I’ve been trumpeting our acquisition of the Aga Khan Trust/Smithsonian Folkways’ wonderful series about the music of Central Asia for quite a while, and we are starting to role it out this week. The first two are now streaming, and we will commence broadcast of the others on the 28th.  While the music captured in the series may strike our Western ears as dissonant or long-winded, it gives us a chance to step outside of our listening “comfort zones” and imagine ourselves to be from this part of the world. The programs help us do that by transporting us to places like the sweeping steppes of Kazakhstan, where people still live a nomadic life in round tents called yurts, to wedding celebrations and intimate personal reflections by the artists.  I hope you will find this series as fascinating as I do, and if as the series rolls out, you want to hear more of the music, you can visit the Smithsonian website.

Note:  My first foray into blogdom starts soon, and we’ll be posting my coverage of the NY Gypsy Festival—and who knows, maybe some other goodies, too. I’ll keep you posted, so keep checking in.