Min-On Music Journey No. 95: Republic of Tajikistan

Welcome to Min-On’s Music Journey! Today, the Min-On Concert Association and the Embassy of the Republic of Tajikistan in Japan welcome you to Tajikistan, a mountainous country located in Central Asia.

Tajikistan – “With love from the altitude”

Tajikistan, meaning “Land of the Tajik [people],” is located in a strategically important region that has long served as a link between Asia and the Middle East. Around 90% of the country rests on highlands and with an average elevation of 3,000 meters, Tajikistan is one of the most mountainous countries in the world.

Pamir Highway

Travel guide for Tajikistan

・Learn about the history of Tajikistan at the National Museum

・Enjoy the spectacular view of the Pamir Mountains

・Listen to the sounds of Tajikistan’s traditional musical instruments

Tajik National Park

Dushanbe – the cultural heart of the nation

Located in the west of the republic, Dushanbe is the capital of Tajikistan. The name, meaning “Monday,” is derived from the day of the week, when a bazaar was held in a village on the site of the city. Today it is the center of culture and life, serving as the gateway to Tajikistan.

Dushanbe

Tajikistan National Museum

The Tajikistan National Museum opened in 2013 and offers a fascinating look at the history of Tajikistan dating back to the Stone Age. This is a wonderful first port of call for any visit to the capital. The museum features many priceless artifacts on display, including murals relating to the Sogdians, who controlled trade along the Silk Road for nearly 1,000 years from around the first millennium A.D.

Tajikistan National Museum

Rudaki Park

Located on the main street in Dushanbe, the beautifully landscaped grounds of Rudaki Park are dotted with lush greenery and beautiful monuments, providing a space for people to relax.

Rudaki Park

Monument of Ismoil Somoni

To the south lies a monument to national hero Ismoil Somoni and the National Library, and to the west is the Palace of the Nation – the official residence of the President of Tajikistan.

Pamir – the “Roof of the World”

Pamir Mountain

The eastern region of Tajikistan is home to the Pamir Mountains, the fringes of which penetrate Afghanistan and China. Breathtaking views and unexplored landscapes await travelers in this mountainous region including peaks over 7,000 meters high.

Stunning scenery the length of the Pamir Highway

The Pamir Highway stretches several hundred kilometers along the Pamir Mountains. Speeding along the highway against a panoramic skyline backdrop invokes the eerie feeling of perhaps being the only person on Earth.

Pamir Highway

Tajik National Park – a World Heritage Site

Covering one-fifth of Tajikistan’s land area and located entirely within the Pamir Mountain range, Tajik National Park is a vast Natural World Heritage Site. The park is a landscape of extremes, from dry deserts to alpine lakes and one of the world’s largest glaciers outside the north and south poles. The sudden shift from desert to tundra that can be seen here is one of the rarest sights in the world.

Tajik National Park

Tajik National Park is home to many spectacular and unique attractions, including the 77-kilometer Fedchenko Glacier and the mysterious seven-colored Karakul Lake.

Fedchenko Glacier (left) and Karakul Lake (right)

The mysterious Fortress of Karon ruins

Discovered in 2012, the ruins of the Fortress of Karon are located in an archeological site in the foothills of the Pamir Mountains. The ruins lie in a quiet meadow littered with numerous remains that serve as pieces of Tajikistan’s history.

The history of Karon is mostly shrouded in mystery, but a temple that is thought to be a relic of the Zoroastrian religion, coins dating from the second century, evidence of winemaking and other items that tell of life in those ancient days have been discovered, and the area is still under investigation as a site of historical significance.

Karon Ruins

The culture of Tajikistan

The culture of Tajikistan developed through a fusion of the diverse cultures that passed along the Silk Road with that of the nomadic Tajik culture. Here we introduce some characteristics of the country’s native culture.

Traditional musical instrument (left) and Buzkashi (right)

Nowruz (holiday of the spring equinox)

The Nowruz festival – a holiday of the spring equinox – is celebrated on March 21 throughout the Central Asian region. Like New Year’s Day in Japan, Nowruz is a special day when relatives gather at their homes for a feast and whole towns celebrate the coming of spring with parades and dancing.

Sumalak, a special dish made to coincide with Nowruz, is a kind of jam made from germinated wheat, flour and water, and its sweet, rustic wheat flavor has become a hallmark of spring.

Sumalak

Tea culture loved by the Tajiks

Tea is deeply rooted in Tajik culture and a good cup of tea is indispensable when dining, entertaining or resting. You will find many teahouses (chaikhana) in the towns of Tajikistan serving a wide variety of teas, from black tea to Chinese tea and green tea.

Rohat Teahouse

Listed by CNN as one of the world’s top eleven teahouses, the Rohat teahouse in Dushanbe is one of the oldest teahouses in Tajikistan and is cherished by the people as a place for social gatherings.

The musical culture of Tajikistan

The musical culture of Tajikistan combines the unique essence of the Tajik people with Persian, Chinese and Indian elements.

Traditional Tajik Dance Performance

Many of its traditional musical instruments are shared with the surrounding countries of Central Asia.

Dutar	A popular pear-shaped two-stringed lute with a long neck made of wood-copper
Tanbur	A stringed instrument with 3-10 metal strings originating in West and Central Asia
Sato	A bowed tanbur

Tajik Girl in National Dress Playing musical Instrument

We are pleased to present two traditional instrumental performances by leading Tajik musicians from the Republic of Tajikistan Culture Day Commemorative Concert that was co-hosted by Min-On and the Embassy of the Republic of Tajikistan in 2018.

Ay yor yor (Fellow)

Mehan (Love of Homeland)

There are other distinctive traditional musical genres in Tajikistan as detailed below.

Shash Maqam (left) and Falak (right)

Shash Maqam

This genre means “six kinds of maqam” and is a maqam (Arabic musical scale/mode) from Tajikistan. Developed over a period of 1,000 years, shash maqam is a fusion of voices, instruments and literary poetry. The lyrics are drawn from Persian Sufi (practitioners of Islamic mysticism) poetry on tragic love and the instruments are played so as to not disturb the voices.

Falak

Falak is the traditional folk music of the southeastern and mountainous regions of Tajikistan and means “heaven,” “fortune” or “universe.” Falak performed in a variety of configurations, including acapella, single instrumental accompaniment, ensemble and with dancers, and is characterized by its unique style of poetry recitals to a beat-less rhythm and its high-pitched register.

Falak lyrics involve themes of love, separation and reunion, and homelands, and the music is performed at annual falak day festivals, weddings and other ceremonies.

Video Recommended by the Embassy of the Republic of Tajikistan
In closing, we would like to present a video full of the charm of traditional dance and costumes, provided by the Embassy of the Republic of Tajikistan in Japan.

1.Dance with Tajik National Dress “Chakan”