This beautiful and informative book offers a detailed introduction to the musical heritage of Central Asia for readers and listeners worldwide. Music of Central Asia balances "insider" and "outsider" perspectives with contributions by 27 authors from 14 countries. A companion website (www.musicofcentralasia.org) provides access to some 189 audio and video examples, listening guides and study questions, and transliterations and translations of the performed texts. This generously illustrated book is supplemented with boxes and sidebars, musician profiles, and an illustrated glossary of musical instruments, making it an indispensable resource for both general readers and specialists. In addition, the enhanced ebook edition, which is so comprehensive it had to be split into two ebooks, contains 180 audio and video examples of Central Asian music and culture. A follow-along feature highlights the song lyrics in the text, as the audio samples play.

Winner, 2018 RUSA Darmouth Medal for Excellence in Reference

Winner of the 2017 Public Outreach Award, Central Eurasian Studies Society

About the Author

Theodore Levin is Arthur R. Virgin Professor of Music at Dartmouth College and Senior Project Consultant to the Aga Khan Music Initiative. He is the author of Where Rivers and Mountains Sing: Sound, Music, and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond (IUP, 2006) and The Hundred Thousand Fools of God: Musical Travels in Central Asia (and Queens, New York) (IUP, 1996).

Saida Daukeyeva is a Georg Forster Research Fellow (HERMES) at Humboldt University in Berlin. She is author of Philosophy of Music by Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi.

Elmira Koechumkulova is Senior Research Fellow at the University of Central Asia in Bishkek. She is author of Respect Graces the Living, Lamentation Graces the Dead: Kyrgyz Funeral Lamentations (in Kyrgyz), and Kyrgyz Herders of Soviet Uzbekistan: Historical and Ethnographic Narratives (in Kyrgyz and English).

Reviews

This magnificent book has been many years in gestation, but it has been worth the wait. . . . No prior knowledge is required to enjoy it. And enjoy is the word. The chapters are short, vivid, and packed with human interest.

* BBC Music Magazine *

The Music of Central Asia is an incredible accomplishment. It provides a wealth of perspectives and is remarkably comprehensive in its coverage of the region.

* Asian Music *

"I foresee a next generation of enthusiastic young scholars encouraged to pursue research in part due to an initial encounter with Central Asian music through this volume."

* Notes *



Book Information
ISBN 9780253017512
Author Theodore Levin
Format Hardback
Page Count 704
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press