Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Mahur (Iranian) - Bruno Caillat
2. Fakhri Havasi (Azeri) - Edalat Nasibov
3. Balbyraun (Kazakh) - Aygul Ulkenbaeva
4. Dance Of Tamir Agha (Armenian) - evorg Dabaghian
5. Dilkash (Azeri) - Elshan Mansurov
6. Uchun Dur (Uzbek/Tajik) - Jurabek Nabiev
7. Choban Bayati (Azeri) - Mailik Mansurov
8. Mokhalef (Iranian) - Hoseyn Qavami
9. Shushtari (Iranian) - Hasan Kasa'i
10. Lullaby From Itsuki (Japanese) - Kojiro Umezaki
11. Ker-Tolgoo (Kyrgyz) - Samara Tokhtakunova
12. Xiao Yue Er Gao ('High Little Moon') (Chinese) - Wu Man
13. Jiu Kuaang ('Wine Mad') (Chinese) - Yao Bingyan
14. Kharagay ('The Pine Tree') (Khakas) - Svetlana Chebodaev
15. Ilme ('Hook') (Kazakh) - Aygul Ulkenbaeva
16. The Gallop Of Jonon Khar (Mongolian) - Baterdene
17. The Nightingale (Kyrgyz) - Ruslan Jumabaev
18. The River Herlen (Mongolian) - Baterdene
19. Nava (Uzbek) - Turgun Alimatov
20. Woy Bala ('Hey, Kid') (Uyghur) - Nur Mahammat Tursun
21. Meskin II (Uzbek) - Abdurahim Hamidov
22. Ufar-e Bayat (Tajik/Uzbek/Bukharan Jewish) - Barno Is'hakova
23. Chabbiyat Tazi Marghul (Uyghur) - Uyghur Muquam Ensemble
24. Shawm And Percussion Band (Chinese) - Gongxiao Dasha Ensemble

Disc 2:

1. The Nomadic Sound: Jew's Harp Melody (Kazakh) - Edil Huseinov
2. The Nomadic Sound: Khai (Khakas) - Evgeni Ulugbashev
3. The Nomadic Sound: Tepen Kok (Kazakh From Mongolia) - Kelek Kumaqay
4. The Nomadic Sound: Kogmen (Khakas) - Slava Kuchenov
5. The Nomadic Sound: Excerpt From Alpamish Epic (Uzbek) - Jaule Bakhshi
6. The Nomadic Sound: Beyish Namasi ('Meoldy Of Paradise') (Qaraqalpak) - Qalbeke Uzaqbergenova
7. The Nomadic Sound: Terme (Kazakh) - Almas Almatov
8. The Nomadic Sound: Lament (Turkmen From Iran) - Dordi Torik
9. The Nomadic Sound: Mashq-e Javanan (Tajik/Uzbek) - Sirajoddin Juraev
10. The Nomadic Sound: Kuu (Kyrgyz) - Nurlanbek Nishanov
11. Traditions Of Festivity: Sanam (Uyghur) - Abdurashid Nadirev
12. Traditions Of Festivity: Charzarb (Tajik) - Abdullah Nariev
13. Traditions Of Festivity: Mizghan-i Siyah ('Black Eyelashes') (Afghan/Tajik) - Muhammud Rahim Takhary
14. Traditions Of Festivity: Love Song (Azeri From Iran) - Ibrahim
15. Traditions Of Festivity: Qara Olu (Kazakh) - Edil Huseinov
16. Spiritual Music: Kertolghau (Kazakh) - Sayan Aqmoldaev
17. Spiritual Music: Dargilik (Tajik) - Khodapanah Berdov
18. Spiritual Music: Madh (Tajik) - T. Soltan Qalbov
19. Spiritual Music: Zikr (Uyghur) - Naqshbandi Afaqi Brotherhood
20. Spiritual Music: Kyrgyz Wisdom Song (Kyrgyz) - Akli Sekebaev
21. Spiritual Music: Allah Madad (Iranian/Afghan) - Abdollah Sarvar Ahmandi
22. Spiritual Music: Alevi Song (Turkish) - Ashiq Faizullah Chinar
23. Spiritual Music: Sufi Hymn (Turkish) - Jarrahi Dervishes And Others

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66794 in Music
• Released on: 2002-04-23
• Number of discs: 2

Album 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.

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

Customer Reviews

Just what I was looking for!
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!

Be a Marco Polo of music
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.

Northern Exposure
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.