foundations of Kazakh musicology
were laid down in the works of the composer and musicologist Zhubanov, who relied on
the rich factual, historical and aesthetic experience of oral folk knowledge [22-23].
     Zhubanov’s thesis about the unity of the musical culture of the Turkic peoples, pro-
fessionalism in the traditional musical culture of the Kazakhs and its connection with
the music of the peoples of the East, expressed in the 1930s, did not find further devel-
opment and justification [24]. It is worth noting that the transition to the all-Turkic
context took place in the 1960s and 1970s and was vividly illustrated in the research of
Sarybaev, who specialized in the study of ancient Kazakh and Turkic instruments. Rus-
sian language music studies in Kazakhstan, initiated by Zataevich, are characterized
by reliance on the methodology of European science and references to written docu-
mentary sources, which at first, did not always provide sufficient insight into the specif-
ics of nomadic culture and music, as it is typologically very different from the cultures of
agricultural genesis and European classical music [25-26].
     Zhubanov reasonably distinguished the folklore and professional layers in the tra-
ditional musical culture of the Kazakhs, but the ban on his work, the spread of a Euro-
centric vision in a totalitarian form in science and cultural policy became the reasons
why the idea of traditional music as a complete “folk art” was not stable and lasted until
the 1970s [22-24].
     The division of folklore and professional layers into traditions was ‘discovered’ and
justified by Elemanova [27]. The last third of the twentieth century is characterized by


                                                                                                 387
                                                                                                                                       the emergence of researchers, performers and teachers, whose work and practice
A. Mukhambetova, G. Suleyeva, A. Yessetova, S. Janseitova, A. Kaldayakova, G. Arkabayeva - Nomadic life cycle structured by calendar



                                                                                                                                       aimed to combine views on culture ‘from the outside’ and ‘from the inside’; European
                                                                                                                                       methodology with those principles of traditional aesthetics, pedagogy and musical the-
                                                                                                                                       ory that are implicitly contained in the syncretically-mythologized complex of traditional
                                                                                                                                       knowledge and practice. This complex methodology, which originated in and domi-
                                                                                                                                       nates Russian-language studies, also penetrates into studies of the Kazakh language.
                                                                                                                                           An understanding of the crisis of traditional culture in the twentieth century, in mu-
                                                                                                                                       sical-theoretical and cultural aspects, and the search for ways to revive it, can be found
                                                                                                                                       in the works of Elemanova [28], and traditional music in the scientific research of
                                                                                                                                       Mukhambetova, Omarov, and Begalinova [29-31]. The works of the following collectors
                                                                                                                                       and researchers of the Soviet period, Aravin, Akhmetova, Erzakovich, Elemanova, Za-
                                                                                                                                       taevich, Zhubanov, Kunanbaeva, Kokumbaeva, Omarova, Raimbergenov give a com-
                                                                                                                                       plete description of the genres of traditional song, instrumental folklore and profession-
                                                                                                                                       al art and offer various classifications of historical and stylistic layers of music: folkloric,
                                                                                                                                       oral-professional, song, instrumental, ritual, non-ritual, ancient, modern, local, lyrical,
                                                                                                                                       epic, amateur, etc. and folklore, oral-professional, song, instrumental, ceremonial,
                                                                                                                                       non-ritual, ancient, modern, local, lyric, epic, amateur, etc. [22-28, 32-38].
                                                                                                                                           Study of the kui genre intensified in the second half of the twentieth century, as high-
                                                                                                                                       lighted in the studies of Aravin [39], who examined the imaginative system and genres of
                                                                                                                                       dombra music; Asafiev [40] studied the dombra structure, rhythmics and formation; the
                                                                                                                                       structure of culminations was studied by Alekseev, Baykadamova, Zarukhova, Kopbae-
                                                                                                                                       va, and Tiftikidi. All represent achievements in the theoretical and historical study of the
                                                                                                                                       heritage from the methodological perspective of European science [41-45].
                                                                                                                                           A wide range of problems is covered within the framework of the complex method-
                                                                                                                                       ology, which include the genesis and evolution of the kui genre in the works of Mukham-
                                                                                                                                       betova [46]; the study of the formation of kui based on mythologized folk terminology
                                                                                                                                       and the content of instrumental contests (tartys) was studied by Amanov [47]; burdon
                                                                                                                                       polyphony, semantics and the structure of ancient kuis in the context of cosmogonic
                                                                                                                                       and religious beliefs were considered by Amanova [48], Omarova [37] and Khaltaeva
                                                                                                                                       [49]. Holistic studies of the kobyz (bowed string instrument) and sybyzgy (musical wind
                                                                                                                                       instrument) traditions were made by Omarova [37]; regional traditions were studied by
                                                                                                                                       Utegalieva [50]; musical thinking and creative processes were analyzed by Utegalieva
                                                                                                                                       [50], Sarybaev [51] and the life and work of the prominent kui players were examined
                                                                                                                                       in the works of Aituarova [52], Gamarnik [53] and Raimbergenov. The genres of dom-
                                                                                                                                       bra music were studied by Bakhtygalieva [54] and Mukhambetova [55], while the inter-
                                                                                                                                       action of the traditional kui with European classical tradition and popular music was
                                                                                                                                       studied by Aituarova [52]. The study of the urban branch of traditional music was initi-
                                                                                                                                       ated in the work of its creator, Zhubanov. The reconstruction of instruments for the folk
                                                                                                                                       orchestra, its history and the problems of orchestral performance were described in the
                                                                                                                                       works of Aituarova.


                                                                                                                                           3. Results and discussion

                                                                                                                                           3.1. The Tengrian calendar (mushel) as a basis of the Kazakhs’ nomadic
                                                                                                                                                civilization

                                                                                                                                           The Tengrian calendar, known in modern popular culture as the Chinese, Japanese
                                                                                                                                       or Eastern calendar, is called the animal calendar in science (according to the name of
                                                                                                                                       the year), a calendar of Central Asian nomads (by origin), Jupiter calendar (the planet


                                                                                          388
that gives a twelve-year cycle), as well as a calendar of the peoples of Southeast Asia
(the region where it still exists). The Tengrian calendar, which is called mushel by the
Kazakhs, originated five thousand years ago in the culture of hunters and herders,
from whom the Tengrian religion originated.


