A good collection of something new
George Banjo | Seattle, WA USA | 07/29/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"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."
Very Diverse
Bryan Rosengarten | Seminole, FL | 02/05/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"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."