Minstrel Poetry from the Pamir Mountains: A Study on the Songs and Poems of the Ismailis of Tajik Badakhshan

This book is a description and an analysis of the sung poetry of the Ismailis from Tajik Badakhshan and is based on material collected during fieldwork in the Pamir Mountains, in the south-east of the Central Asian republic of Tajikistan. The Ismailis of Badakhshan have a rich religious and poetic tradition which has largely been handed down orally. The book contains an extensive anthology containing transcripts of the poetry recorded during fieldwork. This poetry, both in Persian and in Pamir languages, has never been published before.