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Music and Performance in Muslim Contexts

Music, Poetry and Identity in Badakhshan, TajikistanSinging and Sounding Community

By Chorshanbe Goibnazarov

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Published 31 January 2027

About this book

An illuminating account of Ismaili music, spiritual poetry and social change in Badakhshan
  • Based on six years of fieldwork that merges the author’s local knowledge as a member of the Badakhshani Ismaili community with rigorous training as a philologist, anthropologist, and ethnomusicologist
  • Provides insightful content analysis and translations of poetic texts, audio and video materials, social media clips and interviews with musicians, community leaders, and state organizations
  • Illuminates a little-known and fragile musical tradition as it faces the challenges of secularization, globalization, and politicization of Pamiri culture
  • Contributes to the growing body of literature in ethnomusicology concerning the role of music in Islamic civilizations and Muslim societies while also making an original contribution to Central Asian Studies and Ismaili Studies
  • Contributes to the ongoing debate about the licitness of music in Islam by demonstrating that music is part of the everyday life of the Pamiri Ismaili Muslims, serving as a means of worship and remembrance of God and inseparably linking religious and secular dimensions of their lives
In the riverine valleys of the Pamir Mountains of Tajik Badakhshan, a thriving millennium-old community of Nizari Ismaili Muslims created a unique spiritual culture in which the performance of music and poetry plays a central role. This book focuses on the central musical and poetic tradition of the Pamiri Ismailis, qasīda-khonī (also known as maddo), tracing its origins, evolution, and eventual delocalization and relocation in new social contexts. The first study on the musical culture of the Pamiri Ismailis in almost 20 years, this monograph introduces readers to leading performers of qasīda-khonī and to the Ismaili gnosis that inspires its music and poetry—a foundational source for an understanding of Islam in Badakhshan as an amalgam of diverse cultural practices and multi-layered identities. In an era of cultural globalization, the circulation of qasīda-khonī and maddo beyond Badakhshan serves as a case study of global cultural flows, diversity, versatility, and connectedness.

Reviews

Chorshanbe Goibnazarov, uniquely qualified as a musical anthropologist and a Wakhi cultural insider, provides a perspective on music and poetry in the Pamir mountains that remains unmatched in its sensitivity and sensibility. A valuable contribution to the study of music and poetry in Ismaili religious contexts in Tajikistan and beyond, this work is sure to inspire students and scholars of oral arts in the Persianate world.
Table of contents

List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Notes on Transliteration and Translation

Introduction

1. Situating Qasīda-khonī in the Cultural History of Tajik Badakhshan
2. Learning, Practicing and Performing Qasīda-khonī
3. Performative Texts in the Qasīda-khonī
4. Mourning Rituals and Weddings: The Traditional Contexts of Qasīda-khonī
5. New Contexts: The Effect of Religious Globalisation and National Politics

Epilogue

References
Index

About the author

Chorshanbe Goibnazarov

Chorshanbe Goibnazarov holds the position of Assistant Professor and Research Fellow at the UCA’s School of Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School of Development. He teaches Cultural Studies courses at the Khorog and Naryn Campuses of the university. Goibnazarov earned his Ph.D. in Central Asian and Cultural Studies from the Institute of Asian and African Studies at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, and holds a Master of Arts in Muslim Cultures from the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations at the Aga Khan University in London, UK. He has been honored with prestigious awards including the Erasmus+ Staff Mobility Program Funding for archival research at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in 2023, a Fulbright Visiting Scholar fellowship at the Music Department of Harvard University for the 2019-2020 academic year, and an Excellence Initiative, German Research Foundation (DFG) doctoral fellowship of Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies in 2010. Prior to joining UCA, Goibnazarov dedicated six years to teaching English at the Health Promotion Training Unit of the Aga Khan Health Service (AKHS) in Tajikistan and worked as a Research Assistant in the Secondary Teaching Education Programme, Department of Curriculum Studies, at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London. Alongside his teaching responsibilities, he holds the role of Liaison Officer of the International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance (ICTMD) for Tajikistan.

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