Looking for good Uzbek music
Culture and History, Uzbekistan8 Comments
Hi. A few months ago the hard-drive on my iBook went kaput and I lost all my music (please, spare the lecture on why I should’ve backed up all my data … I know!) Anyway, I’ve been trying as best I can to restore my collection from memory. The relevance here is that I had a whole bunch of Central Asian music and, as I’ve been downloading various stuff, I’ve started realizing that perhaps quite a lot of it wasn’t actually that good, and I only had it in the first place to bolster my Central Asianist credentials. In other words, I overrode my critical faculties - with particular reference to some of the Uzbek music.
I draw a natural and obvous distinction between classsical and modern music. I quite like the dissonance of Central Asian tonics and the twanging, thrumming, and thumping of various stringed and percussion instruments. However, where I really need guidance is on the contemporary stuff. Sevara Nazarkhan and Yulduz Usmanova (see the blogroll) get the thumbs-up, but quite a lot of Uzbek music resembles that generic brand of Turbo-folk that has poliferated through the former Easternm Bloc and Soviet Union since the fall of the Iron Curtain.
You know what it sounds like: lots of elctronic bleeps, squeeks, farts and squelches, and anodyne pop lyrics. I like pop music as much as the next man (Take That, All Saints, Sugababes, Kylie … ) so I don’t need rubbish rip-offs. So as I restore my Uzbek music collection I need some advice; what’s the good stuff? Answers below. Thanks.
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Shoxrux and Shaxriyor for sho!!!
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I recommend Feruza Jumaniyazova. She’s from the Khorezm region and sings in the Khorezm dialect. You might have heard her “Kel Azizim.” I really like her songs.
Also, where do you download their music from? Have you tried buying from Savdo.com? I’m interested in getting more Uzbek music but don’t know where to go to get it, and I wasn’t sure about how well Savdo.com worked. Any thoughts?
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Thanks, guys. Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of either Shoxrux or Shaxriyor.
Furthermore, as for downloads I’ve found that some once highly reliable (if legally dubious … ahem!) sites seem to have disappeared or shut up shop. music.arbuz. com used to be good, but I don’t know about, say, mp3uz.com. Nathan at Registan may have a better fix on these things, or some of our readers may have suggestions.
On the otherhand, a whole swathe of Yulduz Usmanova’s back catalogue is available for download from her website …
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In doing some searching yesterday, I found a site with lots of Uzbek music, plus Russian, Tajik, Turkish, and Arabic. It’s http://www.uzfiles.com. Have you checked it out before? I’m pretty impressed with the selection!
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i came across this site by accident i have been looking for uzbek people can i ask where you all fromm and replying?i need some sites where i can learn the language and meet some uzbek people
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So did I come across this site by accident, Clara. No one seemed to answers your question. To answer your question, I think these guys are Peace Corps Volunteers that actually visited Uzbekistan at some point. And as to me, I am an uzbek living in States. I used teach Russian and Uzbek to US military. I can give you some suggestions to help learn the language. Contact info: marhaba@hotmail.com
So to add to Nick’s thought on disappering uzbek music websites, Uzbek Music Dessert - uzdessert.com had vanished too.
Thank you all for suggestions on those websites.
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