How Uzbek is the 'Arabic Tango'?: How 'Eastern' Estrada Became Uzbek

• In Event: Songs of Cotton and Nomads: Invented Traditions in Soviet and Post-Soviet Central Asia

Abstract

As the musical genre of estrada -- the Soviet cross between chanson francaise and traditional rock -- grew in popularity across the USSR, Uzbekistan had a problem: it had few national composers able to write songs in the genre and even fewer European-trained musical cadres able to perform it. On the one hand, the Soviet state saw estrada as yet another method of inculcating European-style cultural values among the local population, from European concert attire to musical polyphony. On the other hand, the very same Soviet state was also promoting Uzbekistan as the "capital of the Soviet East,” now a hub for conferences and congresses with members of the non-aligned world. In this paper, I argue that Uzbek estrada was born at the intersection of these circumstances: given the absence of Uzbek estrada music, Uzbek performers performed Arabic, Persian, and Hindi ones in an effort to sing in styles more familiar to them, make up for their lack of Uzbek-language repertoire, and appeal to the crowds of "eastern" foreigners visiting their capital. In turn, this "eastern" estrada became so beloved that it was eventually considered "Uzbek," despite its lack of thematic or linguistic ties to the republic.

Author

• Leora Eisenberg, Harvard U