The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan

Afghan / Tajik Traditional (Composer), Armenian Traditional (Composer), Azeri Traditional (Composer), Chinese Traditional (Composer), Iranian Traditional (Composer), Iranian / Afghan Traditional (Composer), Japanese Traditional (Composer), Kazakh Traditional (Composer), Kazakh / Mongol Traditional (Composer), Khakas Traditional (Composer), Kyrgyz Traditional (Composer), Mongolian Traditional (Composer), Qaraqalpak Traditional (Composer), Tajik Traditional (Composer), Tajik / Uzbek / Bukharan Jewish Traditional (Composer), Turkish Traditional (Composer), Uyghur Traditional (Composer), Uzbek Traditional (Composer), Uzbek / Tajik Traditional (Composer), M. Salar Ahmadi (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: M. Salar Ahmadi
• Composer: Afghan / Tajik Traditional, Armenian Traditional, Azeri Traditional, Chinese Traditional, Iranian Traditional, et al.
• Audio CD (April 23, 2002)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Smithsonian Folkways
• ASIN: B000063NDQ
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #49,772 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

What if Marco Polo had owned a tape recorder? And what if his epic travels along the Silk Road had taken place not at the end of the 13th century, but at the beginning of the 21st? Far-fetched conjectures to be sure, but our compilation The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan offers a glimpse of the rich musical life that an intrepid and curious traveler like Marco Polo might find in the lands of the Silk Road today (During, Levin 2001).

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Northern Exposure, March 29, 2007

By 

Dr. Debra Jan Bibel "World Music Explorer" (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan (Audio CD)

This anthology is an outstanding survey of the northern section of the so-called Silk Road, taking us from Turkey, Azerbaijan,and Iran, through Uzbekistan, southern Siberia, China, and finally to Japan, but not in order, as the CD set is organized instead by category of musical function and the localities seem random. Although there are significant gaps in the styles, and I particularly miss the sweet lyric songs of Kyrgyz women, the powerful mugham voice of Qasimov of Azerbaijan, and more examples of the kylkobyz fiddle of Kzakhstan, the set provides a fine introduction of the musics of inner Asia and particularly the instruments. A glossary of instruments is provided, but unfortunately their images are often lacking. All the examples are short by necessity, when many traditional pieces are far longer in duration. For the uninitiated, it will take repeated listening to distinguish the uniqueness of timbre and rhythm from one land to the other; but this similarity of sounds helps demonstrate the role of the trade routes in sharing instruments and styles, such that the Japanese biwa, the Chinese pipa, and the Arabic oud all are related. If you want to attain some feel for the musics of inner Asia, then certainly these disks will meet the requirement.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just what I was looking for!, May 8, 2008

By 

Jean Raphael - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan (Audio CD)

When I needed music from the Middle East and Asia, this was the perfect purchase. I especially appreciated the detailed descriptions in the booklet that accompanied the 2 CD set. It was so colorful, informative, and well done! There is vocabulary, maps and pictures from all over Asia.
What a fabulous compilation of musical goodness!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Be a Marco Polo of music, May 6, 2007

By 

Bob from the Midwest (The Middle of No Where) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan (Audio CD)

Its rather difficult to review this in the regular like it/don't like it way. This is the endemic music of the people along the silk road the runs across Asia. Some of it sounds very strange compared to Western music, like study for an Anthropology course, while some of it very enjoyable.