As the first general introduction to the musical worlds of the successor states to SovietCentral Asia, this admirable work fills an important gap. Moreover, it does so in an individual andhighly attractive way, eschewing the would-be objectivity of a dryly analytical monograph in favorof a looser framework of travel accounts, each rich in specific and revelatory detail but, at thesame time, developing a series of thematic constants. To cover all of Central Asia in this waywould have been an impossible task, however, and what we are presented with is in essence anexploration of widely separated and contrasting urban and rural areas of Uzbekistan supplementedby forays into northern Tajikistan. Beginning in Tashkent, the itinerary proceeds successivelythrough Bukhara, Surxandarya, and Qashkandarya in the south, and Khorezm; then to Tajikistan(the Upper Zaravshan and Yagnâb, and Shahristan); and finally (following the fortunes ofBukharan Jewish émigré musicians) to New York.