Music, Poetry and Identity in Badakshan, Tajikistan: Singing and Sounding Community

Authors

Chorshanbe Goibnazarov, University of Central Asia

Files

Description

An illuminating account of Ismaili music, spiritual poetry and social change in Badakhshan.

In the riverine valleys of the Pamir Mountains of Tajik Badakhshan, a thriving millennium-old community of Nizari Ismaili Muslims created a unique spiritual culture in which the performance of music and poetry plays a central role. This book focuses on the central musical and poetic tradition of the Pamiri Ismailis, qasīda-khonī (also known as maddo), tracing its origins, evolution, delocalisation and relocation.

This book introduces readers to leading performers of qasīda-khonī and to the Ismaili gnosis that inspires its music and poetry.

• Based on six years of fieldwork

• Illuminates a little-known and fragile musical tradition as it faces the challenges of secularisation, globalisation and politicisation of Pamiri culture

• Contributes to the ongoing debate about the licitness of music in Islam and demonstrates that music is part of the everyday life of Pamiri Ismaili Muslims, inseparably linking religious and secular dimensions of their lives

ISBN

9781399533911

Publication Date

7-2025

Publisher

Edinburgh University Press, AKU-ISMC and AKMP

City

Edinburgh

Keywords

Badakshan, Central Asian music, Ismailis, music in Islam, Pamirs, Tajikistan

Disciplines

Audio Arts and Acoustics | Ethnomusicology | Islamic Studies | Music Performance | Music Practice | Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures | Race and Ethnicity | Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies | Regional Sociology | Sociology of Religion

Recommended Citation

Goinazarov, Chorshanbe (2025), Music Poetry and Identity in Badakshan, Tajikistan Singing and Sounding Community, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, AKU-ISMC and AKMP.