Various - Digging Central Asia : Musical Archaeology Along The Silk Road

Drawn from recordings made across Central Asia between the late 70s and late 80s, this compilation gathers music shaped within the cultural machinery of the Soviet era, where folk melody, state pop and cautious experimentation intersected in unusual ways. Nasiba Abdullaeva's 'Ona (Mother)' opens with soft melismatic vocals floating above a restrained arrangement. Koma Wetan's 'Hasan' shifts the mood into psychedelic Kurdish rock, guitars circling in hypnotic motion. Sintez's 'Kishlogimizga Keling' reveals electric instruments negotiating gently with Uzbek melodic tradition. A fascinating glimpse into a musical world formed between tradition and ideology.

Death Is Not The End join forces with Maqom Soul for Digging Central Asia, an LP counterpart to their previous mixtape, compiling fully licensed recordings from ex-Soviet Central Asian studios between 1978 and 1989. Drawing together Uzbek, Tajik, Kurdish and Uyghur artists, the collection captures traditional folk motifs colliding with pop, rock and psychedelic textures.

Rather than tracing a neat history, these tracks feel like a series of rediscoveries. Radio commissions, state ensembles, student rock groups and theatre projects sit side by side, their differences as revealing as their shared threads.

Voices like Nasiba Abdullaeva carry conservatory training into Soviet pop formats while preserving Eastern melodic language. Groups such as Sintez (later Navo) and Tajik ensemble Gulshan negotiate the constraints of official VIA systems, balancing electric guitars, jazz-rock harmonies and disciplined orchestration against national folk foundations. Elsewhere, Kurdish outfit Koma Wetan and Uyghur ensemble Yashlik use rock and stagecraft as vessels for cultural identity.

Tape hiss, abrupt edits and raw timbres remain intact. The result is a richly layered survey of music shaped at the crossroads of geography, ideology and tradition.

Tracklist