SINGAPORE: Nomads, mystics and troubadours are set to add world music flavour to the Singapore Arts Festival.
Long-necked lutes, sinuous microtonal melodies, evocative epic songs, raunchy vocals and powerfully delicate jaw harps will take listeners on a journey into the heart of Central Asia’s panoramic landscapes and soundscapes during the Festival.
The concert programme will also present documentary films in collaboration with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, set up to preserve and promote the traditional music of Central Asia.
Said Will Sumits, Central Asia Music Consultant: “Within Central Asia, you can find many traditions of music: you have urban traditions of music, folk traditions, nomadic traditions, classical tradition, instrumental tradition, vocal traditions, epic traditions… and I think these varieties of traditions reflect the varieties of geographic environments in Central Asia and the different languages spoken there.”
A long list of artists will be featured during the festival, including father-daughter duo Alim and Fargana Qasimov, well-known for their virtuosic interpretations of the classical Aerbaijani art music of mugham, mountain singers from Kyrgyzstan who are revitalising centuries-old nomadic traditions, and female bards from Kazakhstan who have been pioneers in the performance of powerful epic and lyrical songs traditionally reserved for men.
Complete at the source, there’s also a video interview available.
Ismailimail 