Uighur traditional music, played with national instruments, is part of Uighur daily life. There are no holidays, parties or wedding festivities without music and dances, even a family gathering will end up with an enthusiastic dance and music. Uighur traditional songs are remarkable for their melodious originality. They can be heard both in solo, and in choral singing.

Singing is accompanied by music, which leads theme and variations of a song and emphasizes the songs rhythm. While singing, performers swing back and forth in tune of songs, and sometimes they clap in time with the music.

Today certain parts of Twelve Uighur Muqams, a unique creation of musical folklore, are widely popular. Folk songs and Muqams are performed to the accompaniment of folk instruments. 

The musical instruments:
Dutar: a string instrument with an oval barrel and a long neck, which has from 8 to 15 movable frets;
Rawap: a 3-stringed or 5-stringed instrument;
Tembir: a stringed musical instrument played by plucking;
Sitar: a lute with 3 metal strings; a stringed instrument with 9 strings;
Qalun: an instrument with 18 pairs of strings;
Gidjak with 4 to 10 strings.

Percussion instruments:
Dap or shaldap: a tambourine; 
Dumbak: a big drum; 
Nagra:a small drum; 
Tevilvaz: a kettke-drum –  and brazen cymbals. 

Wind instrument:
Nay – a reed flute; 
Sunnay – a pear-tree clarinet; 
Karnay – a long instrument made of a brazen pipe.