Living force of music is in its soul, sense and nature. But living force of music is also in its ability to ally people in their striving to the beauty. Permanent touch with classic music, folk songs and dances much promotes this striving. The Open Folklore Festival “Boysun bahori” has become a bright evidence for it. The festival became a parade of professional and amateur folk ensembles, musicians and narrators from Uzbekistan and foreign countries, which presented traditional instrumental music, crafts, folk dresses and instruments of Central Asian peoples. In spite of doubts of some skeptics in regard with advisability to arrange such festival in a small town in Surkhandarya region, the festival not only became real but gave the opportunity to extend the cultural dialogue and creative contacts among different peoples, to realize the ideas of peace, good, friendship, humanism and cooperation and to develop scientific and creative contacts among musicologists, folklorists, ethnographers, art critics, historians and philologists from more than 10 countries. Besides that the festival brightly demonstrated the preservation and careful relation to original traditions of folk culture, enculturation of young generation to folk traditions, musical culture and art crafts.
During festival days the population of Boysun obtained the possibility to know various folklore music, songs and dances of different regions of Uzbekistan, Tadjikistan and Kyrgyzstan, to demonstrate its own folk songs, rites, original dances and folk dresses when participants of the festival visited kishlaks of Munchok, Sayrob and Derbent and festival programs of folk ensembles, folk narrators – bahshi, manasch and instrumentalists presenting the art of different schools.
The festival program of “Boysun bahori” included three main musical competitions – among folklore ensembles, performers of folk epos and musicians of traditional music. Each nomination, according to the festival statement, provided the presentation of concert program, some fragments of folk epos, program of authentic folklore music or subject program presenting some traditional rite and ritual.
11 ensembles from different regions of Uzbekistan and professional folklore ensemble “Gandjina” from Tadjikistan took part in the competition of folklore ensembles, which was held on the scene of the folklore and ethnographic reserve “Boysuntog”. The folklore ensembles demonstrated rites and rituals typical of their region, which were accompanied with original ritual songs, music, dances, demonstration of housewares and traditional local dresses. The folklore ensemble “Boysun” from Boysun district of Surkhandarya region performed a cult ritual “Zhahr”; the ensemble of “Chavki” from Bulungur district of Samarkand region presented a rite from cattle breeding practice “Podatuli”, which included folk games, songs in a genre of terma, lapar and ethnic dances “karsak” (uch karsak and besh karsak). The performance of this male folklore group was very dynamic and original.
Various ethnic songs, dances and pitches accompanied night parties for men and women, typical of the East. They formed a core of the program presented by the folklore ensemble “Gashtak” from Dzhizak region. The ensemble “Orazibon” performed the ancient rite of bride headwear dressing accompanied with Khorezm folk songs and dances. The original atmosphere of eastern bazaar and ancient labour songs connected with crafts, specialities and traditions of “Askiya” have formed a basis of the program “Sharq bozori” presented by the ensemble “Chodir zhamol” from the city of Margilan, Ferghana region. The parade of folklore groups was finalized with a concert program presented by the child folklore ensemble “Kurallai” from Boysun, which became a successor of original folklore traditions of Boysun. The competition of folk epic narrators, in which participated more than 26 bahshi, zhirau, dostonchi and manaschi from Surkhandarya, Kashkadarya, Samarkand, Karakalpakstan and Kyrgyzstan, has become the evidence for succession of generations. Such famous ustozi as Uzbek bahshi Shoberdi Boltaev, Shomurad Togaev, Abdulla Kurbannazarov (Norbek bahshi), Ruzimboi Normatov (Kalandar bahshi) and Abdukahhar Rahimov demonstrated their perfect skills on a scene along with young narrators of 7 and elder, which are becoming representatives of definite folk styles and schools and demonstrated their skills in the art of narration, song and traditional instruments. The performance of Talantaali Bakchiev and Urkash Mambetaliev, narrators
of “Manas” epos from Kyrgyzstan, zhirau Bekbergen Syrysbetov from Karakalpakstan, bahshi Bobraim Mamatmuradov and Ismoil Anvarov from Surkhandarya, Bahram Rahimov (a son of the famous Uzbek narrator Kadir bahshi Rahimov) from Kashkadarya and Ziedullo Islamov (a son of the famous narrator Islam shoira from Samarkand) were very dynamic and emotional.
The competition of musicians in traditional music not only revealed talented young people carefully preserving traditions of playing such instruments as tanbur, dutar, sato, dombra but demonstrated how the masters transfer their skills to young musicians. The prize of a famous folk musician Turgan Alimatov went to the student of the 3rd year of the State Conservatory of Uzbekistan, Shuhrat Kholhuzhaev. Shimado Shizyo (Japan), having studied playing the Uzbek traditional instrument tanbur for a short period, Rihbek Zhunusov from Kyrgyzstan and musician-komusist Karomat Norbotaev from Surkhandarya demonstrated their instrumental skills.
The Open Folklore Festival “Boysun bahori” has become a bright and original parade of the best pieces of authentic folklore music. I rather think that it will be not only traditional but will become a main source of the preservation of traditions and rites, folk songs and dances and will be useful for everybody who is interested in popularization and propagation of folklore music. “Boysun bahori” has become another bright page in the annals of music culture of Uzbekistan.
Author: Abdullaev Rustambek