Musical Argonauts of Central Asia
The Aga Khan Music Programme's Quest to Revitalize Cultural Heritage
Published on 2. December 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
314 pages
978-0-253-07444-7 (ISBN)
Description
Musical Argonauts of Central Asia tells the story of the Aga Khan Music Programme (AKMP) and its sustained efforts to revitalize Central Asian musical heritage in the wake of seven decades of Soviet rule.
Theodore Levin, who worked with the program since its inception, offers an insider's account of how the AKMP's development tactics and strategies were formulated and their outcomes assessed. In doing so, Levin addresses fundamental questions about the power of music and what NGOs can do to help shape music's social impact: In what sense are music, musicians, and musical life amenable to interventions by a development organization? What do such interventions contribute to the quality of life of their beneficiaries? And what does an ethical development intervention in music look like? In chronicling the work of the AKMP, Levin establishes the bona fides of a type of institutional cultural activism that isn't captured by rubrics such as applied ethnomusicology, public folklore, and safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.
Featuring case studies of country-specific interventions in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Musical Argonauts of Central Asia provides a practical roadmap for aspiring activist ethnomusicologists and folklorists that models best practices, analyzes failures, and advocates for the role that ethnographers can and should play in international development organizations.
Theodore Levin, who worked with the program since its inception, offers an insider's account of how the AKMP's development tactics and strategies were formulated and their outcomes assessed. In doing so, Levin addresses fundamental questions about the power of music and what NGOs can do to help shape music's social impact: In what sense are music, musicians, and musical life amenable to interventions by a development organization? What do such interventions contribute to the quality of life of their beneficiaries? And what does an ethical development intervention in music look like? In chronicling the work of the AKMP, Levin establishes the bona fides of a type of institutional cultural activism that isn't captured by rubrics such as applied ethnomusicology, public folklore, and safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.
Featuring case studies of country-specific interventions in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Musical Argonauts of Central Asia provides a practical roadmap for aspiring activist ethnomusicologists and folklorists that models best practices, analyzes failures, and advocates for the role that ethnographers can and should play in international development organizations.
Reviews / Votes
"This unique book spans personal memoir, ethnomusicology, development studies, and the cultural history of Central Asia. Levin's description of the Aga Khan Music Programme is as absorbing and moving as the musicking worlds that are the book's subject." - Shahzad Bashir, Dean, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, Aga Khan University"With his brilliantly produced concerts and wonderful recordings, Ted Levin has long been my guide to the music of Central Asia. Levin's new book provides a fascinating account of how he and colleagues at the Aga Khan Foundation triggered a revival of the teaching, performing and appreciation of the region's traditional music. Filled with anecdote and vivid characters, including villainous ex-Soviet bureaucrats and heroic virtuosi, Musical Argonauts of Central Asia is an inspiring and illuminating read." - Joe Boyd, author of And the Roots of Rhythm Remain: A Journey through Global Music
"Musical Argonauts of Central Asia is a truly unique and uniquely valuable contribution to ethnomusicology and development studies. It addresses deep theoretical dilemmas without pedantry; to the contrary, it carries the reader along with the momentum of a page-turner. The story is gripping, with many fascinating twists and turns, and it raises the most important issues in marvelously vivid ways." - Marc A. Perlman, author of Unplayed Melodies: Javanese Gamelan and the Genesis of Music Theory
"Musical Argonauts of Central Asia grapples with fundamental questions regarding the potential for music to contribute to the well-being of people, particularly in the context of cultural development projects." - Richard K. Wolf, author of The Voice in the Drum: Music, Language and Emotion in Islamicate South Asia
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Bloomington, IN
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
72 color illus., 4 b&w tables
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-253-07444-7 (9780253074447)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Theodore Levin
Musical Argonauts of Central Asia
The Aga Khan Music Programme's Quest to Revitalize Cultural Heritage
E-Book
12/2025
Indiana University Press
€24.49
Available for download
Person
Theodore Levin is the Arthur R. Virgin Professor of Music at Dartmouth College. He first visited Central Asia in 1974 and has been traveling there ever since. As an advocate for music and musicians from other cultures, he has written books, produced recordings, curated concerts and festivals, and contributed to international arts initiatives, including, since 2000, the Aga Khan Music Programme. His previous books include Where Rivers and Mountains Sing: Sound, Music, and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond; The Hundred Thousand Fools of God: Musical Travels in Central Asia (and Queens, New York); and, as lead editor, The Music of Central Asia.
Content
Accessing Audiovisual Materials
Acknowledgments
Note on Transliteration
List of Acronyms
Preface
Prologue: The Conundrum of Cultural Heritage
1. The Prince and the Ethnomusicologist
2. Revitalizing Central Asian Music
3. The Little NGO that Could: Centre Ustatshakirt and the Future of the Past in Kyrgyzstan
4. Putting Central Asian Music on the World Stage
5. Measuring Music's Impact
6. The Aga Khan Master Musicians (AKMM): Pluralists, Orientalists, Cultural Appropriators, or All of the Above?
7. Inventing a Music Prize: The Aga Khan Music Awards
8. Taking Stock: The Ethnography of Impact
Epilogue
Notes
References
Index
Acknowledgments
Note on Transliteration
List of Acronyms
Preface
Prologue: The Conundrum of Cultural Heritage
1. The Prince and the Ethnomusicologist
2. Revitalizing Central Asian Music
3. The Little NGO that Could: Centre Ustatshakirt and the Future of the Past in Kyrgyzstan
4. Putting Central Asian Music on the World Stage
5. Measuring Music's Impact
6. The Aga Khan Master Musicians (AKMM): Pluralists, Orientalists, Cultural Appropriators, or All of the Above?
7. Inventing a Music Prize: The Aga Khan Music Awards
8. Taking Stock: The Ethnography of Impact
Epilogue
Notes
References
Index