the camels and the caravans of the great silk roads may have disappeared long ago but exotic looking men still navigate the same routes today and with as much danger and excitement as ever before. their vehicle of choice - the mini bus.

 

known as marshrutkas these buses wait at bustling markets or busy junctions and set off for their destinations only when they are completely packed full with people, luggage, assorted goods and animals. the divers are proud of three things: their bad sun glasses, loud shirts and very loud music. usually middle aged, they drive like maniacs and attempt to numb their passengers into zombie-like states with pounding music.

 

marshutkas have been our main form of transport and initially i thought that everyone squeezed into the back along side us was in agreement - “the part time dj who is driving this bus is simply a sad old bloke who thinks he’s in touch with the hip new music but actually he’s choosing the worst tunes possible and we all hope that his next death defying overtaking maneuver goes badly wrong and we’ll all be put out of our misery in a spectacular crash”.

 

 

the little girl and her mum both seem to be muttering the words to the song under their breath, the old lady in the front even nods her head in time and in the blissful momentary silence between songs, noise from the headphones of the teenager in the back reveals he’s listening to the same song the rest of us have already had to endure three times in the last two hours of the journey!

 

so here are three prime examples of popular music from the great silk road in 2007. drivers don’t care what country the music comes from, it just has to sound as tinny and simple as possible. in hotels, in cafes and on radios, from west to east, its all the same and its all bad. JL

(in turkish or azeri, all sounds the same to me)

(not sure what language)