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Past Tours

2007 North American Tour
Seventeen musicians from Central Asia are going on tour in 11 North American cities from October 12, 2007 to November 9, 2007. The tour, “Spiritual Sounds of Central Asia: Nomads, Mystics, and Troubadours,” will provide North American audiences with a rare opportunity to hear music from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Qaraqalpakstan (an autonomous region in Uzbekistan). The artists, several of whom are making their North American debuts, will include the legendary Azerbaijani vocalist Alim Qasimov, whom the French newspaper Le Monde hailed as “one of the most beautiful voices of our era,” and his daughter Fargana; Bardic Divas, four women from Kazakhstan and Qaraqalpakstan who demonstrate the power and beauty of the female voice; and the Badakhshan Ensemble, which performs trance-inducing mystical songs from the majestic Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan and Afghanistan, an area known in Persian as bam-i dunya, “the roof of the world.” For more information, please see 2007 North American tour press release and tour itinerary.

Tengir-Too Perform at the Rainforest Festival in Borneo
Tengir-Too performed at the Rainforest World Music Festival from 7th to 9th July 2006, in Sarawak, on the island of Borneo, Malaysia. In its 9th year, the festival brings together performers from around the world. Apart from Kyrgyzstan, there will also be bands from Austria, Mali, Korea, Turkey, Canada, Mongolia, Latin America, Malaysia, Madagascar and France. The venue for this year will be the Sarawak Cultural Village, situated about 45 minutes outside of Kuching city.

2006 Tour of the United States
The March 2006 USA tour of Via Kabul: Central Asia Without Borders - presented and curated by the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia - featured three groups of performers: Tengir-Too, from Kyrgyzstan, The Academy of Shashmaqâm, from Tajikistan, and Homayun Sakhi and Taryalai Hashimi, from Afghanistan (via California). All of these performers are featured on Music of Central Asia, volumes 1-3, which was released by Smithsonian Folkways in March 2006. The innovative series, which will eventually comprise 10 volumes, includes a CD and a DVD featuring a documentary film on the musicians as well as interactive instrument glossaries and maps. For more information on purchasing the CD/DVDs, please visit the Smithsonian website.

2006 European Tour
The inaugural 2006 European tour presented masters of Central Asia's traditional music as well as performers who are revitalising the art form through new approaches to performance style, repertory, and technique. For information about venues and dates, please see 2006 European Concert Schedule.