EWAN CAMERON picks out two fascinating music shows, fusing the Korean, and the Celtic, with the modern
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Page after page of wondrous revelation
The largely unknown and historically neglected Caucasus emerges as a land of never-ending fascination, writes STEVE ANDREW
(L to R) Cover: the three-nave Alanian church of Shoana from the early 10th century in Karachay-Cherkessia, Russian Federation; The 2,415-metre-high mountain Ilandagh, the ‘Snake Mountain,’ in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan
[(L to R) )Alexander Svirkin / Christoph Baumer]
BENJAMIN POTHIER suggests that Palaeolithic cave paintings in Spain point to the ceremonial use of hallucinogenic flora
The bard confirms that the right has a humour bypass, and replays the English Revolution on period instruments
MARIA DUARTE and ANDY HEDGECOCK review Sunny Dancer, Tony, Songs of Forgotten Trees, and The End of Oak Street
JOHN GREEN relishes a powerful and moving drama that explores the lived realities of west London’s Punjabi community
MARTIN HALL welcomes a plea for greater compassion between believer and non-believer via the framework of philosophical enquiry
History of the Caucasus Vol 1
At the Crossroads of Empire
by Christoph Baumer
IB Tauris £27
BY any standard, the Caucasus is a vast geographical area, dominated by beautiful landscapes of snow-capped mountains and steep-sided valleys, its often unique ecosystems harbour a multitude of fascinating animal and plant species.
Its human population is likewise just as interesting, composed as it is of a complex and ever-changing plethora of nations, languages, and cultures.
Although the term “cultural hearth” has fallen out of favour in anthropological circles, if ever it could be applied to an area, then the Caucasus would definitely fit the remit, antecedents to many a civilisation having their origins there.
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