   3.1.1. Creators of the calendar

     The Tengrian calendar (for Kazakhs – mushel, for Uzbeks – mudjal, for Uigurs –
muchal, for Altai – muche, etc.), which is based on Jupiter’s twelve-year cycle and
Saturn’s thirty-year cycle around the Sun, was created by the Turkic-Mongol nomads
of Central Asia and used by the Turkic, Mongolian, Tungus-Manchu peoples up to the
twentieth century. Mushel is the name of the calendar itself and covers a twelve-year
period. In the twelve-year calendar cycle, each year has its own weather character-
istics which fix periodic fluctuations in the climate of Central Asia under the influence
of Jupiter’s twelve-year orbital cycle around the Sun and eleven and a half-year-long
solar activity cycle. A mushel performed the very important function of weather fore-
casting and made it possible to predict the weather for several years in advance. The
calendar was essential as the well-being of livestock breeding depended on it; it was,
moreover, possible to regulate nomadic production and economic activity. It was
based on deep astronomical knowledge without which farming and the spatial orien-
tation of large masses of people, who wandered several thousand kilometres annu-
ally, was impossible.
     The twelve-year cycle bears the following animals’ names: mouse (tyshkan), cow
(syiyr), leopard (barys), hare (koyan), wolf (ulu), snake (zhylan), horse (zhylky), sheep
(koi), bird (tauyk), dog (it), wild boar (donyz). The generally accepted translation of the
names ulu, meshin and tauyқ – respectively, dragon, monkey, and chicken – give
grounds for assertions about the Chinese origin of the word mushel. Their semantics




                                                                                                CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
in the context of the Turkic-Mongolian languages and culture in an updated translation:
ulu – wolf, meshіn – galaxy, tauik – bird. The names of the twelve years (with some
variations) were used by the Turkic people to denote smaller cycles, such as the twelve
hours of the day and the twelve months of the year. A sixty-year cycle, consisting of five
mushels in Kazakh is called tolyk mushel – a complete mushel. For the Uighurs, a
twelve-year cycle is called sap muchal – which means mushel proper, a sixty-year cy-
cle – devir muchal – an epochal mushel. The names of the longer cycles have survived
too: a 180-year cycle (sixty X three) is a chon muchal – a big mushel and a 2160-year
cycle (sixty X thirty-six) is an esirlik muchal – a universal year.
     According to data in modern science, mushel (mushel is a 12-year cycle of
chronology among the Kazakhs) appeared from three to five thousand years ago.
Compared with the hypotheses about the origin of the zodiac, the Kazakh and com-
mon Turkic myths and legends about the origin of the calendar [56] and descriptions of
ancient calendars [57], suggest that the calendar is over five thousand years old. The
analysis of the myths about the first hunt of the Great Hisaga-Tengri, as well as about
the dismemberment of the Camel into twelve parts, which became parts of time, indi-
cate a connection between the calendar and the culture of ancient hunters and gather-
ers, which preceded the nomadic animal husbandry that originated in Central Asia at
the beginning of the first millennium BC. Wandering across a vast territory, depen-
dence on climatic conditions and an increase in the number of livestock were all close-
ly interrelated and played a huge role in the lives of nomadic pastoralists.


                                                                                              389
                                                                                                                                               3.1.2. The structure of mushel time
A. Mukhambetova, G. Suleyeva, A. Yessetova, S. Janseitova, A. Kaldayakova, G. Arkabayeva - Nomadic life cycle structured by calendar




                                                                                                                                           The calendar is “an organized memory of culture, its most universal characteristic
                                                                                                                                       and form of self-evaluation” [58]. Each of the 12 animals in the cycle is designated as
                                                                                                                                       being clean (adal), edible (plus) or unclean (azhal), and inedible (minus). In the first
                                                                                                                                       half of the cycle, four years out of six are negative and two are positive, and in the
                                                                                                                                       second half, for four positive years there are two negative years (Table 1).

                                                                                                                                       Table 1. Alternation of the years – azhal (+) and adal (-) – in the calendar.

                                                                                                                                           1         2        3        4      5      6       7       8       9         10     11    12
                                                                                                                                                            Leopard




                                                                                                                                                                                                            Galaxy
                                                                                                                                       Mouse




                                                                                                                                                                                                    Sheep
                                                                                                                                                                                    Snake


                                                                                                                                                                                            Horse
                                                                                                                                                                      Hare




                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Boar
                                                                                                                                                    Cow




                                                                                                                                                                             Wolf




                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Dog
                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Bird
                                                                                                                                           –         +        –        +      –      –       +       +       –          +     –      +

                                                                                                                                           There is a disruption in the rhythm of alternating pluses and minuses leading to the
                                                                                                                                       asymmetry of parts, forming an evolutionary concentration of the plus structures at the
                                                                                                                                       end of each cycle. A mushel consists of hierarchically coordinated, similar cycles. A small
                                                                                                                                       daily cycle is twelve hours, an average annual period is twelve months, a large one is
                                                                                                                                       twelve years. All structural elements of these cycles have animal names. These cycles
                                                                                                                                       and a sixty-year-old tolyk mushel is the time for man. The longer 180-year and 2160-year
                                                                                                                                       cycles are the time of the people, aruakhs (ancestral spirits) and the cosmos.


