Sanubar Tursun


Sanubar Tursun is a Uyghur female singer-songwriter, famous dutar player and researcher for Uyghur Muqams. Tursun released her first album in 2000. For over a decade her voice filled town bazaars and rang out from local taxis and long-distance buses across the Uyghur region in Xinjiang Province. She was a judge in the Uyghur language The Voice of the Silk Road. She was allegedly sentenced to 5 years in prison.

Early life

Tursun was born in Ghulja, to musician Tursun Chang. Her father taught her to play stringed instruments including dutar and satar. She trained and worked professionally as a chang player.
In May 2014, she gave a performance at University of London.
August 7, 2016, she appeared in Los Angeles.
Her scheduled performances in France's cities of Nantes, Angers and Rennes were cancelled in November 2018 after she encountered difficulties leaving China.

Disappearance

Reports claimed that she was detained by the Chinese authorities in November 2018 and sentenced to 5 years in prison. The actual charges against her are unknown. Uyghurs throughout Xinjiang have been similarly detained.