Usta Olim Komilov[a](1875 – 3 April 1953) was an Uzbek musician and choreographer who was instrumental in the development of the theater industry in the early days of theUzbek SSR.
Usta Olim Komilov | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1875 |
| Died | 3 April 1953(aged 77–78) |
| Other names | Usta/Austa Alim Kamilov |
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| Awards | |
Early life
editBorn in 1875 to a family of an impoverished weaver inMargilon,his parents wanted him to be educated. However, his family could not afford to send him to school, and after being orphaned by the death of his father when he was ten he became a day labourer, but later moved to Samarkand in hopes of a better life to live with his uncle, a wagon maker who kept him as an unpaid apprentice for over a decade. Interested in music, he started learning to play the tambourine anddoirain his little free time. Eventually Komilov returned to Margilon to work as a craftsman, where he continued to improve his music skills and started teaching other Uzbeks to play the doira.[1][2][3]
Music career after the Russian revolution
editAfter the Russian Revolution he participated in the organization of amateur music groups to play music for rallies and for theRed Army.By 1920, he worked solely in the music field, organizing music circles at teahouses, a boarding school in his hometown. From 1924 to 1926 he worked on selecting and organizing a group of 26 Uzbek musicians to train as music teachers to teach around the Uzbek SSR. In 1926 he began working for the Uzbek ethnographic troupe led byMuhitdin Qoriyoqubov,and in 1929 for the Uzbek Music and Dance troupe.[1][3]Later he worked withTamara Khanumto design and adapt dances to the songs he played.[4][5] He played his music at many prestigious events including the National Theater Olympiad in Moscow in 1930 and the International Dance Festival in London in 1935, where he played music for Tamara Khanum's dance routine.[4]Although the medals were intended to be awarded just for dances there, the Queen of England was so impressed with his musical performance that she had him awarded a gold medal.[6]He metLangston Hugheswhile Hughes was touring the Uzbek SSR.[5][7] He died in Tashkent on 3 April 1953.[4][8]
Honours
editHe became a People's Artist of the Uzbek SSR in 1937 and in 1932 he was awarded the titleHero of Labour,the predecessor to the titleHero of Socialist Labour.[9]On 31 May 1937 he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour.[10]In 1935, he was awarded a personal medal from the Queen of England for his musical performance at the International Folk Dance Festival in London.[6]A streets in Tashkent and Margilon are named in his honor as well as a music school in Fergana.[4]
Footnotes
edit- ^sometimes anglicized asUsta Alim KamilovorAusta Alim Kamilov
References
edit- ^ab"Уста Алим Камилов".Sovetskoe iskusstvo(in Russian). 5 June 1937. p. 3.
- ^"Камилов Уста-Алим".Театральная энциклопедия: Гловацкий-Кетуракис.Moscow: Sovetskaya entsiklopedia. 1963. p. 1101.
- ^abAbidov, T. (14 September 1976)."Болшебная дойра".Pravda Vostoka(in Russian). p. 3.
- ^abcd"Уста Олим Комилов"[Usta Olim Komilov](PDF).Oʻzbekiston milliy ensiklopediyasi(in Uzbek). Vol. 9.Tashkent:Oʻzbekiston milliy ensiklopediyasi. 2005. p. 143.
- ^abHughes, Langston(1934). "Tamara Khanum: Soviet Asia's Greatest Dancer".Theatre Arts Monthly(November): 828-835.
- ^abVercoe, Rosa (22 October 2019)."Ўзбекистон ва Британия: 1935 йил Лондонда Тамарахоним қандай кутиб олинган ёхуд Усто Олим салласи сири".BBC(in Uzbek).
- ^Iaroslavtsev, Nicholas (8 March 2018)."Langston Hughes' Visit to the Soviet Union (1932-1933) •".Retrieved24 May2023.
- ^"Уста Алим Камилов".Pravda Vostoka(in Russian). No. 80. 4 April 1953. p. 4.
- ^Grigorovich, Yuri, ed. (1981)."Камилов Уста Алим".Балет: энциклопедия.Moscow:Sovetskaya entsiklopedia.p. 235.
- ^"О награждении работников Узбекского музыкального театра и Узбекской филармонии — участников декады Узбекского искусства в Москве" [On the awarding of employees of the Uzbek Musical Theatre and the Uzbek Philharmonic — participants of the decade of Uzbek art in Moscow].Pravda(in Russian). 1 June 1937. p. 1.