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Geneva, 18 November 2011 – As part of the opening of New Galleries for the Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum will co-present a concert of new music featuring music commissioned by the Aga Khan Music Initiative on 9 December 2011.

The concert, entitled “In the Footsteps of Babur: Musical Encounters from the Lands of the Mughals”, features musicians from the Music Initiative’s roster:

• Homayun Sakhi, Afghan rubab;
• Rahul Sharma, santur;
• Salar Nader, tabla and zerbaghali;
• Sirojiddin Juraev, dutar and tanbur; and
• Mukhtor Muborakqadomov, Badakhshani setar.

Homayun Sakhi, who leads the ensemble, is the most renowned virtuoso of the Afghan rubab (short-necked, double-chambered lute) of his generation. For more information about Homayun Sakhi, please see the Music Initiative website.  For inforrmation about ordering the CD/DVD of the ensemble’s music, please see Smithsonian Folkways.

Much as the Mughal Empire created a synthesis of music from various lands, the concert brings together five cosmopolitan-minded musicians from Central Asia, Afghanistan and Northern India with the aim of merging their musical instruments and traditions to create new sounds. The Music Initiative supports such efforts in a variety of contexts.

“In the Footsteps of Babur” refers to the first Mughal emperor Babur, who began a journey of conquest in Afghanistan and Hindustan in the year 899 (June 1494) and eventually laid the foundation of the Mughal Empire in what is now northern India. The artistic legacy of the Mughals today range from music to painting to some of the most revered monuments in the world, including the Taj Mahal and Humayun’s Tomb.

A CD/DVD collection entitled “Music of Central Asia Vol. 9: In the Footsteps of Babur: Musical Encounters from the Lands of the Mughals” is available from Smithsonian Folkways. It contains 63 minutes in nine music tracks, a 44-page Booklet and a DVD containing a 22-minute film on the musicians and a film introducing the series, as well as an interactive glossary and map.

Tickets are US$35. Please see the flyer above for more information about the concert.

To view a podcast or video, please see: http://www.akdn.org/podcasts.asp?id=974

For more about the Aga Khan Music Initiative, please see www.akdn.org/music 

Read more at AKDN Org

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