Coordinates: 39°39′15″N 66°57′35″E / 39.65417°N 66.95972°E / 39.65417; 66.95972

Samarkand (Tajik: Самарқанд; Persian: سمرقند‎; Uzbek: Samarqand; from Sogdian: "Stone Fort" or "Rock Town") is the second-largest city in Uzbekistan and the capital of Samarqand Province. The city is most noted for its central position on the Silk Road between China and the West, and for being an Islamic centre for scholarly study. In the 14th century it became the capital of the empire of Timur (Tamerlane) and is the site of his mausoleum (the Gur-e Amir). The Bibi-Khanym Mosque remains one of the city's most notable landmarks. The Registan was the ancient center of the city.

In 2001, UNESCO added the city to its World Heritage List as Samarkand – Crossroads of Cultures.

The city was known by an abbreviated name of Marakanda when Alexander the Great took it in 332BC. There are various theories of how Marakanda evolved into Samarkanda/Samarkan. One derives the name from the Old Persian asmara, "stone", "rock", and Sogdian kand, "fort", "town". Others less convincingly derive the name from the old Turkic "Semiz-Kent" meaning "Rich City".^{[citation needed]}. Since the name Marakanda was already in existence 2300 years ago and long before anyone had heard of Turks in that region of Transoxiana, this version is likely a folk etymology.

Al Gromer Khan is a German-born sitar player and composer whose music spans the multiple genres of ambient, New Age, world and electronica.

Né Alois Gromer, Al Gromer Khan was born on April 8, 1946 at farm Hohentann (municipality Altusried/Allgäu) in alpine foothills of Bavaria between Lake Constance and Munich. He spent his early years in England, Morocco and India, where his father worked in the Foreign Office. Gromer Khan claims that he was drawn to the "mysteries of sound" from the first, be it the sound of the bells worn by the Bavarian cows grazing in the alpine meadows near his birthplace, Indian stringed instruments, the drums of North Africa or the "singing" telephone wires on the wind in the freezing Bavarian winters. Gromer Khan claims to have rejected the academic or diplomatic careers his parents expected him to take up.

The 1960s found a twenty-something Al Gromer in London where he took part in a number of creative experiments which were to have a lasting influence on him. According to Gromer Khan, the Prince Tiane na Champassak of Laos introduced him to tantric art and pop star Marc Bolan invited him to join in the all-night jam sessions he hosted. He explored psycho-acoustic phenomena with film director Mike Figgis, and saxophonist Ronnie Scott of Ronnie Scott's Jazzclub, who introduced Al to Ben Webster, Max Roach and Miles Davis, while Cat Stevens (now known as Yusuf Islam), gave him a taste for English poetry.