Xi’an, China, 4 May 2017 - Between the 4th and the 21st of May, 2017, four leading musicians on the artist roster of the Aga Khan Music Initiative are participating in a 12-city debut concert tour of China. The tour, titled “Borderlands: Wu Man and Master Musicians from the Silk Route”, showcases the long history of cultural interaction and exchange among musicians from China and Central Asia.

Wu Man, artistic director of the “Borderlands” tour and a long-time AKMI collaborator, is the world’s leading performer on the pipa, a Chinese lute whose origins have been traced to Central Asia. Joining her are Sirojiddin Juraev, from Dushanbe, Tajikistan, who is a master performer on the dutar, tanbur, and sato—all long-necked lutes central to the musical traditions of Tajiks and Uzbeks; Sanubar Tursun, a prominent Uyghur singer-songwriter who, together with