Musical Comeback : Ensemble specializing in the suppressed ‘Shash Maqam’ style to open series at the Skirball.

After the fall of the Iron Curtain, indigenous arts of specific regions once under Soviet rule were granted a new freedom not enjoyed in decades.

One of these traditions, little known outside the region and suppressed or distorted by the government, was the Shash Maqam music of Uzbekistan. The classical form of Central Asia has had a bold ambassador in Ilyas Malayev, well known in his native country and based since 1991 in Queens, N.Y. The Ilyas Malayev Ensemble will open a concert series Thursday at the Skirball Cultural Center titled “Sounds of the Silk Road.”

Under Soviet rule, the Shash Maqam style popular in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, was diluted from its original source and colored with European approaches to harmony. According to Yatrika Shah-Rais, who organizes the music programs at the Skirball, “since the Shah Maqam of Bukhara originated from court music, it was vilified by the Soviet authorities who condemned the ‘feudal yoke’ of Islam in Central Asia.”

Malayev intends to restore order and authenticity to the music. He has simplified its presentation by relying on the tanbur, a violin played on the knee, and the frame drum called the dayra. But he has also incorporated such modern notions as female vocalists in a once male-dominated music, as well as the western violin.

Theodore Levin, an associate professor at Dartmouth University who has studied the music of Central Asia, said Malayev is “also a highly regarded poet, and part of his mission is to revive the high poetic style that contributed to the spirituality of the Shash Maqam.”

The Shash Maqam is a style rooted in the 17th century. The Skirball’s four-concert series focuses on the so-called “Silk Road,” which established trade routes between Europe and Asia, bringing with it cultural exchange.

As Levin notes, “It’s been said of the Shash Maqam that it’s music performed by Bukharan Jews on texts by Islamic Sufi poets performed for Turkish nobility descended from Mongol tribes.

“It’s absolutely the product of a great cultural amalgam that epitomizes the transnational cultural intermingling and cross-fertilization that took place along the Silk Road.”

BE THERE

The Ilyas Malayev Ensemble, Thursday at the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. Tickets: $15 general, $13 members, $10 students. (310) 440-4500.