                                                                                                                                               3.1.3. Aspect of time in mushel and traditional culture

                                                                                                                                            Spengler believes that the structure of time is morphological, which means con-
                                                                                                                                       necting the language of all cultural forms. The characteristic features of the mushel
                                                                                                                                       time are, that it is live, qualitatively inhomogeneous; totally cyclic; similar; hierarchical;
                                                                                                                                       infinite; non-continuous; alternative-evolutionary and characterizes the fundamental
                                                                                                                                       properties of the national thinking of the Kazakhs. Uniform morphological characteris-
                                                                                                                                       tics were revealed in the rite of the toy bastar; transforming the end of the real toy
                                                                                                                                       (festivity) into the beginning of a new virtual toy serves the purposes of magic pro-
                                                                                                                                       gramming; bifunctional imposition of the beginning and the end transforms the time of
                                                                                                                                       this toy into a cyclic, infinite, non-dual-continuous process, in which, in an evolution-
                                                                                                                                       ary way, the necessary events and actions are reproduced; in the custom of adoption
                                                                                                                                       by the grandparents of their first grandson, who becomes a bifunctional son – a
                                                                                                                                       grandson, removing the gap between the time of children and the time of grandchil-
                                                                                                                                       dren, turning him into an infinitely endless, continuous time of descendants; in the
                                                                                                                                       decorative and applied art of the Kazakhs with its principle of equilibrium background
                                                                                                                                       and pattern; peering into an ornament, a person begins to involuntarily perceive it as
                                                                                                                                       a background, and what used to be a background – as an ornament; the bifunctional-
                                                                                                                                       ity of the ornament and background is a manifestation of the principle of combining
                                                                                                                                       the beginning and the end, in a time of perception; it can be seen in a variety of house-
                                                                                                                                       hold customs and practices.


                                                                                        390
   The understanding of cyclical time as an attribute of traditional peasant cultures,
which do not lose their connection with natural-biological time, collides with positions
according to which cyclicality is a property of historical time. The latter positions are
particularly pronounced in the research of modern scientists such as Kvasha, Pantin,
and Lapkin.


   3.2. The Tengrian calendar (mushel) and the genre system of traditional music

    Let us consider the life cycle of the Kazakhs consisting of twelve-year mushels. First,
the age stratification of society, then the connection between the life, behavior and cre-
ative work of professional carriers with the life of age clans, the genre system of folklore,
and lastly, the professional music of oral tradition that grew out of this connection.


   3.2.1. The calendar basis of life cycle and age levels with their behavioral stereotypes

    Kaznacheyev and Spirin consider that “higher cosmic forms of being, permeating
the whole world with common principles, are revealed in lower earthly forms” [59]. The
macrocosm cycles are associated with the life cycle of a nomad. The age clans exist-
ing in society with their imaginative and emotional attitude to the world, behavioural
stereotypes, differentiated life goals and objectives are related to the concept of Ten-
grian time, since the basis of the structure of the life cycle consists of twelve-year peri-
ods. Due to their psycho-biological and socio-practical coordinates, the spiritual hori-
zons of age clans and their way of life influenced the formation of different types of
professional carriers of musical art, genetically associated with age clans, with their
worldview and world outlook. A syncretic magic-aesthetic practice was realized in the
verbal song and instrumental complex of shamans, baksy, sal and seri, akyns (poets-




                                                                                                  CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
improvisers and performers of songs among Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and some other Turkic
peoples), zhyrau (Kazakh poet and folk singer), reflecting the life experience of age
groups. The bearers of traditional instrumental culture called kuishi stood out from this
syncretic practice. The life cycle determined the genre and figurative system of tradi-
tional instrumental music.
    Mushels are limited stretches of life covering a certain age level associated with
biological and social manifestations. The first mushel consists of the period from 1-12
years – the stage of childhood; the second stage from 12-24 years – youth; the third
and fourth stages 24-36 years and 36-48 years – the period of maturity; the fifth stage
from 48-60 years and beyond – old age.
    Each mushel, as a relatively qualitative age state of a person, means transitions
from one stage to another (mushel zhas), understood as death in one capacity and
birth in a new one. Important rites were associated with transitional periods, such as
the celebration of the thirteenth birthday of a boy. Sitting on horseback in full combat
gear meant that the youth could take part in military campaigns together with adults
and conduct cattle raids (barimt), to have a family. The Kazakhs had their children
married early, from the age of fifteen. Entering the mushel of maturity after the transi-
tion period (the twenty-fifth year) was also formalized in a ceremonial, as a farewell to
bygone youth and its mourning. This is evidenced by the abundance of folklore songs
on the theme ‘twenty-five’, and the tradition of men writing songs dedicated to their
twenty-fifth birthday.


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                                                                                                                                            The cosmic-conditioned, biologically manifested and socially fixed division of hu-
A. Mukhambetova, G. Suleyeva, A. Yessetova, S. Janseitova, A. Kaldayakova, G. Arkabayeva - Nomadic life cycle structured by calendar



