On 14 January 2025, SOAS Department of Music hosted Honoured Artist of Uzbekistan, Ilyos Arabov, to discuss and demonstrate his art. An outstanding singer, instrumentalist, and maqām master from Uzbekistan, Arabov has performed internationally and won prestigious prizes at festivals worldwide. He is recognised as one of the leading performers of Central Asian Shashmaqom and heads the instrumental performance department at the Yunus Rajabi Institute in Tashkent.
In a wide-ranging discussion in both Uzbek and Farsi language, Arabov spoke on the transmission of maqom performance practice in Uzbekistan, and questions of intonation, mode, and rhythmic cycles in the Shashmaqom tradition.
Video clip title: Ilyos Arabov demonstrates the ‘limping’ chapandoz and talqincha rhythms from the shashmaqom and performs two pieces from Rast Maqom on tanbur, accompanied by Saeid Kordmafi and Eugene Leung on doira.
Arabov also demonstrated popular traditions from his home town of Bukhara, and demonstrated the Mawragi repertoire sung in Farsi with doira accompaniment at weddings and other joyful gatherings.
Ilyos Arabov sings Mawragi songs from Bukhara.
