Silk Road Tour 10 - Turpan - Abigail Washburn & The Village

This episode features Abigail Washburn and the Village collaborating with the Uyghur musical ensemble at Xinjiang Normal University in Urumqi. It also features footage from a trip the band took to the Silk road oasis of Turpan, famous for its raisins and elaborate underground irrigation system.

The Uyghurs are a Muslim minority in far western China who speak a Turkic language related to the language of Uzbekistan. At Xinjiang Normal University we were treated to a number of cool Uyghur musical and dance performances and an incredible meal of pulled noodles with a choice of about 20 different sauces to top them with. After that the Village collaborated with the musical ensemble in front of a boisterous crowd of students and faculty.

The preceding day we had taken a trip to Turpan, a couple hours outside of Urumqi. We visited the Karez, the underground canals that water this oasis in the middle of a harsh desert with water that flows down from the Tianshan mountain range. We then had a lunch of about 10 varieties of mutton. Mutton is big in Uyghurland. After that we visited the ruins of an ancient city which looked like the edge of the world. At one point on the Turpan trip our bus driver purchased two roasted goats pulled from the trunk of a friend's car and threw them in the luggage compartment of our mini-bus. It made for a gamey ride, but seemed very fitting for a Silk Road oasis town.

http://abigailwashburn.com

Full Silk Road Tour Playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/user/AbigailWashburn#grid/user/8A4BE13075AAFBDF

Tour Map:
‪http://g.co/maps/dnh73‬

Shot & Edited by Luke Mines

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Silk
• Road
• 10
• Turpan
• Part (music)
• Live Music
• Travel
• Uyghur
• Uighur
• western
• china
• Islam
• Urumqi
• Xinjiang
• mutton
• old time music
• world music
• Uyghur People
• musical diplomacy
• cultural exchange
• banjo
• tambur
• rawap
• dap
• raisins

[Dil97]

Tarim played by rawap ,,,, exellent !!! btw I love all videos turned in Xinjiang , thank you !!!

[easturkestan]

Rahmat sizlerge kalbimizning bulaktek issik kaynakliridin rahmat eytimiz

East Turkestan Thanks for all you and this uyghur music

[BwanaDoodle]

Great Video, thanks! I'll be leading a group of cyclists along the Silk Route next year. This will be great to share with them.