From the land of Turkmenistan I proudly introduce you to Ashkhabad. Here it is the Central Asian album of the decade with it's wonderful mixture of ancient central Asian funk and western string theory weaving around ideas of Asian theater music. Egypt sleeps with Bollywood having an affair with the Kronos Quartet. It's wonderful, it's bold and it's for you. It's what you need tonight.
I lost the notes, written by Peter Gabriel, years ago but the story of the singer, arranger, musician Ashkhabad is one that is hard to forget. A musician who was put off first by the communists and then by the new Muslim authority he went a bit mad- or was said by the authorities to have gone crazy - and spent some time in some kind of gulag sanatorium. Still, even after he was forbidden to play and compose music, he continued to play at weddings, getting any gig he could...I may have turned a one
sentence blurb about his troubled and neglected past into something of a myth but I don't think I am far from the truth.This album was bought in the days when I knew that anything the Real World offered would blow my mind. And this one did. I have taken it everywhere with me. Every time I listen to this album I hear something new; a rhythm blowing me away, a drum I didn't know existed, a note bending with the throat I didn't know could be poosible. I just love this music! It doesn't carry memories of my past but inspires my own ear to listen more intently as I let go and close off the world. This makes me want to dance like a dervish. The drumming, singing and strings will wrap you up and keep you warm though out the night.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/2gemmnc2kyj/CoL.rar
Enjoy the music: City of Light
