Album: Various artists, In the Footsteps of Babur (Smithsonian)

The footsteps follow the music of Central Asia, Afghanistan and North India with five outstanding instrumentalists meeting in the studio and creating pieces on the spot – appropriate, given the jam sessions in courts and Sufi gatherings where this music would have originally developed.

The Afghan rubab-lute and the Indian santur-zither make a lovely timbral contrast. At moments we hear almost Bachian melodic cadences, at other times we're in North Indian streets and fairgrounds.