The Uzbekistani musician Ari Babakhanov masters excellently the long-necked lutes tanbur, kashgari rubab and dutar. In 1934 he was born in Bukhara into a Jewish family which can look back on an outstanding dynasty of traditional musicians. It was founded by his grandfather Levi Babakhan ( 1873 - 1926), the legendary court vocalist of Alim Khan, the last emir of Bukhara. Levi Babakhan's son Moshe Babakhanov (1910 - 1983) was also a famous vocalist who accompanied himself on tanbur and doira. Motto none Anthem National Anthem of the Republic of Uzbekistan Capital (and largest city) Tashkent Official languages Uzbek Government Republic  -  President Islom Karimov  -  Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev Independence from the Soviet Union   -  Formation 1747, as Bukharian Emirate, Kokand Khanate, Khwarezm   -  Declared September 1, 1991   -  Recognized December 8, 1991   -  Completed December... “Instrumentalist” redirects here. ... A medieval era lute. ... Tanbur The tanbur (var. ... Dotar Khorasan The dutar (also dotar or doutar) is a traditional long-necked two-stringed lute found in Central Asia. ... Bukhara (Tajik: Бухоро; Persian: , Buxârâ; Uzbek: ; Russian: ), from the Soghdian βuxārak (lucky place), is the fifth-largest city in Uzbekistan, and capital of the Bukhara Province (viloyat). ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination... In music a singer or vocalist is a type of musician who sings, i. ... Alim Khan (1880-1944), photographed by Prokudin-Gorskii in 1911, using three black-and white images through coloured filters before the invention of colour photography. ... Doyra (also dojra) is an Uzbek percussion musical instrument, which is something intemediate between a drum and a tambourine. ...

In contrary to his grandfather and father Ari Babakhanov became a pure instrumentalist. After his musical studies according European curriculum at the Tashkent conservatory he graduated in 1959 with the state examination. Because of the soviet cultural politics using the customary instruments was still permitted but mainly for an European repertoire. By the discrepancy between the monophonic Uzbeki music and the European polyphony this constraints led to an artificial cultural hybrid. Curriculum has many different conceptions. ... Tashkent (Uzbek: , Russian: ) is the capital of Uzbekistan and also of the Tashkent Province. ... A university school of music or college of music, or academy of music or conservatoire (British English) — also known as a conservatory (American English) or a conservatorium (Australian English) — is a higher education institution dedicated to teaching the art of music, including the playing of musical instruments, musical composition, musicianship... Soviet redirects here. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... In music, the word texture is often used in a rather vague way in reference to the overall sound of a piece of music. ... Dance of a bacha in Samarkand between 1905 and 1915 Uzbek classical music is called shashmaqam, which arose in Bukhara in the late 16th century when that city was a regional capital. ... Polyphony is a musical texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice (monophony) or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords (homophony). ... // This article is about a biological term. ...

In spite of his artistic successes in Tashkent Ari Babakhanov returned to Bukhara where he taught for the following 40 years at the music college. With the help of his father and musicians like Maarufjon Tashpulov, Najmiddin Nasriddinov und Aminjon Ismatov he gradually found back to the traditional Bukhari music, the Shashmaqam. He made it his life task to develope this art and achieved an unique contribution for keeping it by writing down an enormous number of notes and texts of Persian Poetry as well as popular Uzbeki and Tajiki poems. Hereby he revived a series of lost creations which had formerly belonged to the Shashmaqam repertoire. This basis inspired him to compose own instrumental pieces and songs in the traditional style of which several became very popular in Uzbekistan. Dance of a bacha in Samarkand between 1905 and 1915 Uzbek classical music is called shashmaqam, which arose in Bukhara in the late 16th century when that city was a regional capital. ... Persian literature (in Persian: ‎ ) spans two and a half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. ... This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

In 1991 he founded at the Bukhara Philharmonic Society the Shashmaqam Ensemble which grew within a few years from initially 10 to 19 members. Shortly afterwards the group under the artistic direction of Ari Babakhanov performed for the Uzbeki radio and TV and established itself in the traditional music scene. In 1998 their CD Ari Babakhanov & Ensemble - Shashmaqam: The Tradition of Bukhara was published by New Samarkand Records.

Because Bukhara's formerly large Jewish community has almost dispersed by migration after Uzbekistan's independence Ari Babakhanov's family searched for new future perspectives and moved to Germany where he currently (2006) collaborates with the musicologist Dr. Angelika Jung in researching the Shashmaqam. Bukharan Jews (Bukhoran Jews, Bukhari Jews) is a blanket term for Jews from Central Asia who speak Bukhori, a dialect of the Persian language. ... A musicologist is someone who studies musicology. ...

Sources:

In: <Stephan Trudewind, Ari Babakhanov, der Hüter der Musik des "Schaschmaqam" aus Buchara. Der Arabische Almanach - Zeitschrift für orientalische Kultur, 2005/06, 16. Jg., Frank & Frei Verl., Berlin, ISSN 1432-0215>

In: <Alexander Djumaev, Ari Babakhanov & Ensemble - Shashmaqam: The Tradition of Bukhara. CD-booklet, 1999, New Samarkand Records, Amsterdam>