FALAK - THE VOICE OF DESTINY: TRADITIONAL, POPULAR & SYMPHONIC MUSIC OF TAJIKISTAN
VARIOUS ARTISTS TSCD932D

Recordings, text & compilation by Federico Spinetti

Falak, (literally “sky” or “destiny”) is a characteristic musical genre of the rural mountain regions of Tajikistan in Central Asia. Falak songs “cry to the sky” of the transient nature of life and separation from loved ones induced by a perceived inescapable fate. Tajik mountain music also comprises folk, dance and wedding songs, as well as a tradition of epic singing and settings of Persian classical poems.

This double CD highlights the crossover – the continuity and change – between rural and urban, traditional and modern, old and new, and includes exciting contemporary popular and symphonic music. Whether rooted in local practices or borrowed from elsewhere, all these musical expressions belong ultimately to the Tajik people and forma fertile musical world with a distinctive Tajik character.

• BBC Music Magazine

• "The first part of this remarkable double CD reveals the musical secrets of the Pamirs – those mountains north of Afghanistan described as the roof of the world – long held notes with rock form intonation ending in a hard shake and a dying fall—fascinating." Independent on Sunday

• "This remarkable double CD brings a forgotton musical culture to light" The Scotsman

• "A praiseworthy and valuable contribution to the ever-growing world of recordings and scholarship dedicated to Central Asian music." Ethnomusicology

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From the World & Traditional Music Section of the British Library Sound Archive>>