Customer Reviews

Music from the Oasis Towns of Central Asia

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Whereas Tibetan music within China is being influenced by Han Chinese instruments, inflections, and popular styles, the Uyghur music within China's Xinjiang region remain steadfast to its Persian-Turkic roots. In this recording, we hear Central Asian instruments, the plucked two silk-stringed, soft-toned dutar and the five bright-toned, metal-stringed tambur, the bowed satar, various drums and shrill, reeded surnay, a shawm or oboe. Styles of playing are from northern and easter Xinjiang, although their muqam origin lies in the southwest, in Kashgar. This is an excellent CD; its music and the instrumental design can be studied and compared to the music and instruments of the Central Asian nations to the west, such as found in the series of Smithsonian-Aga Khan Trust recordings. Those who are interested in the Silk Road and its spread of music will particularly appreciate this album; the combination of oboe and drums is also found in the folk music of Ladakh, India, near Tibet. And for those who enjoy exploring unusual music from little known lands, you, too, will be pleased with this CD.

The music of Chinese Turkestan featured on this CD will transport the listener not only to Central Asia, but also to the very core of the Middle Eastern Makam tradition. This ancient Turanian people have preserved melodies and rhythms that may well be older than those found in Mesopotamia or Egypt. According to one theory, western China and Central Asia were the cradles of the music of the Middle East.