Following the Central Asian film and music festival in Prague, I spoke to Murad Rakhimov (on the photo), a Turkmen dutar (national two string instrument) musician and member of “Silk Road Band” comprised of Central Asian and Afghani musicians in Prague. Listen to two passages of dutar and read the story of Murad, who […]

Earlier this month, GZT.ru speculated on the regularly hypothesised possibility of Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov’s imminent demise. The basis for the latest round of predictions was based on reports that 66-year old Niyazov had collapsed shortly after a ceremony on October 2 marking the fifteenth anniversary of the foundation of the Ministry of National […]