road spectrum of styles over a huge geographic expanse. Many unique traditions occur, such as the bridgeless, often rectangular zithers of the Khants and Mansi, Ugrian peoples along the Ob River; farther east, the solo flute-and-voice polyphony of the Tuvins and Bashkirs; and the rapid, compact songs with nonsense syllables of the Gilyaks, Chukots, and other peoples of the Far Eastern Amur River region and Pacific coast. At that northeastern shore of Siberia there is a carryover of musical style to the Ainu of northeastern Japan, and possible musical ties are found between the Eskimos of Asia and of North America. Other links beyond Central Asia may exist at the far western end of Siberia, for example, to the music of Lapland in the Scandinavian Arctic; or in the relation of tunes of certain peoples of the Volga River region, such as the Mari, or Cheremis, with old Hungarian folk songs.Outside the few written Mongol references to music, the only approach to discovery of the stylistic history of this region of Central Asia is through fragmentary information about musical instrument types. Perhaps the most remarkable instrument finds were made at Pazyryk in south-central Siberia, where Soviet archaeologists found wooden objects which possibly form pieces of a harp and an artifact resembling a vase-shaped drum, both dating from the 5th century BC.The Himalayan peoplesThis region, including Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, and Sikkim (which was annexed to India in 1975), occupies an important middle ground between India and China, and its central position is reflected in the local music cultures. Of utmost importance for musical life was the introduction of Buddhism from India via Turkistan, beginning in the 7th century AD. Music became an integral part of the official creed of Tibetan Buddhism, and the considerable cultural influence of Tibet spread Tibetan religious music to the nearby areas of Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan and, much later, to Mongolia.Tibetan religious music is the only Central Asian repertoire that has a long history of written notation (musical notation). This notation, for liturgical chant (plainsong), consists of neumes (neume)—i.e., symbols representing melodic contour rather than precise pitch, similar to the earliest music writing of medieval Europe. Also distinctive is the metaphysical aspect of Tibetan Buddhist music, related to Indian philosophy. Each instrument of the monastery orchestra, as well as the drawn-out tones of chant, is believed to represent an externalized form of the mantras (mantra), or sounds inherent in the human body, accessible otherwise only through steadfast meditation. For the monks, such music is a basic aid to devotion and prayer. Musical styles vary somewhat among the sects of Tibetan Buddhism, but the basic approach and instruments are the same.The monastery instruments typify the crossroads position of Tibet. Some, such as the large cymbals (cymbal), stem from China, while others (the majority), such as the conch-shell trumpet and handbells, can be traced to Indian influence and are found as instruments of Buddhist worship as far away as Japan. Still other instruments, such as the large oboe and the 10-foot metal trumpet, are perhaps Middle Eastern in origin. One wind instrument, the short trumpet made from a human leg bone, seems to be of purely local invention. Similarly, the structure of the music seems basically Tibetan. It is founded on a principle of greatly prolonged dense, deep sounds, such as unison long and short trumpets with oboe, or the seemingly endless bass chant of groups of monks, whose long, drawn-out notes are punctuated by sharp, extended bursts of percussion. Each monk is said to be able to sing two or even three notes simultaneously.Much of this music emerges from monasteries only at festival time, when the great 'cham (dance) dramas, which may last several days, are performed for the public's entertainment and edification. These plays, which generally show the triumph of Buddhism over Bon, the earlier shamanistic religion of Tibet, may involve hundreds of musi