The Strings of Satar is a contemporary music and dance theatre production centered on the artistic tradition of the Twelve Muqam. Taking the story of musician and poet Amannisahan, together with the collection, transmission, and development of the Twelve Muqam, as its narrative background, the production brings together music, dance, poetry, theatre, and spatial performance. It traces the passage of Muqam through history and explores how this living tradition continues to be carried forward through generations of singing and playing.
The production brings together three generations of Muqam performers from the Kashgar region. Their shared presence on stage creates a tangible process of intergenerational transmission. Senior musicians carry with them the distinctive rhythms, vocal expressions, instrumental techniques, and sensibilities of traditional Muqam, while younger performers introduce contemporary approaches to performance, opening new connections between the tradition and audiences today. Here, tradition is not treated as a static cultural artifact, but as a living experience that continues to evolve.
In its performance language, The Strings of Satar brings together classical recitation, instrumental music, folk dance, narrative song cycles, and Meshrep. Instruments including the satar, rawap, tambur, dutar, and dap create a richly layered sonic landscape. Through singing, movement, and choreography across the space, Muqam expands beyond a musical performance into an immersive theatrical experience shaped by narrative, ritual, and the immediacy of live performance.
Rather than simply reproducing traditional modes of presentation, the production works from within the musical language and structure of Muqam while introducing contemporary stage design, lighting, moving image, and spatial dramaturgy. The performance space is no longer a passive backdrop: rooftops, courtyards, corridors, doors, windows, and the audience area all become part of the stage. Music arrives from different directions; performers appear among and around the audience; and the conventional boundary between performer and spectator is loosened. The audience is invited not merely to watch, but to enter an environment shaped collectively by sound, architecture, night, and the moving body.
The Strings of Satar seeks to present not only the historical significance of the Twelve Muqam as a major form of intangible cultural heritage, but also its continuing emotional resonance today. Muqam does not belong solely to a distant past, nor does it exist only in museums, archives, documents, or staged representations. It remains present in weddings, festivals, gatherings, work, and everyday life—in every moment when a melody is sung again, or a familiar rhythm begins to sound once more.