                                                                                                                                       man life into mushels became the basis for the rigid stratification of Kazakh society ac-
                                                                                                                                       cording to the age principle. The mushel age defined the value status of a person, their
                                                                                                                                       social role, style of behavior and communication and responsibilities in relation to vari-
                                                                                                                                       ous age groups. For the elders it was honour, respect and unquestioning obedience; for
                                                                                                                                       the young, care. Childhood ended at the age of twelve, but a person of this age was not
                                                                                                                                       yet considered a full member of society. Their world consisted of amusing carefree
                                                                                                                                       games, fun, entertainment, basic skills of social behavior learnt within the family circle,
                                                                                                                                       where love for relatives and respect for elders were cultivated, and simple tasks were
                                                                                                                                       taught. At this age, children understand what is happening in the adult world, but they
                                                                                                                                       are not yet allowed to make serious decisions and participate in adulthood.
                                                                                                                                            The period of youth from twelve to twenty-four is full of freedom, entertainment and
                                                                                                                                       games with peers, but this freedom had its own permissible boundaries based on the
                                                                                                                                       ritual confrontation between the groups of boys and girls intending to start a family. At
                                                                                                                                       this age a person got married. Getting married at a young age, the bride said goodbye
                                                                                                                                       to her family and her youth, performing ritual songs (synsu, korysu, aryz olen), where-
                                                                                                                                       as for boys the farewell to youth came later, at twenty-five years.
                                                                                                                                            Maturity from the age of twenty-five to forty-eight takes a period of two mushels and
                                                                                                                                       is distinguished by social activity and purposefulness; karasakal (black beard), a man of
                                                                                                                                       mature age is a full participant in all spheres of public life. The activity of a woman during
                                                                                                                                       this period is limited to her family, where, as a member of a new clan, she begins a new
                                                                                                                                       life cycle, the birth of children and their upbringing. Performing the folklore of their age
                                                                                                                                       she participates with them in the mushel. The border between the two mushels, the age
                                                                                                                                       of thirty-seven is considered a dangerous age. According to Kazakh ideas, during this
                                                                                                                                       period, for a woman it is particularly difficult to become pregnant and go through child-
                                                                                                                                       birth. Old age, from forty-eight to sixty years and beyond, is the period of residence of
                                                                                                                                       all previous mushels, surrounded by loving and caring relatives and children, they are
                                                                                                                                       white-bearded (aksakal), able to wisely evaluate and have a great understanding of life.
                                                                                                                                       Wisdom, life experience and knowledge gained in the process of life allow them to be-
                                                                                                                                       come perfect advisers, assistants, leaders, seeing more because of their age and prox-
                                                                                                                                       imity to the world of their ancestral spirits (aruakhs), whose holiness spreads over them.
                                                                                                                                       The behaviour of the elders is dominated by detachment from worldly passions and
                                                                                                                                       remoteness from the world of everyday fuss. As residents of this world, they were the
                                                                                                                                       living representatives of the other world. Their old age was surrounded by universal
                                                                                                                                       respect, and, according to Akatayev, “was the first privilege in the clan collective” [60].
                                                                                                                                            A life cycle is the basis of the genre system of traditional Kazakh music in the unity
                                                                                                                                       of poetic song and instrumental culture. The quality of its time periods directly influ-
                                                                                                                                       enced the semantics of the respective genres with their characteristic set of linguistic
                                                                                                                                       means. They included the groups of children’s, and young and old people’s songs, with
                                                                                                                                       their clearly traceable steady intonation and thematic complexes. The genres serving
                                                                                                                                       special periods of time, the segments of proximity of the world of aruakhs (an alternative
                                                                                                                                       spelling for the Arawak tribe) or transition into it, are also united by a system of stable
                                                                                                                                       intonation complexes. The intonation of these songs always expressed lament. Such
                                                                                                                                       are the bride’s laments (her ritual death and transition from clan to clan), songs that
                                                                                                                                       refer to ‘twenty-five’ (the ritual death of a young man and his transition to a new age
                                                                                                                                       group), songs about old age and imminent death, songs which sooth pregnant women,
                                                                                                                                       the sick and the dying and finally, ritual funeral songs themselves. The intonational
                                                                                                                                       unity of all these genres is explicable in terms of their correspondence to the time pe-
                                                                                                                                       riods of the life cycle, saturated with the semantics of real or mythological death.


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   3.2.2. Life cycle and the formation of types of carriers of traditional art

     The close connection between the stages of the life cycle is demonstrated by the
main types of carriers of the spiritual culture of the people, professional singers and
instrumentalists, whose creativity is focused on the way of thinking and feelings of a
particular mushel, reflecting a certain life experience. The age-related behavioral ste-
reotypes that consistently change during the life of an ordinary person are opposed to
the activity and behavioral stereotypes of sal/seri, akyns and zhyraus, which remained
unchanged throughout their lives, regardless of their real personal age. These types of
carriers, demonstrating the syncretism of the religious-magical and the artistic, in their
life and in their works, are directly related to the primitive gender and age stratification
of society and their magical effect extended to certain levels of karma. The following is
a brief description of each.
     – Sal and seri: the sphere of their magical activity is the natural and biological lev-
el of the physical world and the magic of fertility, constant communication with young
people allowed them to influence personal and family karma.
     – Akyns: the sphere of their magical activity – society, the magic of family and kin-
ship ties (the betashar rite), social relationships within the ethnos (aitys – akyns’ song
competition) were their prerogative. Affecting the family and more broadly, the collec-
tive karma, they regulated social ties through the astral world.
     – Zhyrau: the sphere of their concern is the survival of Kazakhs among other peo-
ples, global politics, military magic, predicting the outcome of military battles, as well as
the future of the people, the impact on national and state karma through communica-
tion with the aruakhs, with the mental world.
     The genesis of sal and seri, akyn and zhyrau goes back to cult activity, which to a
certain extent equates them with the baksy (shamans).
     On the basis of cult relics, it is possible to reconstruct the ancient system of reli-
gious and magical Tengrian figures, hierarchical in spiritual and practical areas. The




                                                                                                  CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
spiritual experience of traditional society evolved as an inseparable unity of sacred and
artistic components, the ratio of which in the activities of the carriers has historically
evolved towards the strengthening and dominance of the artistic principle.


   3.2.3. Annual cycle

     In the culture of nomadic Kazakhs, the annual cycle regulating economic activities
and migration influenced the seasonal timing of the performance of musical and poetic
folklore and oral-professional genres. The existence of both cycles – annual and life – in
the culture of sedentary and nomadic pastoralists is a manifestation of the unity of
human culture. But their functions in the cultures of nomads and farmers are multidi-
rectional. The life cycle of nomads is the basis of genre-formation while the annual
cycle plays the role of regulating a seasonal cyclization of repertoire; for sedentary
peoples, on the contrary, the annual cycle is the basis of genre-formation while the
life cycle is a regulator of age cyclization of song repertoire. The transition from one
age group to another constantly and naturally entails a change in the repertoire and
style of singing, as well as a value orientation of singers [61]. In both types of cultures,
the temporal coordinates of calendars underlying genre formation are definite and
strict, whereas the temporal coordinates of calendars underlying cyclization are more
blurred and varied:


                                                                                                393
                                                                                                                                          – Calendar type: annual calendar; life calendar
A. Mukhambetova, G. Suleyeva, A. Yessetova, S. Janseitova, A. Kaldayakova, G. Arkabayeva - Nomadic life cycle structured by calendar




                                                                                                                                          – Culture type: nomadic, pastoral
                                                                                                                                          – Basis for the cyclization of genres (seasonal)
                                                                                                                                          – Basis for genre formation: sedentary, agricultural
                                                                                                                                          – Basis for genre formation: cyclization of genres (age)


