The song has always occupied an important place in the life of people. Each of us needs to find proper expression of everything we believe and hope, even when we understand that our dream cannot be true. Sometimes there are no words to do it and then music, first of all its most natural and primary form – the song is coming. This is for the people, which have been not too experienced in secrets of musical art. However, not any song is capable to capture hearts of the people, and to become favourite. Popularity is a destiny of few samples of this genre, seeming simple just at the first look. The song can not exist outside of its being, though it can sound at khirman, public festivals, at family celebrations and on the concert stage. Its life is impossible without uncountable reproductions, carried out by the people together, in a circle of close friends and alone. Therefore, its actual being is an integral property of song’s art nature.
Now so – called “light”, i.e. pop music has obtained a grandiose scope. Just as the modern composing art reflects features of new psychology of the people of our epoch, the innovative tendencies in some fields of modern pop musical culture are various. One of the important reasons of this phenomenon has, more likely, sociological, than actually art character. In fact, the enormous number of people all over the world is engaged with the work, which results are in significant physical and intellectual strain. To perceive complicated pieces of art after a busy day of intensive work is hard.
Many people, from all social and professional circles, prefer “light” music to have a rest. Thus, music touches different sides of musical culture of the present time: both aesthetic orientations and forms of musical expression, interrelation between a composer and wide audience. Here we can notice some aspiration to primitivism, deliberate simplified nature, which began to be associated with some tendencies of our days. That is why in modern music we feel figurative structure expressing not thinking and reflection but sensual contemplation, not action and will but passive and intuitive elements. It is possible to give numerous examples testifying for serious “reorientation” of musical mentality of the 20th century, in particular, of its second half when the pop song obtained privileged role. Initially separated from the atmosphere of the professional musical – art centers, meanwhile it has reflected some major tendencies of the 20th century’s art psychology within the framework of its own unique form. Now it is possible to state, that pop art has active dialogue with some characteristic aspirations of modern composing art.
Pop music, in particular, song art, began to conquer its space from the third decade of the 20th century. In acoustical “outlook” of the people, for example, of the youth, the musical language exclusively prevailing in composing art, did not take advantage before the other tonal systems. Our music has another rhythmic logic – it involves both tonal and form – building aspects. The interest to pop music is the most active first of all in the youth midst.
The musical – expressive system of the Uzbek pop music corresponds to the processes developing in the world musical art of the 20th century. Hence, “background themes” have come forward and as a result – disintegration of harmony, melody and rhythm, refusal of soft harmony pleasant for hearing, gravitation to the complex rhythms neglecting the order and uniformity of classical periodic systems. Now not the details of musical texture are important but general contours and genre attributes of the musical work – a characteristic rhythm in the dancing play or bright intonation and standard poetic text in the hit. The prevailing theme of pop song art is extremely accordant to some characteristic ideological motives. For example, the song competition “Uzbekiston – Vatanim manim”, prevalence of lyric and patriotic songs.
Modern genre of “light” music in general deeply depends on a commercial pop art (including TV, radio, cinema and publishing houses) that orientates only to “safe”, habitual samples and gravitates to banality. In the past, musical language of traditional genres, almost without any exception, based on musical – expressive system, which a long time ago stabilized and became accessible to wide circles. This is, for example, Tamara Khanum’s concerts, performance of popular songs in a genre “yalla” by Mamurdjan Uzakov, modern lyrical songs of Ikram Akbarov performed by Batyr Zakirov; repertoire of vocal – instrumental group “Yalla” related to the 70s – 80s and based on interpretation of some folk songs. Now in repertoire of young pop singers, a certain place belongs to popular folk melodies but differently interpreted. Some of them have creative nature (repertoire of Nasiba Abdullaeva, Sevara Nazarkhan, ensembles “Nola”, “Bolalar”; in the most cases – this is just fashion!) within the framework of simple genres and forms, associated with popular expression of the art modernity and adequate to its own vision of the world. Hence the lost contacts with ethic normative of the past: leaving from the world of ideas and high abstract feelings for sphere of instinctive and subconscious reflections connected with relaxation, gravitation to improvisation born as if from the depth of subconscious.
