Rough Guide to the Music of Central Asia

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 31, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: World Music Network
• ASIN: B0006ZQ9D6
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #321,311 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Adai - Ulytau

2. Fergana Tanovar - Turgun Alimatov

3. Adolatingman - Sevara Nazarkhan

4. From The Station To The Mill - Ashkabad

5. Devonah Shaw - Davlatmand

6. Aktamak Koktamak - Abdorahman Nurak

7. Schoch Va Gado - Yulduz Usmanova

8. Yod Kardom - Farzin

9. Sary-Arqa - Abdulkhamit Rayimbergenov

10. Akku - Raushan Orazbaeva

11. Az Ghami Tu - Nobovar

12. Jygach Ooz Komuz - Kambarkan Folk Ensemble

13. Gongurbash Mukamy - Yagmyr Nurgeldyev

14. Song Of Karara - Ayjemal Ilyasova

15. Zhez-Kiik - National Ensemble Of The Presidential Orchestra

16. Oz'begim - Sherali Juraev

17. Garduni Dugah - Ari Babakhanov & Ensemble

18. Untitled - Munadjat Yulchieva

19. Bul Bul Zaman - Edil Husainov

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Asia's fabled Silk Road trade route once stretched from China to Western Europe and today, the region is home to a vast multi-ethnic musical tapestry. The majority of the area¹s traditions began in Turkey but Tajikistan¹s hails from ancient Persia--plus there were centuries of cross-pollination with passing caravans. The most ubiquitous instrument is the saz, a long-necked lute, which is also called the dutar and tanbur (Uzbekistan), setar (Tajikistan), dombra (Kazakhstan), or komuz (Kyrgyzstan). City-dwellers, with easy access to international influences, generally prefer a contemporary sound, while the songs of the nomadic peoples have developed along folkloric lines. Thus, the tracks on this set range from the cool electronica of Farzin, to Nobovar & Shams Group's English-laced hip-hop, to pungent rural ballads redolent of a wanderer's home fire. Together, they spin a seductive, shamanistic spell as old as the Gobi Desert, as young as dawn over the steppes. --Christina Roden

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good collection of something new, July 29, 2008

By 

George Banjo "George Banjo" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rough Guide to the Music of Central Asia (Audio CD)

If you want to hear something totally new, listen to this. It's all from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgistan and Tajikistan, with echoes of Afghanistan, Turkey and Mongolia. (It's delightful to try and guess which countries each song is from, and spot the simialerities between them.) It's vaguely simialer to Iranian music, at times, especially with EXTENSIVE use (a VERY extensive selection here) of songs on various long necked lutes like the dutar, setar, dombra, rabab, and many more. (They should have had pictures in the booklet of all the lutes - would have been useful)

Variety is the key word here. There's classical music, a lot of folk music, an awesome rendition of a Rumi poem by the bard singer Davlatmand (one of the best tracks), shamanistic trance music played on fiddle and lute, pop and folk-pop crossovers (most of the pop is pretty creative in mixing traditional and western instrruments), Tajik rap, instrumental bands, brass and violins (track 4 sounds like something from Romania) and lots of lute solos. I think about ten of the 19 tracks are instrumental, whether it's a lute solo, an instrumental duet, or a folk orchestra. I usually prefer vocal songs, and there are some interesting styles of singing as well. The liner notes are very informative.

This is a very rare project, showing the music of these strangely obscure countries. Why don't we hear more about these countries in the west? This disc makes you wonder. It brings to life a little know region.

If you like Iranian or world music this is something new and refreshing, and fascinating. You can say that you have some music from Tajistan and Kyrgistan, and baffle you're friends. Recomended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Diverse, February 5, 2008

By 

Bryan Rosengarten (Seminole, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rough Guide to the Music of Central Asia (Audio CD)

This CD was my first step into the exploration of the music of Central Asia. I stumbled on this over at the library (it's a great place to stumble on things). I'm not too familiar with the music of the "Stans", but this CD has proven to be a great introduction to this Westerner music freak. Overall, it's very diverse with both traditional and modern sounds. I find it interesting how some of the modern musicians incorporate those ancient sounds into modern music.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Check this out, July 9, 2011

By 

World Music Lover - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rough Guide to the Music of Central Asia (Audio CD)

OK it's tough to get past the opening track by Ulytau, which is truly spectacular, but the rest of this CD is unique. btw the Ulytau cd is available on Amazon. You're not likely to find a better conglomeration of tunes from such a diverse part of the world. Anything else by Rough Guides is gonna have more ethnic coherence and (likely) less musical interest. I am a serious fan of this CD and think that the various countries and ethnicities represented are excellently so. Listen to the clips and then get it