In the ninth century, music from Kucha was popular all along the Silk Road, from Samarkand to Chang-an. One of its enthusiasts was the Chinese Tang Dynasty Emperor Xuanzong, who, in addition to his six famous dancing horses, also housed some 30,000 musicians and dancers in the imperial palace, most of them versed in the Kuchean style.
The popular hits of the day had such names as "Music for Releasing Goshawks" and "Watching the Moon in Brahman Land," and the singers could render these tunes in most of the languages of the region. They could even sing in Sanskrit, "though scholars mocked their pronunciation."
These details are all to be found in "The Courtesan's Tale," in a chapter concerning a woman named Larishka who apparently lived from A.D. 839 to A.D. 890. She is just one individual who comes alive again in this engaging book that reconstructs the lives of 10 people who lived along the Silk Road between 750 and 1000.