Post Tagged with: "Uzbek"
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Bastakor creativity in Uzbekistan
Fieldwork: Researching bastakor creativity in Uzbekistan, Sept-Dec 2025 Eugene Leung travelled to Uzbekistan between September and December to conduct fieldwork for his PhD dissertation, on creativity in Uzbek classical music. Based in Tashkent, he was attached to the Yunus Rajabiy Institute of National Musical Arts (UzMMSI), immersing in its musical life, whilst also travelling to cities such as Bukhara, Samarqand and Andijan to engage with musicians and musical institutions in these cities. […]
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“Chegra Bilmas Maqom”A collaboration on Central Asian Maqām across Borders
by Rachel Harris On stage at Ala Space, Almaty. Photo by Mukaddas Mijit In October 2025, we brought together a group of musicians from Tashkent and Almaty for two concerts based on a creative exploration of maqām traditions from Central Asia. Abror Zufarov (vocals, sato), Guzal Muminova (dotar) and Sherzod Nazarov (doira), all teachers at the Yunus Rajabi Institute in Tashkent, have been working with Almaty-based independent musicians, Saniyam Ismail […]
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Visit to the Farg’ona Maqom School and the Marg’ilan Maqom Theatre
With members of the Marg’ilan Maqom Theatre In April 2025, Rachel Harris and Aziz Isa Elkun were generously hosted by the Maqom School led by Ulug’bek Mamadjanov, and the Maqom Theatre led by Fazil Ismailov. Both are recently established, on the foundation of existing music institutions, but with a new focus on maqom. The Maqom School holds several hundred students of school age, and several dozen talented teachers who are […]
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Connecting through Nava
by Mukaddas Mijit Connecting through Nava: Documenting Shared Musical Heritage with Uzbek and Uyghur Musicians in Tashkent, March 2025 In March 2025, we embarked on a one-week field trip exploring the connections between Uzbek Maqam and Uyghur Muqam practices with few outstanding musicians. Our journey led us to the Yunus Rajabi Institute of Traditional Music in Tashkent- a landmark institution for Uzbek musical heritage. For this initial phase of our project, we […]
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Strand 1: Maqām across the Soviet-Chinese divide
Rachel Harris, Eugene Leung, Mukaddas Mijit. This strand aims at “unbordering” Central Asian maqām repertoires across the former Soviet-Chinese divide. It focuses on repertoires canonised in the twentieth century as the separate Uzbek and Tajik Shashmaqām, and the Uyghur Twelve Muqam, and also less recognised regional maqām traditions from Khorezm, Ferghana and Turpan. Since the mid-twentieth century these repertoires have been extensively nationalised, and the overwhelming thrust of scholarship, training […]
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Project Strands
MAQĀM BEYOND NATION is designed in the form of six interlinked research strands based in different contact zones across the maqām world. Strand 1: Maqām across the Soviet-Chinese divide Rachel Harris, Eugene Leung, Mukaddas Mijit This strand aims at “unbordering” Central Asian maqām repertoires across the former Soviet-Chinese divide. It focuses on repertoires canonised in the twentieth century as the separate Uzbek and Tajik Shashmaqām, and the Uyghur Twelve Muqam, […]