Submitted by Stephanie Selover
on
On March 5, 2026, the Central Asian Student Association and the Ethnomusicology Society at UW hosted the Silk Road Music Concert at the Tateuchi East Asian Library to welcome spring and honor the rich history of the Silk Road cultures.
Musicians honoring the Kazak, Kyrgyz, Persian, Turkmen, South Asian, and Uzbek traditions served as proud ambassadors of the Silk Road cultures, sharing their music and fostering connections among all those who attended.
Special thanks to Yerzhasyn Ait, Anara Jeenbekova, Ulugbek Abdurashidov, Jimmy Pollard, Shahin Shahbazi, and Azat Sesh for their moving musical performances. Students from Professor Talant Mawkanuli’s MELC 269: Music Cultures of the Silk Road class also joined in as student performers, sharing renditions of songs from Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan’s Dimash Qudaibergen.
More than forty people attended, making the event a true celebration of unity. After the concert, an assortment of sweet pastries, tea, and Uzbek chicken and beef samsas were served while musicians, students, and guests connected and shared heartfelt conversations. The evening ended on a warm note, underscoring the Silk Road’s spirit of bringing people together.
The Central Asian Student Association and the Ethnomusicology Society would like to personally thank the Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures Department, Jackson School’s Ellison Center for Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies, Persian and Iranian Studies, Turkish Ottoman Studies, along with the Asian Languages and Literature Department for their generous co-sponsorship and collaboration in making this event a success.