Badakhshan Badakhshan is a historical region comprising parts of modern-day north-eastern Afghanistan, eastern Tajikistan, and Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County in China. Badakhshan Province is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Much of historic Ba ...

is a region of

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

with a unique musical heritage, especially that of the remote Pamiri Ismailis. Badakhshan's unique folk scene is said to be characteristed by the use of many chromatized tones (especially in falak) in a narrow melodic range, and the use of a characteristic minor-like scal

Instrumentation

Lutes are an extremely important part of Badakhshani music, especially the three-stringed shortneck lute played with a wooden

plectrum A plectrum is a small flat tool used for plucking or strumming of a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick and is held as a separate tool in the player's hand. In harps ...

; this is called the ''

Pamiri rubab The Pamiri rubab ( Russian and Tajiki: рубоб) is a fretless six-strung lute, carved from a single piece of wood with a skin head. It is played in the Badakhshan region of Tajikistan, as part of the Pamiri musical tradition. The Pamiri r ...

''. Other varieties of lute in Badakhshan include the komus, a three-stringed but unfretted lute played by the Kyrgyz of eastern Badakhshan, the

tanbur The term ''Tanbur'' ( fa, تنبور, ) can refer to various long-necked string instruments originating in Mesopotamia, Southern or Central Asia. According to the '' New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', "terminology presents a compli ...

, a seven-stringed lute with

sympathetic string Sympathetic strings or resonance strings are auxiliary strings found on many Indian musical instruments, as well as some Western Baroque instruments and a variety of folk instruments. They are typically not played directly by the performer (excep ...

s, the setar, with three melody strings and a number of sympathetic strings; the imported Afghan rubab and Azerbaijani

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bi ...

are also a major part of Badakhshan's lute heritag

Other instruments include the ney, a kind of flute, and the

Ghaychak Ghaychak or Gheychak ( Persian: غیچک) is a bowed lute used in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan. The name is similar to the Central Asian ghijak, but that instrument is more closely related to the kamancheh. Double-chambered bowl lu ...

, a spiked fiddle; the circular

frame drum A frame drum is a drum that has a drumhead width greater than its depth. It is one of the most ancient musical instruments, and perhaps the first drum to be invented. It has a single drumhead that is usually made of rawhide, but man-made mate ...

daf is also common, as is the accordion, brought by

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

ns.

Vocal music

Badakhshani music has a characteristic throaty, nasal sound which is a distinguishing characteristic of the area's vocal style. The ''madah'' is a kind of sung religious poetry, accompanied by rubabs and/or tanbyr with at least one da

List of Badakhshani musicians

Oleg Fesov Oleg Fezov, or Oleg Fesov ( tg, Олег Фезов) is a musician, and composer from Tajikistan, who composes and arranges his songs in addition to performing. In 1990 he graduated from Dushanbe College of Arts where he majored in sculpture. La ...

from Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan. *

Muboraksho Mirzoshoyev Muboraksho Abdulvahhobovich Mirzoshoyev ( tg, Муборакшо Абдулваҳҳобович Мирзошоев), better known as Muboraksho (Муборакшо) or Misha (Миша), was a Pamiri singer and composer recognized alongside Daler ...

from Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan. *

Daler Nazarov Daler Nazarov ( tg, Далер Назаров) (born September 8, 1959) is a Tajik singer, composer and actor of Pamiri origin. Biography Daler Nazarov was born in the Former Soviet Republic of Tajikistan. In the late 1970s, he created "Dal ...

from Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan. *

Nobovar Chanorov Nobovar Chanorov ( tg, Нобовар Чаноров, fa, ناباور چناراف) (born December 25, 1970) is a Tajik singer of the Shams group. The Shams and Nobovar Chanorov are known as Beatles of Tajiks. Created in 1995, Shams is today ...

from Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan. *

Madina Aknazarova Madina Aknazarova ( tg, Мадина Акназарова; born February 15, 1998) is а Tajik pop singer of Pamiri origin, as well as a performer of traditional Persian songs from both Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Biography Madina Aknazarova ...

his parents were from Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan. *

Samandar Pulodov Samandar may refer to: * Samandar (city), a city in Khazaria on the western edge of the Caspian Sea, south of Atil and north of the Caucasus * Samandar, Iran, a village in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran * Samandar, Afghanistan, a settlement in Ma ...

from Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan. * Temursho from Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan. * Takhmina of Avesto from Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan.

References

Tajik music, Badakhshan

{{Music of Asia