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Musical Argonauts of Central Asia tells the story of the Aga Khan Music Programme (AKMP) and its sustained efforts to revitalize Central Asian musical heritage in the wake of seven decades of Soviet rule.

Theodore Levin, who worked with the program since its inception, offers an insider's account of how the AKMP's development tactics and strategies were formulated and their outcomes assessed. In doing so, Levin addresses fundamental questions about the power of music and what NGOs can do to help shape music's social impact: In what sense are music, musicians, and musical life amenable to interventions by a development organization? What do such interventions contribute to the quality of life of their beneficiaries? And what does an ethical development intervention in music look like? In chronicling the work of the AKMP, Levin establishes the bona fides of a type of institutional cultural activism that isn't captured by rubrics such as applied ethnomusicology, public folklore, and safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.

Featuring case studies of country-specific interventions in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Musical Argonauts of Central Asia provides a practical roadmap for aspiring activist ethnomusicologists and folklorists that models best practices, analyzes failures, and advocates for the role that ethnographers can and should play in international development organizations.