In this episode, we meet Dr. Shahyar Daneshgar, a senior lecturer in IU’s Department of Central Eurasian Studies. Shahyar is a native Azerbaijani from Tehran, Iran who is the founder of teaching Azerbaijani at IU’s Summer Language Workshop, harkening back to 1985. Also an interesting tidbit about Shahyar, he is a gifted singer and the maestro of The Silk Road Ensemble, a critically acclaimed musical ensemble that specializes in playing music from Central Asia.