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Sounds of the Silk Road: Musical Instruments of Asia. Text by Mitchell Clark. Boston: MFA Publications, 2005. 168 pp., 100 color plates, color map.
Sounds of the Silk Road begins from the premise that musical instruments can teU a "particularly rich story" (4). One story that they may tell is the connection between music cultures and musical instruments in the areas along the ancient Asian trade routes known as the Silk Road. Thus, in a general sense, musical instruments are "among the world's most telling cultural artifacts, reflecting an elaborate marriage of technology, artistry, symbolism, and religious beliefs" (4). While this book does not attempt to investigate this nexus in a theoretical or detailed way - and one is tempted to ask in what myriad other ways musical instruments may be evocative - the book does cover a wide swath of attractively photographed and documented musical instruments from regions along the Silk Road.
The book's strong point is its combined breadth of coverage with narrative and visual documentation. This aspect reflects the book's genesis as a catalog for a 2005 exhibit of the same name at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA). Aside from the book's visual appeal and sampling of instruments, it wül not likely be a source of new information or ideas for scholars or specialists in the region. It would, however, be a useful teaching resource for iUustrating instrument types and variations, and it would serve as a good starting point for those wishing to explore the variety of musical instruments over a broad swath of Asia.
The book opens with an introductory essay that provides vague overviews of Asian musical culture, touches on the Silk Road, and suggests the provenance of the MFA collection. The major part of the book presents the instruments in three major sections organized by regions: East Asia (China, Japan, Korea); Southeast Asia (Thailand, Burma, Java); and South, Central, and West Asia (India, Tibet, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey). The back matter includes endnotes, a rudimentary glossary, a clear map of the region, lists of suggestions for further reading and listening, and an index of instruments listed in the book.
The musical instruments featured in the book come from collections held by the MFA. Many of...