Gurminj Museum of Music Instruments, Dushanbe, Tajikistan

4Lois 5:00 PM Jul 1, 2017

A quick and fascinating visit
What a treasure. I was the only visitor at the time. There was an American student learning to play one of the instruments. The teacher gave a demonstration on a couple for me to hear. If there had been more of us other musicians would have joined for a performance

4KashaH 5:00 PM Jul 8, 2010

'Museum' doesn't do the place justice. Beating heart of the Tajik music scene!
Gurminj was a giant of Soviet cinema, who also developed a passion for collecting and playing musical instruments. Fortunately he passed on this passion for traditional music to his son, Iqbol, who now runs this museum, maintains a small recording studio on site and in his spare time (!) leads some of the most celebrated traditional and popular music groups in Tajikistan - Shams and Mirzob. Because Iqbol and members of the group Samo, are so well-connected to the cultural life of Tajikistan and Central Asia, this museum has become a musical hub where traditional musicians jam together, perform and innovate. This means that visitors are treated to live performances on the museum's growing collection of instruments, by some of the best performers in the country! With a bit more information in other languages, I would be rating this museum 'excellent'. If you are lucky, there will be someone English speaking around when you visit. However, a bit more written explanation in the museum would not go amiss.