Customer Reviews

Music of Central Asia Vol. 1: Tengir-Too Mountain Music of Kyrgyzstan

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Part 1 of a new trilogy that will lead you through some of the highlights (though not nearly all) of Central Asian music.
This series really must be heard and thought of as one work.
Highly recommended! The CDs themselves are top level productions, but the additional DVD and booklet in each is something that makes this particular series like "gold" for serious music lovers.

This may be the most important series of world music CDs ever. The Music of Central Asia initiative was set up by the Aga Khan and the Smithsonian Insitution to document the surviving folk music traditions of that rich part of the world, and to present it to the global community with enough background to get the most out of it. Each volume in the series comes with a substantial booklet with an explanation of each track and a presentation of the instruments, as well as a DVD with a short documentary film.

Volume 1 of the series features music by Tengir-Too, a Bishkek-based ensemble which explores the whole range of Kyrgyz traditional music. The main folk instrument of the Kyrgyz is the komuz, a three-stringed lute. They also have the kyl kiyak, a fiddle; the choor, an end-blown flute; the chopo choor, a clay ocarina; the sybyzgy, a side-blown flute; and both metal and wooden jew's harps. In terms of musical material, we have shepherd's ditties, dedicatory improvisations for patrons, popular song, and virtuoso instrumental tunes. But most impressive for me was a recital from the "Manas", the long Kyrgyz national epic, expertly delivered by the bard Rysbek Jumabaev.

I really admire how this CD encompasses the whole range of music on traditional instrument. Beyond representing folk music, it acknowledges Soviet-era compositions as a part of the culture. Generally, these sort of productions either offer only the schmaltzy socialist realist songs (think of Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares), or only ethnographic recordings of the indigenous tradition. Tengir-Too even goes further, writing a work for three jew's harps, a something new and fresh but a on very old instrument (it's is usually a solo thing).

The 20-minute documentary on the DVD is excellent. It features each of the musicians recorded here performing on their instruments, shows a komuz player teaching children how to play (an encouraging sign), and has plenty of shots of Bishkek and the wide Kyrgyz wilderness where this music hails from. The DVD is even vital for getting the most of the Manas recital on the CD, because only on the DVD can one see the traditional hand gestures of the bard as he recounts his tale, a vital part of the storytelling.

If you are interested in indigenous musical traditions, Turkic languages, Central Asia culture or are just a simple music fan on the lookout for something cool, I cannot recommend the Music of Central Asia series enough.

Sandwiched between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan on the west, Kazakstan to the north, and China at the southeast, small Kyrgystan has been called the Switzerland of Central Asia. Even the warm ornate traditional costumes of its peoples suggest those of its European alpine sister nation. Of all the Central Asian musics, I find that of Kyrgyzstan to be the loveliest, the gentlest, the most lyrical. The komuz, a lute, with its synthethic strings is soft in tone, and the songs by women vocalists are sweet. This album presents traditional yet twentieth-century compositions and examples of the wide variety of instruments (choor and sybzgy flutes; chopo choor ocarina; wooden and metal jew's harps; kyl kiyak upright fiddle; and the komuz] and musical styles. Having heard the group Tengir-Too in person, I can attest to the excellent performance and quality of these recordings. Their acrobatic playing of the komuz, like Western rock guitarists, is probably unique on the Silk Road.

The separate 24-minute interactive DVD provides a good background to the teaching and preservation of this music and the creation of its instruments. The booklet has lyrics and fine photographs. The Smithsonian and the Aga Khan Trust have done a superb job in developing this series of recordings and videos. If you think that you know Central Asian music, with its Persian, Turkic, and Mongolian influences, listen to this album and be surprised and delighted.

Volume 1 of the "Music of Central Asia" series, Tengir-Too: Mountain Music of Kyrgyzstan is a deluxe music CD and DVD combination that brings to life the diverse musical culture of a region that has long been inaccessible to outsiders. Embracing Kyrgyzstan Jewish traditions of the harp, fiddle and plucked string instruments as well as moving vocals, Tengir-Too includes a 48-page booklet with color photographs, comments upon the region and its music, and the vocals in their original language and English translation. The DVD offers a series introduction, 24- minute film, interactive glossary, and map; the music CD has 18 tracks - Novelty (3:14), The Spoiled Girl (2:07), I Burn, I Smoulder Like Charcoal (3:27), Kokotoi's Memorial Feast (6:26), Gift (2:07), Impudent One (3:21), I'm Sad To Say Goodbye (2:33), Attila Khan, (3:28), Ak Satkyn and Kulmyrza (9:10), Ocarina (2:00), Flower (3:36), On the Road (2:27), Soviet (3:11), I Remember (5:04), Wide Valley (2:39), I Miss You (3:31), Kambarkan (4:50), A Melody That Wakes Up a Girl (2:47). A truly unique, authentic and inspirational listening experience.

This CD came with a bonus DVD that gives short clips of the musicians in gloriously green mountain settings, at work in their villages, constructing their instruments, and saying a few words about why they play music. (They do not perform whole pieces on the DVD.) The CD gives a survey of different kinds of music, from the recitation of epics to various instrumental genres, and some vocal music. The DVD teaches us that traditional nomadic music is solo, by way of explaining that Tengir-Too is the name of a modern urban experiment in creating an ensemble of musicians who play/sing traditional instruments.
The liner album has at least a whole paragraph on each track, including texts in Khirgiz and English translations. The DVD also has a little pedagogical interactive segment that gives pictures, names, and comments on the principal musical instruments.