Published: July 28, 2026 | Author: Callum Brodie, guitar repair technician, Glasgow | Edited by Karl, Xinjiang Attractions
I fix guitars for a living. Fifteen years of fret jobs and cracked tops in a small workshop off Duke Street in Glasgow, so when my wife Shona suggested Xinjiang for our September holiday, I made one condition: we find the people who build the local instruments. This guide to Xinjiang music instruments comes out of that week in September 2025, most of it spent in Kashgar’s old town, where I watched a dutar take shape from a stack of mulberry staves and paid too little, by any fair measure, for a rawap I now refuse to lend to anyone. If you play anything with strings, or you just want a souvenir that isn’t a fridge magnet, this is what I learned about the instruments, the workshops, and the practical business of getting one home in an overhead locker.
Quick reference: Xinjiang music instruments at a glance
| Instrument | What it is | Typical price (2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Dutar | Two-string long-neck lute, mulberry body, the everyday instrument of Uyghur homes | 300 to 1,500 RMB; decorated pieces higher |
| Rawap | Five-string lute with a small round body faced with skin, played with a horn pick | 500 to 2,500 RMB |
| Tembur | Five-string lute with a very long neck, the lead voice in muqam ensembles | 800 to 3,000 RMB |
| Ghijek | Spike fiddle played upright with a bow | 600 to 2,000 RMB |
| Dap | Frame drum with iron rings inside the rim | 100 to 400 RMB |
| Where to buy | Kashgar old town workshops; Urumqi International Grand Bazaar for quick purchases | Workshops cheaper and better quality |
A week among the makers
Our base was a guesthouse inside Kashgar old town, and the instrument workshops turned out to be a five-minute walk away, clustered along the lane locals pointed to when I mimed strumming. There are maybe eight or nine shops in a row, each one doubling as a workshop, with finished dutars hanging from the ceiling like hams and half-carved bodies drying on shelves at the back.
The shop I kept returning to belonged to a maker named Tursunjan, third generation, who spoke about as much English as I speak Uyghur, which is to say none. It didn’t matter. I pointed at his gouge marks, he handed me the gouge. When he understood, via a translation app and a lot of gesturing, that I repair guitars, he pulled a stool over to the bench and let me watch the whole afternoon. The dutar body is not bent like a guitar’s sides. It’s built from narrow ribs of mulberry, each one shaped by eye, glued edge to edge over a wooden form, the way a lute or an oud is made. He used hot hide glue from a pot on an electric ring, the same glue I use for vintage repairs, and I nearly cheered.
The rawap was the instrument I hadn’t expected to fall for. It’s small, almost toy-like at first glance, with a round body capped in skin and a neck that ends in curled horns. Then Tursunjan’s son played one, fast tremolo picking with a horn plectrum, and the sound filled the whole lane. Sharp, bright, a bit like a banjo crossed with a mandolin but drier than either. I bought the one he played. 900 RMB after unhurried tea-based negotiation, and he threw in a spare set of strings and the pick.
Dutar and rawap: what makes them different
The dutar is the people’s instrument. Two strings, traditionally silk and now usually nylon, a neck as long as your arm, and a teardrop body. You’ll hear it in homes, in courtyards, behind singers at restaurants. It’s strummed and plucked with bare fingers, no pick, and the technique looks deceptively casual until you try it. The tuning is usually a fourth or a fifth apart, and simple melodies sit comfortably under the fingers within an hour. Of everything sold in the workshops, it’s the best choice for a beginner.
The rawap is the show-off. Five metal strings, most of them running in sympathetic pairs, a skin face that acts like a banjo head, and that piercing tremolo voice. It leads ensembles and cuts through a dozen daps at full swing. It is harder to play well and harder to keep in tune in a dry climate, worth knowing if you live somewhere with central heating. Mine went sharp all winter in Glasgow until I fitted a small humidifier in the case.
Both instruments are central to the muqam repertoire, the long suite-form music that UNESCO listed as intangible heritage. If you want the background on that tradition before you go, our guide to Xinjiang muqam covers it properly, and the broader picture of how music sits inside daily life is in our piece on Uyghur culture and music.
Where to find the workshops
Kashgar old town is the place. The instrument lane sits in the northern half of the old city, and any guesthouse owner can mark it on your map. Shops open around 10:30 Beijing time and the makers are at their benches through the afternoon. Kashgar has direct flights from Urumqi, roughly two hours, and the old town is a 20-minute taxi from the airport, about 30 RMB.
If your route doesn’t reach the south, the Urumqi International Grand Bazaar has several instrument stalls with a decent range. Prices run higher and the stock is more tourist-oriented, but the mid-range dutars I inspected there were honestly built. Our Urumqi International Bazaar guide covers the layout. For a sense of how these markets work beyond the buying, the piece on Xinjiang bazaar culture is worth ten minutes.
Hearing the instruments played
Buying is half the trip. Hearing dutar and rawap in context is the other half, and Kashgar makes it easy. Several teahouses in the old town host musicians in the evening; the century-old one on the main crossroads had a duo most nights we passed, dutar and dap, playing for a room of card players who barely looked up. That indifference was somehow the best part. This is furniture music in the truest sense, part of the room.
For staged performances, the song-and-dance shows in Kashgar and Urumqi feature full ensembles with tembur, ghijek and rows of daps. They’re polished and tourist-priced, around 200 to 380 RMB, but the playing is genuinely strong. If the dance side interests you, we’ve written about the styles in our Xinjiang folk dance guide. And if your visit lands on a Sunday, the livestock market outside Kashgar sometimes has an instrument seller working the crowd; the Sunday market guide explains the logistics.
