Oghlan Bakhshi’s New York appearance at Roulette Intermedium on November 1st was an entrancing and profound journey into the seldom-heard musical traditions of the Turkmen people.
The performance, “Journey Across the Steppes of Central Asia & Iran”, featured Oghlan Bakhshi, a virtuoso of the two-stringed lute known as the dutar, and the first indigenous Turkmen musician to bring this art to Western stages.
Oghlan Bakhshi’s own musical education began with his father, Abdolghaffar Geldinejad, a maestro of the gyjak (spike fiddle) who himself trained under esteemed masters in both Iran and Turkmenistan.
Geldinejad joined the performance, demonstrating the powerful, unbroken lineage of Turkmen music. Together, this acclaimed father-and-son duo shared a mesmerizing and rarely performed program of Turkmen music, bridging generations of master-apprentice tradition while transporting the audience with the ancient sounds of the Steppes.
Photo by Cinthia Menutole.
Always joined by his father, gyjak (spike fiddle) maestro Abdolghaffar Geldinejad, and the exceptional dutar player and bard Zyyada Jumayeva, the “child bard” demonstrated why he is heralded as the leading global ambassador of this art form.
The performance, centered around pieces from his album Journey Across the Steppes, was marked by the intense, guttural texture of Bakhshi’s vocal work and the astonishing virtuosity of his dutar playing. From heroic epic songs to the delicate laments represented by Jumayeva’s contributions, the ensemble painted a vivid, centuries-old soundscape that felt both deeply traditional and startlingly immediate, offering the audience an intense experience rarely witnessed on a Western stage.
Photo by Cinthia Menutole.
Zyyada Jumayeva sang songs and played as an exceptional dutar player she is, and bard from Turkmenistan, who represents the female bardic tradition. She has been performing alongside Oghlan Bakhshi and his father, Abdolghaffar Geldinejad.
Mohammad Geldi Geldi Nejad, known as Oghlan Bakhshi, in an entrancing program of Turkmen music. As a virtuoso dutar player and bard and a PhD candidate in Musicology & Ethnomusicology at Brown University, he has been enchanting audiences with his father and wife on stage.
His recent album, Journey Across the Steppes features 8 tracks of Turkmen traditional melodies:
- Babajyklar (feat. Abdolghaffar Geldinejad)
- Yagma bulut
- Salyk bilen
- Alemgosar
- Garrylar gerek
- Boy bibi (feat. Abdolghaffar Geldinejad)
- Zyba gozel (feat. Abdolghaffar Geldinejad)
- Humarala
The shows aimed to introduce the rich and rarely-heard musical traditions of the Turkmen people, who reside across northern Iran, Turkmenistan, and northwest Afghanistan, to a wider global audience.
The Title: Oghlan Bakhshi
The Meaning of the Title: The name “Oghlan Bakhshi” is an honorific title, not his given name. Bakhshi (or bagşy) in Turkmen music means an epic bard or minstrel—a person who can masterfully perform the dutar (two-stringed lute) and sing.
Oghlan means child.
Therefore, Oghlan Bakhshi means “child bard” or a person who has mastered the art of playing dutar and singing at a young age. He was granted this title by a council of Turkmen music masters when he was 10 years old after receiving a pata(a blessing given to disciples who have reached an acceptable level of performance).
This is a great achievement and a rarity: he is only the second person in the last century to be granted this prestigious distinction, the first being the eminent master Sahy Jepbarow (1905-1977).
In his early life, he began playing music at the age of six, learning alongside his father, Abdol-Ghaffar Geldi Nejad, a master of the gyjak (spike fiddle). His father, who established a music school in 2005, also trained him in the music. In 2009, he started studying at the D. Ovezov musical college in Turkmenistan, graduating in 2013 with his bachelor’s degree.
He also earned a master’s degree at Wesleyan University.
Photo by Cinthia Menutole.
🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️ 🎖️
#abdolghaffargeldinejad #oghlanbakhshi #zyyadajumayeva #turkmenistan #therouletteintermedium #brooklyn #NY #newyork #ny
at the end of a two hour show. Photo by Cinthia Menutole.
