Music of Turkmenistan

The music of the nomadic and rural Turkmen people is closely related to Kyrgyz and Kazakh folk forms. Important musical traditions in Turkmen music include traveling singers and shamans called bakshy, who act as healers and magicians and sing either a cappella or with instruments such as the two-stringed lute called dutar.

Turkmenistan's national poet is Magtumguly Pyragy, from the 18th century, who wrote four-line goshuk lyrics. The Central Asian classical music tradition mugam is also present in Turkmenistan by name as the mukamlar [1].