This volume comprises fifteen selected papers in five chapters from the 27th ICTM Colloquium on Drums and Drum Ensembles along the Great Silk Road. It testifies to how human cultures are never created in seclusion. The richness of drums and drum ensembles, including their repertoires, are also connected to long-term exchanges in military affairs, trades, and religions of various peoples. Despite the obvious prevalence of drums among all peoples around the world, their understanding and their repertoires vary due to different contexts. The studies of music originating on the Silk Road presented in this volume pay particular attention to the multiple flows of knowledge between numerous distinctive regions in the narrower geographical and temporal scope.