It is still alive and thriving today. This music also still plays important community roles. It is a mode of transmission for community, regional, and national history, It is used as a means of informal education for both young and old about life. Through this music the heart of a people finds profound and personal expression.

Increasingly, this precious art form is being replaced by other static (static means it is not “living”, and that it comes from outside) and foreign forms. People still enjoy traditional music. The reality is fewer and fewer people are able to play instruments as the dombura, the kobiz, and other traditional instruments. The lyrics are also being resigned to written format in books, not contained in the memory and hearts of the people. Many of these books do not include musical notation, so the tune and melody can be easily forgotten.

Step by Steppe aims to meet community-level (community-level means “local people”. We aren’t intending to meet superstars or people who already have their own recordings) traditional instrument players and singers and record them playing the songs they know. The result will be mastered onto cassette tapes and compact discs (and other digital formats such as MP3, Real Audio, Audio DVD's and VCD's, etc.). Step by Steppe will also work with the musician/artist with designing appropriate covers for the tapes or cd’s. Once completed, a generous amount of finished material will provided to the artist free of charge. The musician/artist is free to use it as they see fit, such as selling copies, or giving them as gifts. Step by Steppe may provide advice to the musician/artist on how to pursue a more commercial route, but does not expect to be the sole producer of more material after the initial product as this would necessitate taking a more commercial route. Step by Steppe wants to retain its non-profit status.

Step by Steppe also aims to catalogue music books containing lyrics and cross reference all the titles with books containing musical notation. Audio cassettes, CD's, VCD's, and other media will be also be catalogued and referenced to the song titles if there is no book with musical notation. Samples of the songs from the various media will also act as examples for existing musical notation. Of prime interest are songs for which no musical notation can be found in books or other existing media. Local musicianss/artists will be searched for who do know these songs, songs which may already be being lost by the general public. The results will be presented in various formats, including but not limited to: web sites, books, reports, CD-ROM, etc., with audio samples.