The concept of traditional music in Central Asia

In Central Asia, the cultures of national identities have been formed partly in opposition and partly in line with Soviet institutions. Hence, conflicting ideologies about what qualifies as traditional, authentic heritage are especially controversial. The Soviet government has often been perceived as an imposing monolithic cultural force, manufacturing and imposing national identities on its smaller republics through cultural reform. ¹ Music, an art form particularly important to ritual life and traditional cultural practices, went through several institutional and pedagogical transformations from the time of the 1917 Revolution to the end of the Soviet Union in 1991. Although non-Western musicians in many places in the world have adapted various European musical techniques, models and instruments, in Central Asia musical transformation took place within a wider ideological objective of developing indigenous folk culture. However, musical change is always a subtle and complex process, and the influence of Russian musical paradigms on those indigenous to Central Asia has not been as clearly undermining as it may at first seem.