Folk Music of China Vol 6: Folk Songs of China's Tajik & Russian Minorities

You would be forgiven for mistaking this album for one from the former Soviet Union. It is instead music by the Tajik and Russian minorities in China, mostly in Xinjiang; however, their cultures are very different from that of the Uyghur, the main ethnic group of Xinjiang, making them minority in a minority area.

The ten-beat ‘A Flying Eagle’ is a good example of the unique rhythmic patterns and scales of Tajik music. ‘Why Are the Flowers So Red?’, the best-known Tajik song in China, is included on the CD with background information about its use in a 1963 film. While the rawap (long-neck lute) is the typical instrument used in Tajik songs, it is the accordion that accompanies most of the Russian songs. Ethnic Russians in China total only some 15,000, and have mostly been assimilated. This is a rare chance for their music to be documented, although the songs seem to be performed by professional musicians rather than amateur folk singers. ‘Harsh Winter’ sounds the most familiar, as it was recorded by the Tuvan group Yat-Kha as ‘Oh, Frost’.