                                                                                                                                          3.2.4. Types of carriers and genre system of instrumental music

                                                                                                                                          The genres of instrumental music include:
                                                                                                                                          – zhanyltpash (tongue twister, high tempo, recitative)
                                                                                                                                          – toi-bastar (a kui opening a festivity)
                                                                                                                                          – tartys (contest kui, like aitys)
                                                                                                                                          – zhyr-kui (a kui implementing the features of epic recitation)
                                                                                                                                          – akzhelen (mournful kui of a bride saying goodbye to her family)
                                                                                                                                          – koshtasu (farewell song)
                                                                                                                                          – tolgau (contemplation song)
                                                                                                                                          – zhoktau, estirtu, zhubatu (instrumental doubles of funeral rite songs).
                                                                                                                                          Instrumental music has also developed its own specific ways of reflecting the world,
                                                                                                                                       which evolved into a genre that has no analogues in song art:
                                                                                                                                          – the magical practices of the baksy go back to the genre of kosbasar and konyr
                                                                                                                                            (kui of a calm tempo, meditative nature, often with mournful intonations)
                                                                                                                                          – genres associated with the sound-depictive beginning and the world of animals,
                                                                                                                                            dating back to the oldest beliefs and cults (swan “akku”, white female camel “boz
                                                                                                                                            ingen”, grey goose “konyr kaz”, etc.)
                                                                                                                                          – the carefree spirit of youth is reflected by biy kui (dance kuis), sylkyldak, bylkyldak
                                                                                                                                            (dynamic kuis, the lyrics of which are painted in the hedonistic tones character-
                                                                                                                                            istic of the worldview of sal and seri)
                                                                                                                                          – the dramatic, dynamic sense of life of mature age has been embodied in the
                                                                                                                                            genres of teris-kakpai (dynamic kuis, performed with a stroke of teris kagys
                                                                                                                                            (strumming pattern)
                                                                                                                                          – shalkyma (inspirational), balbyrauyn (cheerful and dynamic kuis).


                                                                                                                                          3.3. Semantics and axiology of the kui genre

                                                                                                                                           The word kui has Turkic roots. Kui, a melody performed on dombra and other mu-
                                                                                                                                       sical instruments is the oldest and most original genre of Kazakh art. Being a specific
                                                                                                                                       national genre, it can be considered in the context of the spiritual culture of the related
                                                                                                                                       Turkic peoples, connected not only by genetic but also cultural and historical kinship.
                                                                                                                                       The most important category of the worldview is embedded in the semantic meaning
                                                                                                                                       of the term kui, which is “state”. Kazakh everyday expressions such as “Kal-zhagdai
                                                                                                                                       kalai?” (“How are you?”) addressed to a person, and “Auarai kui” (weather conditions,
                                                                                                                                       addressed to the outside world) preserved the universalism of the ancient category
                                                                                                                                       that combines micro- and macrocosm. Kui as an open syncretic artistic system becomes


                                                                                          394
an important semantic factor in music. The vectors, by which the semantic polysemy of
music is directed, go in different directions. This can be a horizontal vector, when a kui
is perceived by each listener in the light of his life experience and fate; the vertical
vector is particularly important when semantic pluralism is directed from specific mean-
ings to universal ones. The status of kui in culture is dual: 1) it belongs to the world of
art and is part of a specific moment in the life of people; 2) its aesthetic perfection is a
necessary condition for the entry of a musician and a listener into the meditative expe-
rience of the existence of life.
      The improvisational nature of a kui is a reflection of the non-duality of art and life,
which determines the polysemy and multi-level nature of its meaning. The openness of
the artistic system of kuis gives them, for traditional perception, not so much aesthetic
values, but life values (life values are an internal compass by which a person compares
his actions and deeds. They serve as a support for us, and by following them, we begin
to live a more fulfilling and productive life. Values are material and spiritual. Spiritual
values have a moral and ethical origin, and are seen as being more important than
aesthetics. The kui itself, as the most important part of life, influencing and harmonizing
it, is aimed at eliminating physical and mental illnesses. Until the end of the twentieth
century, the Kazakh kui conveyed the ancient essence of the music of the Turkic: the
feeling of being a stream of divine states, the pure conductor of which is music.


   3.3.1. The Kazakh kui – a philosophy on two strings

    Tengrianism is the most ancient religion of the Kazakhs; its followers were the sha-
mans (baksy), and their cult instrument was the kobyz. Omarova proved that in the
ancient kobyz kuis created by the first shaman, Korkut, a diverse set of musical themes
developed, related to the main categories of the Tengrian worldview: the theme of evil
intonation associated with funeral wails; the theme is the antipode, opposition to evil;
the theme of balance; the subject of goodwill. The invariable order of musical themes




                                                                                                  CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
in various kuis made its sound magic. The ‘correct’ musical presentation of the plot (the
Kazakh kui) itself was an act of maintaining order and harmony in the world. The main
themes are characters that go back to the story of the shamanic beginning of the world,
to the myth of Korkut, the creator of the kobyz.
    In the twentieth century, the destiny of the traditional culture of the Kazakhs shared
the tragedy of its social destiny. From 1916-1945, the number of people steadily de-
creased, due to the two World Wars. The relevance of the oldest stratum of the world-
view as the ethics of intrageneric communication and family ties, lies in the fact that it
was a reaction to social difficulties, a necessary condition for the survival and self-pres-
ervation of the people. At the same time, with the degradation of higher, religious forms
of ideology, tribal ethics became the leading organization of the worldview.


