After the spread of Islam to Xinjiang, the rulers also utilized Sama, a folk dance form, for religious activities. For example, they interpreted the movement of raising both hands as "Huda (God) is in the sky" and the movement of holding one hand on the chest as "Huda is in the heart" ...... . Although there are suona playing and iron drums beating during the Sama, laughter is not allowed, and the mood of the dancers and the atmosphere of the dance are solemn and dignified. Sama held in the monastery house, there is no music, with the imam's prayer, dancing while shouting a rhythmic "oh woo - oh woo!" The call. But in the folk entertainment occasions, the masses jump Sama, still full of joyful atmosphere. After the liberation, the dance is more robust and powerful.
Early in the morning of the Kurban Festival, the crisp sound of iron drums with the warm morning breeze, drifting to thousands of homes, people dressed in costume from all directions to the square of the Great Chapel, celebrating the traditional festival. Everyone dances the Sama Dance to the distinctive and powerful Sama tunes and the rhythm of the iron drums. The dancers move in a counterclockwise direction, starting with the strong sound of the drumbeat "dong", and gradually the tempo turns faster, the drums sound more powerful, and the movement turns to be exciting and enthusiastic, and many of them start to do the continuous jumping and turning and other skillful movements unique to the Sama Dance. The audience and the dancers echoed each other, and the mood grew higher and higher, ending in a joyous dance.
Most of the participants in the Sama dance are men, and sometimes there are also women, but they all dance together by themselves. Sama dance footsteps smooth and solid, full of labor and life atmosphere.
The movement of the Sama dance is closely matched with the rhythm of the drum. When "dong" is mostly full foot on the ground, stable and powerful, not hard and not immediately lift, with the effect of a note. When the power leg is lifted, the knee of the main leg has a clear flexion and extension, and the undulation of the body is also larger.
The hand is mostly a half-clenched fist in its natural form, and there is a clear yojimbo as it swings down and opens and bends and retracts. The body is swaying slightly from side to side as the hands are swaying, and single-step jumps and single-step jumps are common skill movements in Sama.
The Sama has a special tune, and before it starts, it often plays the familiar music of mukham or sai nai m, and then moves to the Sama music with the rhythmic changes of the drums.
The rhythm of Sama music is strong and distinctive, and can be basically divided into the following rhythms:
The rhythm of Sama music can be divided into the following rhythms:?
The main musical instruments accompanying Sama are suona and iron drum. The number of suona varies. Drums with different pitches of two drums as a group, issued "dong", "when" sound, forming a sharp contrast. On big occasions, sometimes there are two or three groups, plus a bigger drum with a thicker sound, to emphasize the sound effect of "dong". The rhythm of the drum determines the speed of the dance and the harmony of the movements. Experienced drummers can make the drum beats change in various ways, which motivates the dancers and the audience. Suona blowing tune is more flexible, not subject to the limitations of the drum, sometimes drag two or three bars of the long tone, or sound breaks of three or four bars, to highlight the rhythm of the drum.