Saheba Davlatshaeva and Aqnazar Alovatov, great interprets of Sacred songs "falaq" from Badakhshan, a region from the Pamiri Mountain in Tadjikistan, are invited to perform at the Sacred Voices Conference held in Windsor Castle on January 31st and at the Ismaili Center on February 2nd.

In the southeast of Tajikistan, where the majestic Pamir Mountains reach heights only slightly lower than those of the Himalayas, local traditions of devotional song, mystical music, and dance have flourished among mountain-dwelling Pamiri peoples, many of whom are Isma’ili Muslims. The Isma’ilis, whose spiritual leader, or imam, is His Highness the Aga Khan, have cultivated distinct cultural and religious practices that, combined with Badakhshan’s rugged geography, have nourished the preservation of many aspects of traditional culture. Aqnazar, Sahiba, and Shadikhan live in and around Khorog – the regional capital and Badakhshan’s largest city, with a population of around 40,000 – where they earn their livelihood as professional musicians. Their repertory includes maddah – devotional songs that can embody the spiritual power known as baraka, laments with spare instrumental accompaniment called falak, and traditional popular songs, called khalqi. For Badakhshanis, music and dance are intimately linked, and Sahiba, an outstanding dancer as well as one of Badakhshan’s finest female vocalists, illustrates the rich symbolism of Pamiri dance. Aqnazar is particular known for singing the lyrics of Rumi, the great thirteenth-century Sufi poet whose verse provided the inspiration for the Mevlevi (“Whirling”) Dervishes.