   3.3.2. The structure of kobyz kuis in relation to the practice of shamanism

      The melodies of shamanic rites, vocal and kobyz saryns, differing in the presence
of a triton (Latin tritonus – consisting of three tones), which is a musical interval, its
qualitative value being equal to three whole tones, in the melody and structure of the
whole were a precise multiple variation of the repetition at the same height of one mo-
tif, ending with the introduction of a new, final motif. In the movement of musical thought,
emphasis was placed on the quantitative accumulation of material, and not on its qual-


                                                                                                395
                                                                                                                                       itative transformation. The themes of kobyz kuis are built like saryns. Within the whole
A. Mukhambetova, G. Suleyeva, A. Yessetova, S. Janseitova, A. Kaldayakova, G. Arkabayeva - Nomadic life cycle structured by calendar



                                                                                                                                       kobyz tradition, all the themes of kobyz kuis are revealed by monocadance, which is
                                                                                                                                       built on the basis of the gradual filling of the quint range from levels I to V with the
                                                                                                                                       subsequent descending sounds according to their duration. In repeating a motif, the
                                                                                                                                       last sound of the first wave (key-tone) often serves as the initial sound of the second
                                                                                                                                       wave. A free adherence of cadence to any intonational predecessor reveals its func-
                                                                                                                                       tion as a sign of completion and ending. The exact repetition of motifs does not end,
                                                                                                                                       but is interrupted by the introduction of a motif sign. The mono-cadence of kobyz
                                                                                                                                       music and the nature of thematic development are two sides of the same process.
                                                                                                                                       The described monocadance (monocadans (MK) – from darkness to light) has the
                                                                                                                                       semantics of spinning. In the complex of shamanistic representations, a magical mean-
                                                                                                                                       ing is attached to physical spinning.
                                                                                                                                            The terms bas-orta-saga, meaning top-middle-bottom, and bas-keude-ayak, mean-
                                                                                                                                       ing head-chest-legs, go back to the most ancient pre-Islamic cosmological Turkic be-
                                                                                                                                       liefs; similar terms are found in Uzbek musical culture. Kui terms, which go back to the
                                                                                                                                       terminology of the “World mountain” or the “World body”, indicate the connection be-
                                                                                                                                       tween music and cosmology, which is essential for all musical cultures of antiquity.
                                                                                                                                       Vertical-spatial terms very accurately reflect the main feature of the kuis’ musical sty-
                                                                                                                                       listics, which is the high semiotic character of the space.
                                                                                                                                            The types of presentation of the temporal process (initial, developing, final) repre-
                                                                                                                                       senting the logic of the temporal process are poorly differentiated in kuis. To a certain
                                                                                                                                       extent this logic is accomplished through spatial functions (the bottom is the beginning
                                                                                                                                       of the kui, the middle is its continuation, and the saga is its culmination). The lack of
                                                                                                                                       differentiation of temporal functions is an integral feature of the art. In this art, time is a
                                                                                                                                       function of space, the duration of the kui depends on its space, that is, the number of
                                                                                                                                       zones that are captured by its development (similar to the exposure of a polyphonic
                                                                                                                                       fugue). The spatial-functional opposition in the range from bottom-up to top-down is
                                                                                                                                       deeply rooted in the depth of musical culture in its common Turkic layers. Galitskaya
                                                                                                                                       believes that it completely dominates the formation of the traditional melos of the Tur-
                                                                                                                                       kic language with its principle of lower keynote [62]. The material of the Kyrgyz kui
                                                                                                                                       shows the impact spatial-semantic beliefs have on the sphere of genre formation: for
                                                                                                                                       the kui of the kambarkan genre the lower position is specific (according to folk termi-
                                                                                                                                       nology - moyun-kui), for tolgoo and kerbez - medium (bel-kui), for boto and shyngara-
                                                                                                                                       ma - upper (ayaқ or kokyrok kyui) [63]. And only in the light of the impact of the register
                                                                                                                                       on the Kyrgyz kui genre is it possible to explain the originality of the beginning of the
                                                                                                                                       Kazakh genre of kosbasar, which is played from the middle of the dombra neck. The ter-
                                                                                                                                       minology of the Kyrgyz kui goes back to the ancient Turkic world body: “moyun - neck”,
                                                                                                                                       “bel - belt”, “ayak - leg».
                                                                                                                                            Cosmological ideas about musical space are a common ancient Turkic heritage,
                                                                                                                                       which determined the names and the structure of the parts of the kui. In the peripheral
                                                                                                                                       phenomena of the culture of the Central Asian makomat (Central Asian vocal-instrumental
                                                                                                                                       genre with a wide use of improvisation and a cyclic structure of works), in the Uygur
                                                                                                                                       names of the ensemble of percussion instruments the triad of bass-orta-ayak is found in
                                                                                                                                       a holistic, unchanged, ancient form: “bash nagora” (main mountain, the lowest sound),
                                                                                                                                       “uttura nagora” (middle mountain, medium register), “ayak nagora” (closing nagora, high
                                                                                                                                       register sound). The Uzbek names are “bash nagora”, “urta nagora”, “ayak nagora”. This
                                                                                                                                       is the same system of musical space with a similar understanding of the top and bottom
                                                                                                                                       (the reverse of modern ideas) both in Kazakh and Kyrgyz instrumental playing. The
                                                                                                                                       commonality of formation recorded in the canonical signs of parts of kui is a different
                                                                                                                                       historical and cultural realization of common logical-semantic principles.


                                                                                          396
   3.3.3. The Tengrian calendar and time in the traditional musical culture of the Kazakhs

     Statics in the material embodiment of the bifunctional section is combined with the
dynamics of its perception in various contexts of a holistic musical form. The universal
way to preserve the continuity of infinite and cyclical time is to completely overcome
dualism, to combine and transform the ends of several cycles into the beginnings of
others. According to the law of similarity contained in the structure of Tengrian time, this
morphological principle spread to all spheres of Kazakh life connecting the ‘language
of the forms of all cultural spheres’, be it verbal or musical language, economic skills,
everyday communication, demographic traditions, ritual practice or art, and artistic life.
Vividly and consistently embodied in the structure of artistic forms, this principle gave
the art of the Kazakhs a unique originality.
     Tengrian ideas about the two-member vertical structure of the world, embodied in
the images of the World Mountain and the World Body, determined the composite
structure of the dombra kuis. Shamanic practice with its general idea of “magic circling”
influenced the development of the ancient kobyz, sybyz and dombra kuis. In kobyz
kuis, the principle of living qualitatively inhomogeneous time embodies improvisation,
variant changes permeate all levels of the ‘acoustic text’ of the kui - agogical, dynamic,
intonational-rhythmic, modal and formative [64].
   1) Total cyclicality is manifested at the level of formation of the kobyz kuis, in
      which the basic principle of development is the unchanging and varied repeti-
      tion of intonation cells. In the structure of comprehensive kuis, cyclicality is
      implemented at the level of using monocadance as the final element of the
      most varied topics. Being at the basis of the similarity of all kobyz kuis, this
      level of cyclicity combines them into a single supertext, creating a special
      musical and stylistic integrity of shamanic music based on the religious ideas
      of Tengrianism.




