The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan

Various Artists (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 23, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Smithsonian Folkways
• ASIN: B000063NDQ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #23,939 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
"What if Marco Polo had owned tape recorder?" This intriguing concept is raised in the liner notes to this impressive two-CD set, which wanders along ancient Asian trade routes known as the Silk Road. The first disc, Masters & Traditions, deals with formal styles performed by and for sophisticated connoisseurs. Meanwhile, the music on Minstrels and Lovers is played by amateurs who are part of daily life and thus reach a wider audience. The imaginary caravan passes through Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, and Afghanistan, encountering nomads, mystics, and bards along the way. The instruments are scratchy, pungent, and/or serene, while the singers weave a potent spell out of a millennium's worth of slow-changing rural and urban vistas. In the opening essay, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the project's artistic director, pleads for intercultural communication and empathy. This compilation provides an exotic, brave, entertaining first step in that direction. --Christina Roden

Product Description
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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Music from the Steppes and Deserts, June 1, 2003

By	Zekeriyah (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This is a wonderful two CD set of music covering the traditions of the Silk Road. Althugh it includes pieces of Chinese, Persian, Turkish, Azeri, Japanese and Armenian origin, this CD's focus remains strongly tilted towards the musical traditions of Central Asia; Afghanistan, Tajikstan, Uzbekestan, Turkestan, Mongolia and so forth. This is very much the tradition of steppe nomads, merchants and traders. While listening to the CD, you can see as much of an influence from outside sources such as Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Chinese and Indian traditions, as you can from traditional Central Asian sources. After all, for many centuries the Silk Road provided a trade route between the West and East, so this should not come as any surprise.
The first CD fouses on traditional, classical styles. In it, we are presented with some truely beautiful and emotional pieces. The Dance of Tamir Agha is truely exotic and seductive. Uchun Dur is majestic and inspiring. The Lullaby from Itsuki and Jiu Kuang express the calm, melodious sounds of East Asia. Mokhalef and Shushtari give wonderful examples of how wonderful Persian music is. And the River Herlen is just magnificent. All of these songs are positively breath taking. The second CD continues this, giving examples of folk music and religious music. Tjeresa Kazakh Jew's Harp melody, which is simple but intrigueing; part of the Alpamish Epic, which is a mournful but beautiful song; and several other examples of Nomadic folk singing. Then, we are treated with several examples of music from festivals, including "Mizghan-i-Siyah", an Azeri love song and "Charzarb". Finally, it rounds out with religious music, combining steppe nomad's animism with mystical Islam. Included here is a Kazakh song drawing upon the ancestors; a Kyrgyz wisdom song; a performance of the Sufi zikr; the Turkish Alevi mystics and the moving "Allah Madad" from Iran/Afghanistan. All I can say is that if you appreciate the classical, folk and religious musics of Asia or the Middle East, then you would certainly appreciate this CD. Buy it as soon as you get a chance.

2 of 2 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 1000 REVIEWER)

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

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

By	Bob - that guy from No Where (The Middle of No Where) - See all my reviews

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.