Best time to visit
The workshops run year-round, so the calendar question is really about the rest of your trip. We went in mid-September and the weather was ideal, mid-20s Celsius by day, cool evenings for teahouse sitting. May, June, September and early October are the comfortable windows. July and August are hot in Kashgar, upper 30s, though workshop lanes stay shaded. Winter visits work fine for buying, and January prices are the friendliest of the year, but check flight schedules, which thin out.
One timing note for buyers: hide glue and skin heads respond to humidity. Instruments bought in bone-dry Xinjiang and flown to a damp climate settle within a few weeks. Going the other way, dry heating season, is when cracks happen. Whatever the season, ask the maker for care advice via a translation app. Tursunjan’s advice to me, roughly rendered: keep it away from radiators, wipe it, play it every day. Sound advice for any instrument.
Where to stay
Stay inside Kashgar old town if instruments are your focus. Guesthouses built around courtyards run 150 to 350 RMB a night, and being able to walk back to a workshop at 9 pm because you can’t stop thinking about a particular rawap is worth more than a fancier room across town. Mid-range chain hotels sit just outside the old city walls, 250 to 450 RMB, quieter at night. In Urumqi, anything near the Grand Bazaar puts the instrument stalls in walking range.
Eating around the workshops
The instrument lane feeds you well. A samsa oven two doors from Tursunjan’s shop pulled lamb pastries out every twenty minutes, 5 RMB each, and I ate an embarrassing number across the week. Laghman noodle shops in the old town charge 15 to 25 RMB a bowl. The pattern we settled into: pastries and tea through the day, then a proper polo (rice pilaf with lamb and carrot, usually 20 to 30 RMB) around 8 pm when the workshops shut. Nights ended in the teahouse, which serves tea and nothing else, 10 RMB, live dutar included at no charge.
Practical tips for buying an instrument
Play before you pay. Every shop will hand you the instrument. Check the neck is straight by sighting down it like a rifle, tap the body for rattles, and turn every peg. Wooden friction pegs should move stiffly and hold.
Ask what the skin is. Rawap faces are traditionally snakeskin, sometimes python, which is a CITES-listed material and can be seized at customs in many countries. Makers now offer goat skin or synthetic heads. I specifically bought a goat-skin rawap for this reason and crossed two borders without a question. When in doubt, ask, and get it noted on your receipt.
Negotiate, gently. Opening prices in workshops are fair to start with. I saw perhaps 15 to 20 percent of movement, settled over tea, never rushed.
Carry it on the plane. A dutar in a padded soft case fits diagonally in most overhead lockers; Chinese domestic airlines accepted mine without comment on three flights. Buy the padded case from the maker, around 80 to 150 RMB. Never check an instrument with a skin head.
Keep your receipt. For anything that looks old or expensive, a receipt stating it’s a newly made handicraft smooths the exit. The full picture on what customs care about is in our customs and border formalities guide, and for other workshop crafts in the same lanes, see the Xinjiang handicrafts guide.
A two-day instrument itinerary in Kashgar
Day 1: Morning walk through the old town to locate the instrument lane and drink tea in two or three shops without buying anything. Afternoon watching whoever will let you watch; makers are used to it and mostly enjoy the audience. Evening at a teahouse with live music.
Day 2: Return to the shop that stayed in your head. Play everything in your price range, negotiate over tea, buy the case, and ask for a strings-and-care demonstration. Afternoon at a song-and-dance performance to hear the instruments in full ensemble. If it’s Sunday, swap the morning for the livestock market run.
FAQ about Xinjiang music instruments
Can a guitarist learn the dutar quickly?
The basics, yes. Two strings and a floating scale of tied frets feel strange for an hour, then logical. Getting the strumming patterns right takes far longer, but simple folk melodies are reachable in a weekend.
Are cheap dutars from the bazaar worth buying?
As wall decoration, fine. As instruments, the 300 RMB tier is playable but roughly finished. From about 600 RMB in a workshop you get careful fretwork and better wood, and the difference is audible.
Will customs confiscate a rawap?
Only likely if the head is python or another protected skin. Buy goat skin or synthetic, keep the receipt, and you should have no trouble. Rules vary by country, so check your own import regulations before flying.
Can I ship an instrument home instead of carrying it?
Shops can arrange courier shipping within China easily; international shipping is possible but slow and hard on skin-headed instruments. I’d carry it on, every time.
Where can I hear muqam played live?
Scheduled performances in Kashgar and Urumqi run most evenings in season, and teahouse musicians often play muqam excerpts. Full traditional performances are long-form events and rarer; the staged shows are the practical option for visitors.
Disclaimer
Prices, flight times and performance schedules reflect our September 2025 visit and standard 2026 information; all of it changes, so verify before you travel. Import rules for animal-skin products differ by country and are strictly enforced in some, so check your home regulations before buying any skin-headed instrument. This article describes personal experience and general information, not legal advice on customs matters.
About the author
Callum Brodie has repaired guitars and other fretted instruments in Glasgow for 15 years. He travelled through Xinjiang with his wife in September 2025, paid his own way in full, and has no commercial relationship with any workshop or venue mentioned. Edited and fact-checked by the Xinjiang Attractions editorial team, who visit the region regularly.
