A musical renaissance is going on in Kazakhstan.
Each month Songlines, the British magazine dedicated to world music, features articles and audio from around the globe. This month one of the articles is about the reinvigoration of traditional music and instruments in the country of Kazakhstan in Central Asia.
Once part of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country in the world and the largest to be land-locked. It also has one of the lowest population densities on the planet with fewer than six people per square kilometre with ethnic Kazakhs making up the majority. Inhabited since the Palaeolithic era, the northern Botai culture (3700 to 3100 BCE) has been credited with the domestication of horses and, naturally, horses feature in the traditions and music of the country.
To read more about how music is changing in Kazakhstan head over to the Songlines article here.