BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA:
Film title: Ashiq: The Last Troubadour (in Chinese 阿希克：最后的游吟诗人, pinyin: Axike Zuihou de Youyin Shiren), Director: Liu Xiangchen 刘湘晨; Year: 2010; Country of production: People’s Republic of China; Language: Uyghur with Simplified Chinese subtitles (8-minute trailer also available in English); Length: 128 minutes; Production: Institute of Socio-Cultural Anthropology, Xinjiang Normal University, Ürümchi
GENRE:
Ethnographic documentary
SYNOPSIS:
This film chronicles the lives of dervish- (from Persian “mendicant”) and bard-like figures from the Uyghur minority in China’s northwestern province of Xinjiang. Known across the Turkic-speaking world as ʿushshāq (meaning “God’s lovers,” sing. ʿāshiq), these figures reside along the southern edge of the Taklamakan desert and, unlike typical expectations of dervishes as fully withdrawn from society, sustain themselves through humble occupations. Some retreat in seclusion at Sufi shrines, locally referred to as mazārāt (sing. mazār), where they cultivate spiritual values central to their tradition. Women also take active part in this tradition. Despite the diversity of their livelihoods and life stories, the vocal techniques and repertoires of men and women ʿushshāq are unified by a profound goal: to pour out devotion to God, and seek forgiveness for moral transgressions—their own and those of others.
BACKGROUND/CONTEXT:
Ashiq: The Last Troubadour bears witness to the lived experiences of ʿushshāq practitioners, situating their personal stories within the rapidly changing landscape of contemporary Uyghur society. Opening with footage of an ʿāshiq singing and playing the sabayi—a pair of stick rattles topped with metal rings, employed in a stylized form of self-flagellation echoing Shi’a mourning rituals—the film oscillates between two recurring themes, namely ʿishq (Arabic for “spiritual love”) and dard (Persian for “suffering”). Giving full coverage to songs, dances, folk ballads, and other notable oral traditions, it portrays men and womenʿushshāq who, having experienced ʿishq, express it through weeping and trance-like movements. Their tear-stained faces, as they engage in a wide range of sounding and listening practices, should therefore be more accurately understood as expressions of suffering caused by separation (Ar. firaq) from, or longing (shawq) for, mystical union with the divine—an established thread in classical Sufism (Ar. taṣawwuf), where love serves as a catalyst for spiritual growth, ultimately leading the practitioner to the state of fanā’ fi-l-Allāh (“self-annihilation in God”). As the film suggests, “performative weeping” (Ebersole 2000; De Martino 1958) has long been a central element of Uyghur ritual life. Far from being a vestige of the past, it continues to intersect with global flows of Islamic revivalism and socio-political change within Xinjiang, shaping both individual and communal identities (Harris 2020).
I attended a screening of Ashiq at SOAS, University of London, on March 27, 2017, as part of an international conference titled “Ethnographies of Islam in China,” organized under the Leverhulme Trust-funded research project “Sounding Islam in China” (more info at this link: https://www.soundislamchina.org). Following a panel on identity performances, the screening included a Q&A session with the director, intended to enhance understanding of the post-Mao religious revival. The session triggered a fruitful debate on fieldwork methodologies and the ethics of conducting research on endangered traditions. On that occasion, the director described the ʿushshāq as a “minority within a minority.” The film itself further reinforces this portrayal, associating the sonic performances of itinerant ʿushshāq with the rituals of Yasawi-influenced Sufi confraternities throughout the oasis towns of the Taklamakan, and a canonical musical repertoire known among Uyghurs as the “Twelve Muqams” (from Arabic maqām, lit. “ascent”), denoting a set of melodic formulas used to guide improvisation (Light 2008). Liu Xiangchen’s earlier cinematic production, The Uyghur Muqams of Xinjiang (in Chinese 中国新疆维吾尔木卡姆, pinyin: Zhongguo Xinjiang Weiwuer Mukamu), was nominated by UNESCO in 2004, playing a pivotal role in the eventual recognition of such a unique repertoire as a masterpiece of oral and intangible cultural heritage in 2005 (https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/uyghur-muqam-of-xinjiang-00109).
