Sogdiana: From Bukhara to Boston

Some Music

So, after my little rant about Pakistan, I decided maybe I should put something a little more lighthearted up as well. As you can see from my profile, my music tastes are pretty eclectic. I like all kinds of music, but I have to say, I do have a soft spot for Tajik music, and other Central Asian music (if it's good), is close behind. Unfortunately, it's pretty obscure, and most Americans are unlikely to ever encounter it any time soon. You never know though, because just a few years ago, no one would ever have guessed that Arabic, Turkish, or Greek singers and music styles would have made it into the mainstream music scene either. Although Tajik and other Central Asian music is distinct from Middle Eastern styles (it's closest to Iranian), it is similar enough that I think if you like Middle Eastern music, you'll probably like ours as well. Here's a link to the mp3 of a song that is currently among my top five favorite Tajik songs -

http://mp3.music.lib.ru/mp3/v//vatanweb/vatanweb-grtochikon_gichdala-2.mp3

*I tried this link later on to make sure it worked, and it was being a little uncooperative. If you have trouble opening it, just open up a new window, and cut and paste this into the browser.

It's called "Gijdala," and it's by a group called Tojikon (which means "Tajiks" in the Tajik language). I like a lot of their songs, because they are fast and fun, and sound modern without losing the Tajik musical identity entirely. If you like it, you can download that mp3 and many other Tajik songs from the main site, VatanWeb, which is at http://music.lib.ru/v/vatanweb/ . The only problem is that the website is written in the Tajik Cyrillic script. Still, if you have a fast connection, just check out the songs, and if you like them, download them. Although I would personally love to support Tojikon and other artists and groups by actually buying their stuff, that simply isn't possible here in the United States. Some other sites for Central Asian music are http://music.arbuz.com/ , which is devoted to mp3's of Uzbek music (also in Cyrillic), and www.afghanhits.com, which is RealPlayer recordings of Afghan music (in English and Persian script). Although I prefer Tajik and Uzbek music to Afghan music, there is some good stuff on that last one as well. If you are feeling particularly ambitious, you can take a look at this page http://www.omniglot.com/writing/tajik.htm to figure out how to transliterate the Cyrillic into Latin so that you can be a little less random in your choice of artists. If you do decide to do that, then take a look in my profile for some good Tajik singers and groups that you can find on VatanWeb.

If anyone knows of any other good sites for Tajik, Uzbek, or other Central Asian music, either to download or to purchase, feel free to let me know, because I am always looking for others.

posted by TojikYor @ 12:55 PM