                                                                                                 CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
   2) Cyclicity is a matrix on which all hierarchical levels of kobyz music are built – the
      repetition of one sound can form thematic constructions, intonation repetition is
      the basis of theme formation, repetition of key themes in various kuis is a man-
      ifestation of Tengrian ideas.
   3) Total cyclicality permeates all hierarchical levels of kobyz music.
   4) The repetition of intonation cells, interrupted by the introduction of mono-
      cadance, is a manifestation of the principle of infinite time.
   5) In the structure of monocadance, ‘infinite’ repetition is based on a bifunctional
       combination of the final and initial sounds of repetitive intonations, which is di-
       rectly manifested as a non-dual-continuous flow of time in which the beginnings
       and ends of cycles are combined.
   6) The variant-evolutionary principle is implemented in kobyz kuis by successively
      changing musical images and thematic formations, in full accordance with the
      legends, which are the external engine of mosaic-formed musical plots; the or-
      der of the main themes (thesis, antithesis, equilibrium, blessing) that migrate
      from kui to kui, is unchanged. Their ‘correct’ sequence plays the role of a musi-
      cal information code, which is ‘launched’ into the world for its regulation.
   Tengrianism is the path of evolutionary neutralization of contradictions leading to
the dynamic equilibrium of polar forces. This blessed order must be repeated in all
subsequent time cycles.


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                                                                                                                                           4. Conclusions
A. Mukhambetova, G. Suleyeva, A. Yessetova, S. Janseitova, A. Kaldayakova, G. Arkabayeva - Nomadic life cycle structured by calendar




                                                                                                                                            This study is based on a vast amount of historical material that goes beyond musi-
                                                                                                                                       cal art proper; the cultural and philosophical context encompasses significant layers
                                                                                                                                       of cosmogenesis, mythology, religion, ecosystem, social and economic ties, which go
                                                                                                                                       back in time to the core of traditional nomadic society and man in his diverse relations
                                                                                                                                       with the outside world. Important conclusions have been made revealing the essence
                                                                                                                                       of Tengrian civilization, namely a civilizational (and not theological) incarnation of Ten-
                                                                                                                                       grianism defining all the main paradigms of nomadism; the genesis of the animal cal-
                                                                                                                                       endar; the originality of the perception of time as a biological, social and artistic coordi-
                                                                                                                                       nate; the calendar represented by human life cycles; the genres of Kazakh traditional
                                                                                                                                       culture systematically understood as correlates of the ages and stages of human life;
                                                                                                                                       the analysis of ontology, axiology and theology of kui.
                                                                                                                                            The study of the structuring role of the life cycle in the culture of nomads allowed
                                                                                                                                       us to substantively compare the cultures not only of the peoples of Central Asia, but
                                                                                                                                       also the genesis of their agricultural and nomadic culture.
                                                                                                                                            The 12-year cyclical animal calendar was created more than five thousand years
                                                                                                                                       ago by the nomads of Central Asia and spread to Southeast Asia, Siberia and the Cau-
                                                                                                                                       casus, as an attribute of Tengrianism, the religion of the Turkic-Mongolian peoples. The
                                                                                                                                       Tengrian religion and its calendar, known as the Kazakh Mushel, became the basis of
                                                                                                                                       the culture of the nomadic Kazakh ethnic group. Laws are encoded in the structure of
                                                                                                                                       the calendar’s timeline regarding evolution, karma, hierarchy, similarity, cycle, free will,
                                                                                                                                       and sacrifice. According to O. Spengler, the time structure of the calendar is a system
                                                                                                                                       of morphological means that internally connects the language in all cultural spheres. In
                                                                                                                                       nomadic Kazakh society, Tengrian time was reflected in the socio-political structure, in
                                                                                                                                       personal, tribal and ethnic relationships, the structure of the army, as well as in the
                                                                                                                                       system of images and expressive means of decorative and applied arts, traditional
                                                                                                                                       customs and rituals, and moral and ethical standards.
                                                                                                                                            The time cycles of the mushel were the basis for the formation of the life cycle of
                                                                                                                                       the Tengrians – childhood, youth, maturity, old age, at the heart of which lies a period-
                                                                                                                                       ization of 12-year cycles. The life cycle of a nomad, which underlies the genre system
                                                                                                                                       and is structured by the Tengrian calendar, has a huge informational and semantic
                                                                                                                                       code, both as an individual nation and the whole of humanity and is a priority in the
                                                                                                                                       study of the cultural heritage and intellectual values of the Turkic people.
                                                                                                                                            It follows from the above that the age stratification of a nomadic society, with the age
                                                                                                                                       clans on which the system of folklore genres was based, reflected the perception of the
                                                                                                                                       life of the various age groups and their pattern of stereotyped behavior. The world of
                                                                                                                                       youth is found in the lyrics (creativity of sal and seri); the world of maturity is a drama (for
                                                                                                                                       example: wedding betashar, competitive aitys and tartys of akyn and kuishi); the world of
                                                                                                                                       old age is an epic (creativity of zhyrau). All the above-mentioned types of worlds allow us
                                                                                                                                       to trace the structuring role of the life cycle in the culture of nomads.
                                                                                                                                            So, the Tengrian calendar, as ancient Turkic cultural heritage giving a cosmolo-
                                                                                                                                       gized idea of musical space and time, and correlating with the formative principles and
                                                                                                                                       compositional structures of genres, determined the structure of time and represented
                                                                                                                                       a cyclical matrix, in which the hierarchical levels of musical development were built.
                                                                                                                                            The culture of the Kazakh nomadic cattle breeders was notable for the variety of
                                                                                                                                       musical instruments and the development of instrumental music. The non-duality of
                                                                                                                                       traditional religious culture determined the structure of music-making in situations of
                                                                                                                                       ritualized life communication. Improvisation, as a defining quality of traditional perfor-


