Turdi Akhun

Also known as Turdi Ahun · Turdi Ahong

Turdi Akhun, also written Turdi Ahun, was a Uyghur folk musician born in 1881 into a musical family; even in his seventies he could sing the muqam entirely from memory. By the eve of 1949 the Twelve Muqam were close to being lost and he was the only singer in Xinjiang who could perform the whole cycle. In July 1951 and August 1954 the Xinjiang cultural authorities recorded him with Rozi Tambur and other musicians, and Wan Tongshu and his colleagues transcribed the performances into staff notation, published in 1960 as the score of the Twelve Muqam. He died in 1956.