Shahnozabonu concert
May. 15th, 2005 08:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
merchimerchR and I went to the Shahnozabonu concert last night - it was a really sweet show. Only afterwards did I realize that we might want to think about staying away from large public events. Of course we were the only foreigners there and it didn't look like a lot of Uzbeks stayed away either - of course the government has blocked internet sites at cafes, and all international news channels (in Russian or English) from cable TV, so aside from people with satellite, people are depending on the good old fashioned news service - the rumor mill at the bazaars.
All of this has got me thinking - what would a revolution or democratization do to the way that traditional music is perceived in the country. I think a lot of it would stay popular with most groups that it is already popular with, because this is music that people feel an affinity for and feel linked to through history, even if it loses the government propaganda machine behind it. The one thing I see perhaps declining is the Soviet style orchestral music played on reconstructed instruments. The interest for this has waned, but it is in a unique position of being the only thing/career/music that a generation of musicians can play. It continues to be taught in music schools because the teachers who have taught there for years don't teach anything else. Interesting in the traditional, i.e. non-reconstructed music is increasing, but interest, and enrollement in the reconstructed stuff is waning. I think the Sogdiana orchestra will stick around no matter what, since the director has found a niche for her ensemble. Beyond that I'm not so sure. I'm also wondering how traditional music will be thought of when/if the strong nationalist discorse is removed. It is certainly an interesting time to be researching Uzbekistan.
So anyway, the concert was very sweet, though it had a fair amount of technical difficulties. There were lots of families in the audience, because Shohnozabonu is most famous for her song about her daughter, "Qizalogim." It was apparently her daughters birthday, so she brought her on stage and had a big cake and a bunch of friends/fans came up and gave the daughter lots of stuffed animals and flowers. She sang "Qizalogim" to her and then they sang a song together. Through out the entire show people, mostly kids were going on stage to bring her flowers. Other stars had tighter control of this with security guards (which only sometimes worked), but she didn't seem to mind, or maybe she realizes that as a 2nd tier pop star she needs to pander to her fans. Regardless, the atmosphere at this concert was by far the most pleasant I've been to. The crowd contained a lot of whole families and it was obviously the upper classes of Tashkent, but not the nouveau rich who are so rich and pretensious. The music itself was really enjoyable - she played a fair amount of Uzbek folk songs including: Yo'l Bo'lsin, Omon Yor, Yalla, and Alla. She also had a live band and wasn't lip synching, which is a change from most pop starts. Her set included a few latin influenced pieces, a lot of power ballads, and one song in the Russian language. Her a dance troupe did numbers in Carnival type costumes, flamenco, gypsy costumes, and more generic ballet type stuff, in addition to the Uzbek dancers which danced for the folk songs, as well as a couple of the more poppy tunes. I still can't get over how good all these kids were in the audience. There was an adorable baby right sitting right in front of us - as if my baby fever needs any encouragement at this point.
All of this has got me thinking - what would a revolution or democratization do to the way that traditional music is perceived in the country. I think a lot of it would stay popular with most groups that it is already popular with, because this is music that people feel an affinity for and feel linked to through history, even if it loses the government propaganda machine behind it. The one thing I see perhaps declining is the Soviet style orchestral music played on reconstructed instruments. The interest for this has waned, but it is in a unique position of being the only thing/career/music that a generation of musicians can play. It continues to be taught in music schools because the teachers who have taught there for years don't teach anything else. Interesting in the traditional, i.e. non-reconstructed music is increasing, but interest, and enrollement in the reconstructed stuff is waning. I think the Sogdiana orchestra will stick around no matter what, since the director has found a niche for her ensemble. Beyond that I'm not so sure. I'm also wondering how traditional music will be thought of when/if the strong nationalist discorse is removed. It is certainly an interesting time to be researching Uzbekistan.
So anyway, the concert was very sweet, though it had a fair amount of technical difficulties. There were lots of families in the audience, because Shohnozabonu is most famous for her song about her daughter, "Qizalogim." It was apparently her daughters birthday, so she brought her on stage and had a big cake and a bunch of friends/fans came up and gave the daughter lots of stuffed animals and flowers. She sang "Qizalogim" to her and then they sang a song together. Through out the entire show people, mostly kids were going on stage to bring her flowers. Other stars had tighter control of this with security guards (which only sometimes worked), but she didn't seem to mind, or maybe she realizes that as a 2nd tier pop star she needs to pander to her fans. Regardless, the atmosphere at this concert was by far the most pleasant I've been to. The crowd contained a lot of whole families and it was obviously the upper classes of Tashkent, but not the nouveau rich who are so rich and pretensious. The music itself was really enjoyable - she played a fair amount of Uzbek folk songs including: Yo'l Bo'lsin, Omon Yor, Yalla, and Alla. She also had a live band and wasn't lip synching, which is a change from most pop starts. Her set included a few latin influenced pieces, a lot of power ballads, and one song in the Russian language. Her a dance troupe did numbers in Carnival type costumes, flamenco, gypsy costumes, and more generic ballet type stuff, in addition to the Uzbek dancers which danced for the folk songs, as well as a couple of the more poppy tunes. I still can't get over how good all these kids were in the audience. There was an adorable baby right sitting right in front of us - as if my baby fever needs any encouragement at this point.