                                                                                          398
mance, reflected the connection of the semantics of the kui with the content of con-
crete life communication. The peculiarity of kui is that in the context of the religious
systems of Tengrianism, it transformed the philosophy and aesthetics of nomads into
a musical and figurative content and formal structure. In particular, cosmologized ideas
about musical space and time are a common ancient Turkic heritage, which led to the
similarity of form-creating principles and compositional structures of kui.
    The models of Kazakh traditional musical culture, the structure of the genre system
and the typology of professional carriers, as well as the art of kui, require further con-
cretization both in historical and regional terms. They can then be used for a compar-
ative study of the ways of forming musical professionalism and types of professional
figures in various cultures, as well as an in-depth comparative study of the specifics
and characteristics of the development of musical cultures of the nomadic and seden-
tary peoples of the Central Asian region.


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                                                                                                                                          Biographical notes

                                                                                                                                           Asiya Ibadulaуevna Mukhambetova, graduated at the Leningrad Conservatory
                                                                                                                                       as a Doctor of Musicology and is a professor in the Department of Traditional Music at
                                                                                                                                       the T. K. Zhurgenov Kazakh Academy of Arts, Kazakhstan. She has written over 120
                                                                                                                                       articles and her main subject area is arts and humanities.

                                                                                                                                          Gulzhan Sozakpaevna Suleeva is a professor in the Department of Social and
                                                                                                                                       Humanitarian Disciplines at the Faculty of Music Education and Management, Kur-
                                                                                                                                       mangazy Kazakh National Conservatory. She graduated from the Al-Farabi Kazakh
                                                                                                                                       National University, Kazakhstan. She received the degree of Candidate of Philology.
                                                                                                                                       She is the author of more than 80 scientific articles, mostly dealing with arts and hu-
                                                                                                                                       manities, philosophy and linguistics.

                                                                                                                                           Ainur Takeevna Yessetova is a Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences and Associ-
                                                                                                                                       ate Professor in the Department of Social and Humanitarian Disciplines at the Kurman-
                                                                                                                                       gazy Kazakh National Conservatory Kazakhstan. She is the author of more than 20
                                                                                                                                       scientific articles.

                                                                                                                                            Aisulu Abylkassymovna Kaldayakova is a senior teacher at the Kurmangazy Ka-
                                                                                                                                       zakh National Conservatory in the department of general piano. In 2011, she graduated
                                                                                                                                       from the Kurmangazy Kazakh National Conservatory with a degree in piano and in 2013
                                                                                                                                       graduated from the magistracy of the Kurmangazy Kazakh National Conservatory, ma-
                                                                                                                                       joring in piano. In 2017 she defended her doctoral dissertation at the same Conservatory,
                                                                                                                                       majoring in musicology. She was the best young scientist of the Commonwealth of Inde-
                                                                                                                                       pendent States (CIS) in 2020 and is the author of more than 30 scientific publications.

                                                                                                                                           Gulsm Seitkarimovna Arkabayeva has a Master of philology and is a teacher at
                                                                                                                                       the Kurmangazy Kazakh National Conservatory, Kazakhstan. She is the author of
                                                                                                                                       more than 25 scientific articles and 1 monograph and has received the international
                                                                                                                                       educational scholarship “Bolashak”; she is a graduate of the ATC “Teaching Russian
                                                                                                                                       as a foreign language” (amount of 72 hours), at the Pushkin State Russian Language
                                                                                                                                       Institute, Moscow, Russian Federation.


                                                                                     402
     Svetlana Sattarovna Janseitova is a Professor in the Department of Social and
Humanitarian Disciplines, Faculty of Music Education and Management, Kurmangazy
Kazakh National Conservatory, Kazakhstan. She graduated from Derzhavin Tambov
State University and Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan. She has a
PhD in Philology. She spends considerable time studying art history and philology and
is the author of around 100 works.


   Summary

     The appeal of cultural heritage as a creative product, an “intellectual potential”
having centuries-old traditions and unique value, such as the Tengrian calendar, is
especially relevant today. The Tengrian calendar is a genre system of traditional music
and the work of professional singers and instrumentalists, which represent lexical-se-
mantic processes. The role of the Tengrian calendar in structuring the life cycle and
age stratification of nomadic society is undeniable and necessary for the preservation
of identity, as well as being a contextual connection with modernity. Possessing a huge
field of information and semantic code, the Tengrian calendar, as a component of the
spiritual and intellectual world process, is worthy not only of preservation and develop-
ment, but also of comprehensive scientific research. The article studies the problems
of traditional Kazakh culture belonging to the super-ethnic civilization of nomadic peo-
ples. Based on the study, it was found that the calendar played a role in structuring the
life cycle and age stratification of nomadic Kazakh society.


   Riassunto

     Il fascino del patrimonio culturale come prodotto creativo, un “potenziale intellettua-




                                                                                                  CONSERVATION SCIENCE IN CULTURAL HERITAGE
le” con tradizioni secolari e valore unico, come il calendario tengriano, è oggi partico-
larmente rilevante. Il calendario Tengrian è un sistema di generi di musica tradizionale
e il lavoro di cantanti e strumentisti professionisti, che rappresentano processi lessica-
li-semantici. Il ruolo del calendario tengriano nella strutturazione del ciclo di vita e
della stratificazione per età della società nomade è innegabile e necessario per la
conservazione dell’identità, oltre ad essere un collegamento contestuale con la moder-
nità. Il calendario tengriano, come componente del processo mondiale spirituale e in-
tellettuale, possedendo un enorme campo di informazioni e codice semantico, è degno
non solo di conservazione e sviluppo, ma anche di una ricerca scientifica completa.
L’articolo studia i problemi della cultura tradizionale kazaka appartenente alla civiltà
superetnica dei popoli nomadi. Sulla base dello studio, è emerso che il calendario ha
svolto un ruolo nella strutturazione del ciclo di vita e nella stratificazione dell’età della
società nomade kazaka.




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