City of Poets:

Mystic Music and Song of Central Asia – From Khorezm to Kashgar

SOAS – 14 October 2026 (as part of the Maqam Beyond Nation project)

Brunei Gallery, SOAS

Thornhaugh Street, Russell Sq, London WC1B 5DQ

Also in

Waunifor – 5 October

Venice – 07 October

Cambridge – 09 October

York – 10 October

A Central Asian Collaboration

Abror Zufarov and Saniyam Ismail

and the prominent musicians:

Guzal Muminova

Arslan Gait

Sherzod Nazarov

This concert reunites musicians across the Soviet-Chinese divide through an original exploration of the stunning maqām-based classical repertoire of the Central Asian Uzbek and Uyghur peoples.

A group of leading musicians from different sides of the border, led by Abror Zufarov and Saniyem Ismail, draw on the musical and poetic connections that have been deeply submerged by the forces of 20th-century nationalism to create an extraordinary and inspiring original concert repertoire.

The programme is centred around the 17th-century mystic poet and wandering dervish Baba Rahim Mashrab, who wandered the cities of Central Asia from Namangan to Kashgar, Bukhara to Khotan and whose poetry still inspires musicians on both sides of the divide.

Supported by the London-based research project, Maqām Beyond Nation.