Silk Road House: A Cultural and Educational Center   Welcome! Silk Road House is a non-profit organization created to promote and support an impressive array of diverse ethnic cultural traditions. The main goals of the Silk Road House are: to create a center for the collection of pertinent cultural and historical information to provide a place where creative activities can bring to life the traditions of the Silk Road here in United States to celebrate the Silk Road's tradition of hospitality Silk Road House symbolizes the connections, communications and bonds between peoples and cultures united by the Silk Road concept, and at the same time, a real network of the modern day contacts between those peoples and cultures. The Silk Road House is a welcoming cultural center where everyone who might be interested could find a wide range of accurate information concerning the history, culture, and everyday life of Silk Road countries.   A word of appreciation...   Our special and deepest thanks go to those who have made an array of donations to Silk Road House – by money, various things, books, time, skill or all these together... Among these generous individuals are (in alphabetical order): Ruth Abrass Navruz Avloni Shirchin Baatar Hanna Bailey Elena Balashova Alexander Bapa Natalie Bondar Kathleen Braunstein Genrietta Bykin Maria Bykin JoAnn Conrad Dieter Christensen Wayne Eastep Patrick Hayes David Hooson Karen Folger Jacobs Anait Khudanazarova Jack Kollmann Robert E. Lee Cariadne Margaret Mackenzie Semion and Ludmila Mirkin Scott Morgan Aiman and Mairbek Mussipov Elmira and Werdana Mussipov Zhanara Nauryzbaeva Karen Nelsen Joan E. Norvelle Beket Nurzhanov James O.Bailey Akin Orhun Skydrite Rubene Vadim Ryvkin Ernar Sagatov Turburam Sandagdorj Martin Schwartz Chris and Steve Shaw Zhuldyz and Lloyd Shimabukuro Elizabeth Shedd Tatiana Shubin Omerjan and Aygul Siddik Irina Serkebaeva John Sommer Kemal Sonmez Tenzin Tsophel Orna Uranchimeg-Tsultem Bayan Tulegenova Leonid Urjuk Santo K. van Ess Albina Yerzhanova Joanne Yoshimura ...as well as anonymous private donors, the SilkRoad Foundation and the Open Society Institute. Our cordial thanks to all of you! - Board of Directors of Silk Road House

Current Events The Silk Road House presents: "From Courtyard to Conservatory: Women Performing Nationalism through Revived Musical Genres in Tashkent, Uzbekistan" - A demo lecture by Tanya Merchant Women play a vital role in performing and innovating the two contrasting revivals of Central Asian music that support Uzbekistan's national project: arranged folk music and traditional music. Arranged folk music came to the region via the instrument reconstruction projects of Ashot Petrosiants, who helped create folk orchestras in Uzbek institutions. In contrast, traditional music includes the three maqom repertoires associated with Uzbek cities, the most famous of which is the Shashmaqom of Bukhara (famously codified by Yunus Rajabi). Despite many points of difference, these musical styles both support the notion of a long and sophisticated Uzbek musical history. Both are also examples of modern institutionalized musics that are labeled “folk” and “traditional." The changes in the discourses surrounding these genres during Uzbekistan's transition from Soviet Republic to independent nation elucidate the complex connections between revived musics and nationalism. Women have been actively participating in both concertized traditions since the mid-twentieth century, one of the legacies of Soviet-era efforts to encourage women's emancipation and participation in the workplace. Decades later in the independence era, women are at the forefront of the movement to publicize Uzbekistan's musical heritage. Tanya Merchant is an ethnomusicologist on the music faculty of the University of California, Santa Cruz whose research interests include music’s intersection with issues of nationalism, gender, identity, and the post-colonial situation. With a geographical focus on Central Asia, the former Soviet Union, and the Balkans, she has conducted fieldwork in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Russia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. She received her Ph.D. in ethnomusicology with a concentration in women’s studies from UCLA, where she completed her dissertation titled “Constructing Musical Tradition in Uzbek Institutions.” Her recent publications include articles on Uzbek popular, folk, and traditional musics, which appear in journals such as Popular Music in Society, Cahiers de Musiques Traditionnelles, and Image and Narrative. Her book, From Courtyard to Conservatory: Women Musicians of Tashkent is under review at the University of Illinois Press. The presentation will take place at SRH on Sunday March 9, 1-3pm. Dear Members of the Silk Road House Community! Dear Friends and Supporters of the Silk Road House! We’re delighted to let you know that the annual celebration of the Navruz (Nawruz, Nauryz, Norooz) Spring Holiday will be again organized by the SRH at the Hillside Club of North Berkeley located at 2286 Cedar Street. Berkeley. Please mark your calendar: the event will take place on Saturday, March 29th, from 1 to 5 PM. A special message with all necessary details will be posted and distributed in due time. The SRH Board of Directors Silk Road House events are sponsored by the Silkroad Foundation.