This special concert is presented on September 28, 2024 at the venue City Lore by the Center for Traditional Music and Dance (CTMD). According to the CTMD website, this event is "a unique performance of virtuosic Turkmen dutar (two-stringed lute) and bardic music by Mohammad Geldi Geldi Nejad, known as “Oghlan Bakhshi,” and Zyyada Jumayeva, the only representative masters of Turkmen traditional music in the Americas. Perhaps the first such concert to take place in New York City in decades, it is hard to understate the rarity of this opportunity to experience the instrumental and epic traditions of the Turkmen people."
Commonly known by the honorific of “Oghlan Bakshi,” Mohammad Geldi Geldi Nejad has studied with many acclaimed Turkmen bards to become the first representative to present Turkmen musical heritage to European audiences. Now pursuing his PhD at Brown University, following a masters at Wesleyan University and his studies at the Turkmen National Conservatory, he combines direct musical mastery with scholarly inquiry to present Turkmen musical heritage to the wider public. His recently released album, Journey Across the Steppes, is the first international release of Turkmen folk music in 30 years. He has performed at various international venues across Europe such as the Theatre de la Ville (2013, 2018), and was selected as the best folk singer at the International Folk Music Festival in Prague, Czech Republic (2008).