cal instruments (musical instrument) play an important role in the performance of Central Asian dance and theatre. Usually a drum, but in some cases a string instrument, is used by the shaman to induce the ecstatic trance during which he symbolically journeys to the heavens or to the netherworld when playing the role of a psychopomp, or conductor of souls. Performances of the Buddhist monastic dance, known as 'cham, and the Buddhist morality plays, called a-che-lha-mo (“older sister goddess”), were accompanied by a variety of instruments, especially drums and horns. There were large and small drums, short horns with fingering holes, and long horns, particularly the dung-chen (great conch shell) made of brass (brass instrument) and extending many feet. The dung-chen with a deep haunting wail accentuates the macabre that is so much a part of 'cham. The Tibetan guitar sgra-synan (pleasant sound) is a stringed instrument used almost exclusively by Himalayan peoples for folk song and dance.Perhaps because of the subjectivism of their religions, it was not the custom among the peoples of Central Asia to carry out objective studies of elements in their cultures, and, therefore, no indigenous evaluation of their dance and theatre is available. Although a few manuals for the performance of shamanic rituals, music, and the 'cham do exist, as do scripts for the a-che-lha-mo, much of the history and traditional staging of these forms of theatre and dance was handed down by oral tradition.Shamanic ritualTeachings that spirits are responsible for unexplainable phenomena, such as disease and death, and that these spirits can be controlled by an individual with special powers, such as a shaman (shamanism), evolved in many primitive societies throughout the world, including those of the nomadic peoples of Central Asia. The roles of the shaman include oracle, healer, sacrificer, and psychopomp, and each role calls for the performance of specific rituals (ritual). The earliest form of theatre and dance in Central Asia, these rituals developed into an often complex genre of the performing arts. The horse-sacrifice ceremony among the Altaic peoples of east Central Asia, for example, embraces a full range of dramatic elements despite the fact that like all shamanic ritual it is essentially a one-man performance. The ceremony, which lasts two to three days, is one in which the shaman undertakes a journey to the heavens. After having set the stage, the shaman symbolically releases the soul of a real horse and then, astride a goose-shaped device, he chases the soul of the horse, all the while imitating the noises of the goose and the horse. Capturing the soul of the horse, the shaman, with help from the audience, then kills the real horse, and the flesh is prepared. The next evening, the shaman offers pieces of the horse meat to the spirits, and, amid loud drumming and chanting, symbolically goes to the heavens on the soul of the horse while ascending a notched pole. As he ascends through the higher and higher heavenly planes, the shaman communicates to the audience important information, such as predictions about the success of the coming harvest and about epidemics and misfortunes that threaten and how to avoid them through sacrifices. The ceremony is followed by merrymaking and drinking.Shamanism maintains that the soul of one who dies a heroic or violent death (death rite) ascends to the heavens, but that the soul of one who dies from disease, which is caused by an evil spirit, must go to the underworld. The part of a psychopomp, or conductor of souls to the netherworld, was, therefore, another role commonly played by the shaman. The shaman guides the soul to its destination while narrating details of its journey to his audience. In some cultures, such as that of the Lolo, or Yi, in the mountains of southwestern China, the souls of all the dead are led in this manner to the underworld; while in others, such as that of the Tungus (Evenk), a subarctic forest people of eastern Siberia, the shaman is only called upon to act as psychopomp if the 