KEYWORDS:
- ʿushshāq (God’s lovers)
- Twelve Muqams
- Uyghur bardic culture
- Naqshbandiyya Sufism
- samāʿ (spiritual auditions)
- shamanized Islam
ACADEMIC COMMENTARY:
Communion with the divine is the highest aspiration in many worldwide ascetic traditions. In Sufism, this often unfolds in altered states of consciousness (ASC), typically induced through spiritual auditions (Ar. samā‘, lit. “listening”), which the Uyghurs call hälqä-sohbät (“whirling and conversing”). During samā‘ gatherings, now nominally banned but still practiced secretly in private homes throughout southern Xinjiang, the remembrance of God’s names (dhikr) is accompanied by intense sessions of collective prayer, circle dance, swaying head movements, rhythmic breathing, and live devotional music, including songs honoring Islamic martyrs, saints, and mystics such as the Shi’a Imam Husayn ibn Ali (d. 680), and Khoja Ahmed Yasawi (d. 1166). The resulting ecstasy is conceived of as jadhba al-ilāhīya (“divine pull”)—a state of emotional rapture akin to ‘ishq, in which practitioners lose awareness of themselves and their surroundings, and their soul is believed to separate from the body (Mu 2021). These auditory practices enable aspiring Sufis (murīdun, “seekers”) to transcend their ego (nafs, “lower self”) and attain “annihilation under the attractive force of love” (Zarrabi-Zadeh 2014).
Ashiq documents this vanishing form of asceticism through the biographical portraits of a few ʿushshāq from the lower social strata—among them blacksmiths, street vendors, grave-diggers, barbers, and beggars. Drawn to the shrines in pursuit of protection from and intimacy with God (Dawut 2009), the ʿushshāq participate in what appears to be loosely structured samā‘ rituals, reciting dhikr litanies and mystical poems, carried by the pulse of drumbeats, the shimmer of stick rattles, and the captivating melodies of stringed instruments, like the tembor and other varieties of long-necked lutes. Each shrine features the altun gülkhan — a dedicated space for collective remembrance. Liu Xiangchen’s richly composed, sepia-washed sequences vividly bring this space to life, illustrating the multi-layered sonic textures of bardic culture among the Uyghurs, while also tracing the enduring creative tension betweenʿushshāq’s spirituality and more orthodox Islamic views on music and dance.
Consistent with other Turkic Sufi communities across Anatolia, the Caucasus, and Greater Central Asia, ASC in the Uyghur bardic culture reflect what scholars have occasionally termed “shamanized Islam” (Garrone 2013). This indigenized form of Islam incorporates therapeutic possession into extended samāʿ ceremonies, where vocal dhikr litanies are interwoven with invocations of protective spirits from the animistic pantheon (Sidikov 2004). For example, in Afghanistan—historically linked to Xinjiang via transregional networks of Naqshbandiyya Sufis—the distinction between mendicant ascetics and spirit-possessed shamans has remained fluid, with divānagān (Persian for “the divinely intoxicated,” lit. “madmen”) and singer-poets known as bakhshiyān occupying a central place in local ritual life until the past few decades (Sidky 1990). Evidence indicates that, besides Afghans, Kashmiri and Indian Sufis were also residing in the western Xinjiang city of Kashgar throughout the 19th century. Brought from northern India, Qadiriyya and Chishtiyya teachings and practices soon became established in the region, though they never reached the prominence of Khojagān (Persian for “masters,” sing. khojia) Sufism—the formative strand of the Naqshbandiyya (Zarcone 2016; Deweese 1996). Naqshbandiyya traditions underpinned much of Xinjiang’s socio-political landscape, and were embodied by charismatic leaders (khojagān, or īshānlar in the local parlance), who presided over emotionally charged samāʿ gatherings—like those shown in Liu’s documentary—where tears flowed profusely. These traditions endured well into the 20th century and, at least until 2010 when the film was released, continued in sanctioned Sufi lodges in the towns of southern Xinjiang (Zarcone 2001, 2002).
Tommaso Previato
Bibliography:
Dawut, Rahilä (2009) “Shrine Pilgrimage among the Uighurs.” The Silk Road, 6(2), pp. 56–67.
De Martino, Ernesto (1958) Morte e Pianto Rituale nel Mondo Antico: Dal Lamento Pagano al Pianto di Maria. Torino: Einaudi.
Deweese, Devin (1996) “The Mashāʾikh-i Turk and the Khojagān: Rethinking the Links Between the Yasavī and Naqshbandī Sufi Traditions.” Journal of Islamic Studies, 17(2), pp. 180–207.
Ebersole, Gary L. (2000) “The Function of Ritual Weeping Revisited: Affective Expression and Moral Discourse.” History of Religions, 39(3), pp. 211–246.
Garrone, Patrick (2013) “Healing in Central Asia: Syncretism and Acculturation.” In Thierry Zarcone, and Angela Hobart (eds.), Shamanism and Islam: Sufism, Healing Rituals and Spirits in the Muslim World. London: I.B. Tauris, pp. 17–46.
Harris, Rachel (2020) Soundscapes of Uyghur Islam. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Light, Nathan (2008) Intimate Heritage: Creating Uyghur Muqam Song in Xinjiang. Berlin: Lit. Verlag Münster.
