Preservation and revival of national culture, values and traditions - this is what a woodmaster Medetbai Omarov is doing. He makes various items, including furniture and musical instruments. A two-string dombyra by a craftsman from the Zhambyl region is in popular demand. He makes it from three types of wood: oak, spruce and pine. That’s the secret to making the instrument sound particularly loud, he said. Omarov is respected among the dombyra players for such a good quality of the instruments he makes.
“The woodwork is very durable. If the wood is of high quality, then an item will last a long time, and if not, then it will quickly become useless. Making this musical instrument is not easy, it is important to observe all the proportions as the sound depends on it,” noted Sultanai Niyetkabylov, a dombyra player.
Resident of Turkistan region Kurmanali Agadilov recreates ancient horse harnesses. According to a legend, the nomads had 30 types of them. A craftsman managed to recreate 23. For this he had to study archival materials. Recreating historical objects is a responsible job that requires accuracy, Agadilov assures. It takes him six months to make only one saddle. Like the ancient nomads, he retains all manual processing technology. As a result, it is hard to distinguish Agadilov’s works from museum exhibits. He plans to teach the craft to the younger generation, so that the ancestral traditions are not forgotten over time.
“There are only a maximum of five or six types of Kazakh harnesses in the national museum, as well as in the museums of Almaty and Turkistan, although there were much more. Kazakhs are the only nation to have used more than 30 types of horse harnesses. A horse means a lot to a Kazakh. We need to develop equestrian tourism and harness the horses with ancient Kazakh harnesses. Also, we need a special school that has all the facilities to teach children this kind of craft,” Agadilov said.
Translation by Assem Zhanmukhanova
Editing by Galiya Khassenkhanova
Web-editor: Admin
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