Under some influence of blues art, ragtime, folk, country, punk, new – wave and rock music in Uzbekistan has arisen the need in new system of the expressive means resisting to the “conservative” orientation of traditional language of light genres. Today there are versions of the pop song marked by principles of structure, intonations, timbres as well as by specific features of interpretation. Here it is necessary to note, that in zenith of the glory the star pop group “Beatles” always emphasized, that their art, arising from the street sounds, based on intention to reject all old stereotypes of music including “light genres” and to find modern samples of sounding.
The romance, songs of protest, chanson, patriotic song, folklore and hit were musical phenomena in pop music coming into life later. Stylistic eclecticism, loss of the idea of “originality”, destruction of dualism between old and new, collage and metacollage recreating a mosaic context of television and radio are common results for modern pop and rock music’s relation (actual relation!) to the tradition.
A new stage of pop music in Uzbekistan of the 90s was connected with the style phenomena, which had substituted the traditional pop art (the repertoire of the Uzbek pop music was formed because of arrangements of pop songs and creativity of composers of the 60s – 70s). Recently wide popularity in the republic have obtained small vocal groups using the style model of popular in the West male and female “bands” (“Khuja”, “Dado”, “Setora”, “Sideriz”, “Faiod” and others). Such groups are copying the style, manner and even image of foreign (and, partly, Russian) groups.
The similar situation has formed in solo musical projects of domestic pop singers. Meanwhile, among such pop groups and solo singers there are special versions based on adaptation of foreign model for Uzbekistan’s audience and created on own ethnic material with using of especially popular musical innovations. So, groups “Shahzod”, “Bairam”, “Khuja”, “Nola” and “Surkhon” with Mahmud Namozov by all their external attributes are typical “boy – bands”, but as distinctive features of each are the certain elements of national colour (hereto shall be related Raikhon, Shahnoza banu, Larissa Moscaleva, Mokhira Asadova and others), which is achieved by means of visual – attributive image of the group (clothes, stage manner, dances, etc.), use of the oriental (traditional) motives fixed by the European mentality in the melodies of their compositions, application of national musical instruments (dutar, tanbur, rubab, dombra, chang-kobuz, doira).
The same is possible to tell about the instrumental group “Abbos”. However, actually musical – style means (couplet form, bipartite and typical instrumental arrangement and the other, borrowed from Russian pop music) in any way are not connected with national traditions. The result of such “style synthesis” (in a basis there are a genre – style system of pop music and external elements of national attribute) is eclectic enough.
The most interesting, we seem the original art within the framework of global functioning of mass musical culture based on a new approach to generated standards, which were caused by authentic features of the Uzbek culture (carriers of such kind of creativity in Uzbekistan are Muhriddin Kholikov, Sevara Nazarkhan, Yulduz Usmanova, Ruslan Sharipov, Takhir Sadykov, Rustam Makhmudov, Kumush Razzakov, composers – Alisher Rasulov, Alisher Ikramov and others). In the republic continues to develop the traditional pop music demonstrating enviable mobility of the style (it is observed in the art of Farrukh Zakirov and ensemble “Yalla”, Nasiba Abdullaeva, Gulomjon Yakubov, Nuriddin Khaidarov, Ravshan Kamilov and others).
Their purpose – to attract new audience – is realized by means of image modifications, change of repertoire where the genre – style model of mass songs is coming into synthesis with stylistics of Uzbek national folk songs. Today is running the formation of several style directions in the Uzbek pop song. These are style models: modern pop music – rock, jazz, hit, pop orchestral plays; the music connected with development of the genre of mass songs (songs – marches, songs – waltzes, songs – hymns, songs – ballads, lyrical songs developed by D. Omonullaeva, N.Norkhodjaev, R. Abdullaev, A.Mansurov, F.Alimov A.Ergashev, Kh.Rakhimov and others); author’s songs (partly an amateur stratum), continuing a line of traditional art in the modern conditions and characterizing modern forms of national musical traditions being. Style models in their own turn are connected with development of various style courses, one of which bases on the generated universal genre model of rock music and represents its commercial type functioning in the system of show business and another one turns to national roots and ethnic musical traditions, so forming ethno – rock.
As analysis of Uzbekistan show business system has revealed, a basic tendency of its development in the last ten years is commercial orientation of the art. Apparently, the process of formation of own show business system and finding of individual conceptual position as well as formation of new ethnic style of pop music is still a matter of the future.
Author: Yulduz Usmanova