Preface

Hiromi Lorraine Sakata

This special issue of Ethnomusicology Forum is devoted to the music of Central Asia, a
cultural/geographical area whose names and geographical reach have fluctuated
throughout recent history. Known as Transoxania, Tartary, Turkestan and, more
recently, as Central or Inner Asia, and jocularly or flippantly referred to as the land of
the -stans, it was the prize sought in the Great Game of the 19th century, the
Anglo-Russian quest for rule and influence in this part of the world.
Although Central Asians are divided into different ethnic and political groups
speaking a variety of languages, they share certain common cultural traits and
historical experiences that are prominent in the discussions in the following articles.
These traits and histories resonate with one another when all the articles in this
issue are considered as a whole. The articles discuss the changes brought about by
years of political domination by the Soviet Union and later independence, of war
(Afghanistan) and civil war (Tajikistan and Afghanistan), and reflect on how the
resulting changes in political power and authority affected the music and identity of
the Tajiks, Uzbeks, Afghans and, more generally, the Central Asians.
Jean During, in his article, Power, Authority and Music in the Cultures of Inner
Asia, discusses how official state directives concern and influence the formulation of
cultural and national identity. He discusses how outside, colonial, socialist and
nationalist ideologies dictated official language and transcription regulations, the
creation of academic music schools, and censorship policies that exerted pressures to
downplay individual or small group/ethnic identities and establish in their place large
group/national identities. He uses well-chosen examples from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan,
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Iran to illustrate how effectively
official, authoritative policies brought about changes in the musical traditions of
the wider geographical region of Inner Asia. After the fall of communism and the
establishment of the independent Central Asian states, During observes the
resurgence of the prominence of individual artists (soloists and bards) trained in
the oral tradition.
Lorraine Sakata is Professor Emeritus of Ethnomusicology at UCLA. She first conducted field research in
Afghanistan in 1966/67. Since then she has worked and continues to work in Afghanistan, Pakistan and
Tajikistan. She is the author of Music in the mind: Concepts of music and musician in Afghanistan (Smithsonian
Institution Press, 2000) and numerous articles on the music of these areas. Email: sakata@arts.ucla.edu
ISSN 1741-1912 (print)/ISSN 1741-1920 (online) # 2005 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/17411910500329963
Ethnomusicology Forum
Vol. 14, No. 2, November 2005, pp. 127/129
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In Musical Heritage and National Identity in Uzbekistan, Alexander Djumaev
explores the concept of musical heritage and the notion of an Uzbek national musical
identity as it developed in the beginning of the twentieth century, and particularly
how it has been actively used since 1991 to form a national self-consciousness and
cultural identity. Djumaev relies on two types of sources, written texts including
music notation and a body of national melodies and aspects of musical style or
intonations. Like During, Djumaev points to the significance of language policy in
constructing divisions between nations with a shared cultural heritage, as in the case
of Bukhara, the home of an old Arab-Iranian musical culture. In an attempt to
nationalize the Bukharan Shashmaqom repertoire, the music was notated without its
mainly Persian-Tajik texts, and Persian-language scholars and musicians were
identified as Uzbeks. Subsequent works published in Uzbekistan referred to the
Shashmaqom as Uzbek national music without reference to its Bukharan-Tajik
origins. According to Djumaev, since 1991, the Uzbeks have resumed the process of
constructing an Uzbek national music and identity with the important addition of an
Islamic element.
Federico Spinetti discusses the relation between musical styles and cultural
identities in Tajikistan. Open Borders. Tradition and Tajik Popular Music: Questions
of Aesthetics, Identity and Political Economy focuses on musical changes brought
about by Europeanization and nation-building under the Soviets, and more recently
by the growing interest in commercial, popular music. Spinetti argues that the
adoption of standardized performance modalities enabled local musics to find a
place among their peers in the parade of national heritages of the USSR. The place of
estrada or popular music in Tajikistan is interesting for its role in defining new trends
in Tajik identity. In post-Soviet Tajikistan, musicians such as Gulchehra Sodiqova
have successfully represented their music as both traditional and popular, and their
strategies of musical identity construction draw on, and are directed towards, their
own regional constituencies.
In So Near, So Far: Kabuls Music in Exile, John Baily addresses the issues of
continuity and change in two Afghan refugee populations in Peshawar, Pakistan, and
Fremont, California. As a consequence of 30 years of war and political strife in
Afghanistan, a significant number of the population of its capital, Kabul, emigrated
and formed refugee communities in Pakistan, Europe and North America. In
discussing the music of the refugee population in Peshawar, Baily saw minimal
change from that formerly found in Kabul and an effort by the refugee population
consciously to keep their cultural identity alive in the place of exile. By contrast, he
saw significant changes in attitude, repertoire and representation of music in
Fremont. He points to the difference in the profile of the refugees in Fremont and the
weakening significance of traditional Afghan social structure, particularly for the
young Afghan Americans. He suggests that the development of a New Afghan
music is helping to create a new identity as permanent citizens of the United
States.
128 H. L. Sakata
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Razia Sultanova, guest editor of this special issue, understands the importance
of bringing attention to the role of music in building national identities in Central
Asia at this particular time. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the former
Central Asian Republics find themselves in the position of creating or reinventing
their own national identities. Understated, but significant in all the articles is the role
of Islam in formulating these identities. By bringing together the contributions of
some of the most eminent scholars of Central Asian music, Sultanova provides an
invaluable and timely resource for ethnomusicologists, scholars and those with
interests in Central Asia.
Ethnomusicology Forum 129
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