Central Asia music and book questions

Just some random questions...

I was listening to a CD with music from Central Asia and I noticed several songs that had the same theme. Two of them were called tanovar. Is that a specific style of music popular in Central Asia, and if so, what do you know about it? Is it traditional? Does it have to follow a set pattern? IS there any history behind it?

Another random question concerns a song from Uzbekistan from that CD. I don't understand the language, but I did catch the drift of the language: judging by the number of times that "Uzbek" was said, and the general tone of the song, I would guess that the song is highly nationalistic. Anyway, the names Al-Biruni and Al-Khwarazmi and others came up, succeded by "Uzbek", and I started to wonder: to my knowledge most of those names refer to famous Arabs and Persians that came from Bukhara or Samarkand. Are they considered Uzbek, and if so, why?

Finally, most of my knowledge of the history of Central Asia comes from reading Rene Grousset's book "L'Empire des Steppes" (the Empire of the Steppes). Apparently, according to reviews, it is a good book, but outdated. Can anyone tell me why this book is outdated, and what book would be a better read?

To the admins: would you please move this topic so it also shows up in the Central Asia section? I still placed it here, because it's technically an arts and literature question, but I think it would have a much better chance of getting answered in the Central Asia section. Thanks.