The mountains of Tajikistan are home to an incredibly rich musical heritage which has largely remained a mystery to the wider world. Recorded by Lu Edmonds, these remarkable performances by local musicians offer a never-before-heard insight into both its ancient and innovative sounds.

These tracks were recorded in Tajikistan around 2008 in the capital city Dushanbe, up in the Pamiri town of Khorog and in two nearby villages in the Ghunt valley. It’s just a tiny slice of the mountain music of Tajikistan, whose rich traditions have soaked up the traffic of the Silk Roads and beyond for thousands of years.