Customer Reviews

The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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!

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.

I love the second disc. The first disk was not the best and seemed to consist entirely of the same type/meter of music. This is an ethnographic collection, however, so I understand that they are sampling all sorts of musicians from the same general (actually huge) geographic area, many of which share the same musical roots.

To return to disc 2 - wonderful variety and worth the price just for it. The first 4 songs are especially wonderful and contain mongolian throat singing - track 4 has got to be my favorite.

The vast majority the songs are string instrument/percussion based, with a few flute songs thrown in. There are no longs in english, so don't buy the connection if you want to understand the words! To me, that is part of the charm!

These two CDs include very interesting pieces from the silk road.

Most of the songs have Turkish origins, from different regions of Central Asia, such as Azeri, Turkmen, Uzbek, Uyghur, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Tajik, Karakalpak, and Khakas (Altay Turks) and others.

Other songs originate from Iran, Afghanistan, China, and Japan.

Since they are collected as field recordings, they are purely authentic.

My personal favorites are:

1. Fakhri Havasi
2. Balbyraun
3. Dilkash
4. Uchundur
5. Choban Bayati
6. Nava
7. Woy Bala
8. Lament
9. Mashq-e Javanan
10. Sanam
12. Charzarb

And all of the pieces in the spiritual section.

Listen to these CDs and you will be transported to your inner self.

This is the ultimate World Music collection. It features authentic sounds from vastly diverse cultures, assembled in such a way that they don't clash, they flow along like a caravan journey. If you're looking for familiar tunes, this isn't for you. But if you'd like to expand your musical horizons, I highly recommend it.

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.

I found this cd to be both enjoyable and long. It seems to me that I really enjoyed some of the tracks very much, but sometimes right after an enjoyalbe one would one that I said "ugth get over it". I will listen to it from time to time, but be ready to have time for it all. I can't say it's not worth buying, but I years ago had a long playing album called music on the desert road and I think it spoiled me for any other travel music thru Mid-East and Asia.

Thank you for this part of my research on Central Asia.

Some of the pieces on the first cd are "take away" great.
The secound cd is ...
I enjoy "world culture" music and sound however, the secound cd in this double collection was a monotonous let down.