<p> The Silk Road was the ancient trade route from China through the Caucasus in the era when caravans carried commerce and culture across the world. <em>The Music of Central Asia Vol. 10</em> (released by Smithsonian Folkways) is the latest in an ambitious project by the Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslims, to expose, preserve and further the music of that region. The audio disc features performances by Wu Man, a Chinese-American master of the pipa, the lute common to the area, and a group of musicians from China's restless Uyghur province. The selections are traditional or written in traditional style and show affinity with the music of India and Iran as well as Chinaan unsurprising confluence given the route of the Silk Road.</p> <p> Disc 2 includes the documentary <em>Borderlands</em>, a making-of Wu Man's recording session and concert beginning with her encounter with the Uyghurs in a Buddhist monastery-turned-boutique hotel in Beijing. The older musicians she meets recount brutal stories from the Maoist Cultural Revolution, a period when berserker cultural destruction in the name of political conformity was incited and imposed on China. Fortunately, many of the traditional players survived and younger musicians have emerged to maintain the cultural transmission. One of <em>Borderlands'</em> most promising scenes was shot at a concert by Sanubar Tursun, a youthful performer whose audience was largely young and entirely transfixed. </p>
