Artist Bio:
Long before the Soviet Union swallowed landlocked Uzbekistan in the late 19th century, the country was part of the Central Asian "silk road," eventually becoming the world's second largest cotton exporter and perhaps coming in fourth in silk. And it was in the factories of Namagan that a young Yulduz Usmanova came of age.
The daughter of working-class parents, Usmanova was born in 1963, and by the time she was a teenager she was singing at wedding parties when she had time off from the factory. Gavhar Rahimova, then a famous performer, heard her and, in 1984, managed to help her gain entrance to the academy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan's bustling capital, where she studied music formally. While there, her powerful, swooping vocals and her ability to bring heretofore unheard elements to Uzbek traditional music earned her ever-growing crowds wherever she sang. She would later go on to write the country's postindependence national anthem and take a seat in Uzbekistan's Parliament.
In 1991, Usmanova received her breakthrough in the form of a spellbinding first-place performance at the initial Voices of Asia festival in Alma Mata, Kazikhstan. This was also the year that Uzbekistan regained its independence from Russia, a situation that no doubt helped Usmanova launch her career. By 1992, her first album, Iz Kichiklarini Kuilaidi, was released regionally, but it was the three albums recorded between 1993 and 1996 for Germany's Blue Flame label that helped her galvanize fanatical fandom at home and throughout Central Asia and Europe. Usmanova's second disc, 1993's Alma Alma, defined her earlier style, a gumbo of Uzbekistan's traditional Turkish and Central Asian references, Persian maqam, elements of techno and other Euro dance-floor tendencies, Western rock and perhaps jazz. Traditional instruments, such as the bowed Gijak, sat side by side with synthesizers and slick production, forever changing the face of Uzbek pop music. On top of all this, Usmanova sang breathtakingly, with lines snatched from the Koran, the Bible and all manner of classical poets in an effort to allow the lyrics' meanings flexibility. She also sang out against the oppression of her country's poor.
Jannona, from 1995, was even slicker, with the opening track, "I Wish You Were Here," with its club thump and English lyrics begging for airplay. Elsewhere though, the mixing boards and synths took a backseat to saz and tambour for the much more passionate Kungil. These two records, along with 1996's Binafscha, earned her spots at England's WOMAD festival, Denmark's Roskilde—where she's shared stages with everyone from Zap Mama to the Wu Tang Clan—and Mundial in the Netherlands. One third of Uzbekistan's 15 million people owned her records and her concerts throughout Europe were sold out events. Back home in Tashkent, some 100 to 150 thousand fans turned out to see her in the city's annual concerts at the Palace of People's Friendship.
By the end of the '90s, she'd branched out again musically, recording 1999's Yulduz in Amsterdam. Along side her typical blend of traditional Central Asian and Western rock instruments was Family Factory, a 10-piece male South African vocal group. But it wasn't until a few years later, when she traveled to Jamaica and recorded an album produced by ex-Public Image bassist and world music disciple Jah Wobble, that the true depth of her artistry was captured on record. Wobble had always felt that the rudiments of her style had been buried under pop production, and while the album he produced, Bilmadim, certainly isn't straight out of the Uzbek countryside, the ethnic elements of her music rise to the surface. The deft touches of Jamaican guitar legend Ernest Ranglin didn't dampen the proceedings either. The album was released on Wobble's 30Hertz label in 2004.
Still living in Tashkent, Usmanova is a symbol of liberation and represents the juxtaposition of firm folk roots and dogged individual expression. —Bruce Miller
