CHINA • THE MUQAM OF THE DOLAN

The Dolan are a sub-group of the Uighurs. They live in the immense desert of Taklamakan, in the center of the province of Xinjiang or Chinese Turkestan. This CD is devoted to their canonical musical repertory, the muqam, which includes nine suites performed by three singers-drummers, a lutenist, a zither player and a spike fiddle player. This music, with its outbursts, its torn voices and its powerful drumming, evokes the Dolan village feasts and deserves its nickname of "Uighur Jazz".