Album: Various artists, In the Shrine of the Heart (Smithsonian Folkways)

While Kyrgyzstan burns, it's good to be reminded that there's another side to the picture: this fascinating CD, subtitled Popular Classics from Bukhara and Beyond, reflects the Aga Khan trust's ongoing project to eternalise the little-known traditional music of Central Asia.

Many of these love songs are Sufi, which means one never knows whether the love-object is a man, a woman, or God: this ambiguity gives the music much of its power. The rest comes from the quality of the voices – most inhabiting dark and mysterious realms.